June is Aphasia Awareness Month which means all month we aim to raise awareness on Aphasia, which is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate with language.
What is Aphasia?
Aphasia damages the ability to speak and understand others, and most people with aphasia experience difficulty reading and writing, too. Just because a person may have aphasia, this does not mean the person has had any impairment to their intelligence.
What Causes Aphasia?
The most common cause of aphasia is stroke (about 25-40% of stroke survivors acquire aphasia). It can also result from head injury, brain tumor or other neurological causes.*
How Long Does It Take to Recover from Aphasia?
Recovering from aphasia can be a very slow process, but there are cases where symptoms improve or go away within the first two to three months after a stroke. If symptoms last longer than this time frame, it is likely the person may not completely recover, however improvement can happen over a period of many years and even decades. It is helpful for the person with aphasia along with their friends and family to understand aphasia and the ways to communicate.
How Do You Communicate With a Person With Aphasia?
To learn more about Aphasia, visit stroke.org/aphasia.
*“Aphasia Faqs.” National Aphasia Association, 28 May 2021, https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-faqs/
About Mid-Atlantic Long Term Care:
We are a provider-owned health care company meeting the complex care needs of the geriatric population throughout the areas we serve. MALTC provides our Community Partners with medical leadership, and we place a Care Team that is clinically competent to foster a mutually beneficial long term relationship in the communities we serve. Long term care is all we do! We apply the best medical knowledge with compassion and respect resulting in improved lives and health outcomes. We set a legacy of excellence for geriatric providers and have been doing so since 1998. Mid Atlantic Long Term Care is committed to providing quality care through our dedication, experience in geriatric medicine and a passion to serve our patients, their families, and our Community Partners.