Our last post talked about language delay, but have you ever heard of language loss? 😱
Aphasia was what initially brought my attention to the career of speech pathology. My first job as a teenager was in a religious retirement home; I helped people who had lost their ability to talk, eat independently, or complete most activities of daily living without support. Others couldn't remember their name, age, or where they were. However, once a day they would gather and pray together. Even though I was not religious, I was surprised by what I saw and carried that moment with me for a while. How could they have so much difficulty talking and remembering who they were, but they were able to pray normally without any help? What was going on?
A few years passed and I found myself enrolled in a Neurolinguistics class during my undergraduate degree. One of our first lectures was about aphasia -- or language loss -- and then the questions I had since my teens started to be answered. The people I worked with had lost the ability to understand and express language as a result of strokes or of the natural degeneration of the brain as it ages. Aphasia can also occur after blunt traumas and surgeries -- basically anything that damages the parts of our brain that are responsible for language comprehension and expression. Some linguistic behaviours such as praying (and swearing!) may be associated with other brain areas that are deeply related with emotions, and our brains might use different paths to perform these behaviours.
Aphasia can be progressive or non-progressive, mild or severe, fluent or non-fluent, receptive or expressive; there are different classifications and different treatment approaches to it.
Navigating the recovery process can be very frustrating; clients often report constantly feeling like the word they're looking for is at the tip of their tongue, but they just can't find it. Others have difficulty keeping track of conversations when we speak quickly or in long, complex sentences. Nearly unanimously, clients say that other people are either impatient in the face of their difficulties or patronizing, talking to them as if they were young children. They often grieve the loss of skills, connections, independence, and in many cases, the loss of prospects.
Living with aphasia is challenging, and the grieving process is normal and necessary. A multidisciplinary team composed of speech-language pathologists, social workers, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and neurologists can offer the necessary supports to help patients and clients retrain their brain and regain their life.
If you know someone with aphasia, be patient, keep your sentences simple, and assume competence. It really goes a long way!
Comments