Expressive Aphasia:
Effective Home Treatment

Although there is no cure for expressive aphasia, it can now be effectively treated in the comfort of your own home.

It is our goal to provide you with quality information to help optimize your understanding and treatment of expressive aphasia.

Professional speech and language therapy has successfully provided quality improvements to people afflicted with aphasia for decades. Although all patients recover at different rates and degrees, one fact remains constant:

Significant improvements are common results of intensive therapy.

Here, we will show you how to include intensive speech therapy in your daily routine in order to reach your highest potential.

What is Expressive Aphasia?

Expressive aphasia is a language disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate. More specifically, it limits an individual's ability to convey thoughts through the use of speech, language, or writing.

It is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the left side of the brain where our language centers are located.

Other Medical Names for Expressive Aphasia

Expressive aphasia is also known as:

Broca's aphasia

Non-fluent aphasia

The term, Broca's aphasia derives its name from a French surgeon, Pierre Paul Broca, who in 1861 identified an area of the brain responsible for specific speech and language function. Damage to this area of the brain, known as, "Broca's area" will result in expressive aphasia.

Non-fluent aphasia refers to the fact that an affected individual struggles to say more than one word at a time. They demonstrate great effort when trying to speak, thus, their speech is considered non-fluent.

Expressive aphasia is sometimes referred to as Anomic aphasia as well. This relates to word retrieval difficulties in spontaneous speech and in naming objects.

In each case the term refers to a type of aphasia that is characterized by difficulties with using language to communicate. On the other hand, individuals with expressive aphasia usually understand language fairly well.

In summary, an individual with expressive aphasia will usually be able to comprehend what is being said to them, but they will have difficulty using appropriate language to respond accurately.

Speech Patterns of Expressive Aphasics

Patients with expressive aphasia have difficulty putting together sentences that are grammatically correct. They often sound like a foreigner just learning how to speak English because they leave out relational words, such as the, is, a, and, because, which tie language together.

The most commonly used words are nouns - however, a sentence made up of nouns is difficult to understand.

For example, here is an illustration of what an individual with expressive aphasia might sound like:

"Yeah ... dinner ... uh ... Mary and food ... Thursday ... home, uh ... and bird ... yes."

This example demonstrates a choppy, broken sentence structure using only key words to get the message across.

Can you tell what this person might have been trying to say?

The patient was trying to explain that Thanksgiving dinner, cooked by his wife, Mary, will be at his house this year. You can tell by this example how frustrating it must be for expressive aphasics to communicate.

Speech output is a significant problem for people with expressive aphasia. Effective treatment for Broca's aphasia will focus on improving verbal communication.

Language Comprehension

Typically, the ability to understand speech is still functional (or, less impaired) in individuals with expressive aphasia. Even though they have great difficulty expressing themselves, they are usually able to comprehend spoken language and written words fairly well.

Language comprehension can be considered a strength for individuals with expressive aphasia. That means it should be used to help them improve their weakness, which is expressing themselves.

This is done by explaining strategies, techniques, and exercises that will help them improve their spoken language. Through consistent practice expressive aphasics can demonstrate significant improvements.

Associated Speech Difficulties

The following speech disorders can typically occur with Broca's aphasia:

Verbal Apraxia: Verbal apraxia (also known as, Apraxia of Speech or AOS) is the inability to plan oral muscle movement for speech. The oral muscles (jaw, lips, tongue) are not impaired, however, the ability to plan and carry out how the jaw, lips, and tongue need to move to create speech is.

Oral Apraxia: Oral apraxia is the inability to plan oral muscle movement on command. It differs from verbal apraxia in that it does not involve speech. For example, if you asked an individual with oral apraxia to imitate chewing gum they would experience difficulty making the necessary movements with their mouth.

Dysarthria: Dysarthria is a neurological disorder that affects the strength of the oral muscles (oral motor weakness). However, the ability to plan and carry out oral muscle movement is not affected.

Common symptoms of Expressive Aphasia:

Difficulties with naming (anomia)

Sentences are typically incomplete

Sentences are short and sometimes difficult to interpret

Nouns are the most commonly used words

Auxiliary verbs (is, do, have), articles (the, a, an), and pronouns (he, she, we, them) are frequently deleted

Speech is slow and strenuous

Articulation, word-finding abilities, and repetition are impaired

Motor speech disorders, such as dysarthria and verbal apraxia, are usually present

Verbal apraxia (apraxia of speech, AOS) is almost always associated with expressive aphasia

Understanding (comprehension) is usually intact, however, it is occasionally compromised, especially when it comes to complex material

Difficulties with reading and writing

Symptoms can range from mild to severe

Some cases of expressive aphasia are accompanied by hemiplegia (hem-ee-plea-zhuh). This is total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on one side of the body

Of course, not all patients with expressive aphasia will demonstrate every symptom associated with the disorder. Symptoms as well as their severity level will vary from patient to patient.

What Causes Expressive Aphasia?

Expressive aphasia is a neurological disorder caused by damage to a specific area in the left hemisphere of the brain. Expressive aphasia is not a disease, but a symptom of brain injury.

The most common causes are stroke, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors:

Stroke (CVA): A cerebral vascular accident, better known as a stroke, is the most common cause of expressive aphasia. A stroke is a temporary or permanent loss of brain tissue caused by a disruption of blood flow to the brain.

Brain Injury: Traumatic brain injury can cause a range of speech and language disorders. The symptoms of expressive aphasia may be present depending on the site of lesion (a specific area of the brain where the damage occurred).

Brain Tumors: A brain tumor can also cause expressive aphasia. This largely depends on the where the tumor is developing. The specific area(s) of the brain that are affected by the tumor will determine the nature of any speech and language disorders. A brain tumor located in the left hemisphere may cause expressive aphasia.

Expressive Aphasia and Depression

Imagine knowing what you want to say, but not being able to string together the right words to express your thoughts.

You can understand everything that people are saying to you, but you can't respond to them, except for maybe uttering a few words. And, worst of all, not to long ago you could do all these things with ease.

Put yourself in this position for a moment and imagine how you might feel. Frustrated? Angry? Isolated? Sad?

These feelings are common emotions felt by individuals with expressive aphasia. The situation they have been thrust into makes it completely justified. Not being able to effectively communicate and being well aware of that fact can lead to depression.

Depression can hinder rehabilitation

Psychiatric patients who are classified as "clinically depressed" often demonstrate a lack of brain activity in the left hemisphere. As they recover, the left hemisphere activity returns to normal levels.

When an individual suffering from a neurological disorder such as expressive aphasia, becomes depressed, the depression needs to be dealt with as soon as medically possible.

Since damage to the left hemisphere has already been established, depression can further decrease any healthy brain activity in that area.

The healthy brain cells of the left hemisphere need to be functioning to the best of their ability in order for speech and language therapy to be successful.

As depression lifts, the patient is better able to focus on the more important tasks, such as physical and mental recovery.

What can you do to Help a Loved one with
Expressive Aphasia?

When it is your turn to talk, do it with respect. Do not talk down to the person because of their disability. This happens more often than you might think and most times it is done without realizing it.
Be aware of your words and the tone of voice you use.

Have patience. Give your speaking partner time to communicate. Let them complete what they have to say. Help out only if they become overly frustrated.

Use all types of communication. Writing, drawing, or pointing to pictures are all forms of communication. Use whatever is necessary to get the message across.

Try to eliminate all distractions while communicating.

Focus your attention on the speaker.

Let the speaker know when you do not understand them. Try to ask yes/no questions to figure out the part of the message you didn't understand.

Speak at a "normal" rate. That is, take your time while speaking. Speaking too quickly can make it difficult for an individual with expressive aphasia to follow and comprehend.

Simplify your speech. Simple vocabulary and short sentences work the best.

Use gestures or body language: Remember that your whole body is used in communicating. Do not think that it doesn't apply when communicating with someone with aphasia. In fact, in this case it might be more important.
Use your hands, head, shoulders - and facial expressions! Speak with passion!

Stick to one topic at a time. We often go off topic during our daily conversations. This is common. However, switching thoughts midstream through a story might make it difficult for an aphasic listener to follow along.

Use a variety of language activities at home to stimulate continued progress.

Make use of available resources. The Aphasia Hope Foundation and the National Aphasia Association promote research into the prevention and cure of aphasia. They also provide useful tips for living with aphasia and share personal experiences of aphasia survivors.

Speech and Language Therapy

Treatment for Broca's aphasia/expressive aphasia depends on the severity and scope of the symptoms. However, traditional speech and language therapy is the most widely and successfully used approach in treating communication deficits caused by expressive aphasia. And ...
Intensive therapy is the key to significant speech and language improvement.
How can you practice speech therapy everyday?
* You can use the information and exercises on this website to create your own home therapy routine.
* You can obtain all the effective language exercises discussed in this website from one convenient source:
Professional Speech and Language Therapy on DVD and VHS

Try any of our therapeutic videos for only $9.95!
For a limited time you can own any of our professionally recognized video titles on VHS for the low price of $9.95.
If you'd like to improve your speech skills without paying a
high-price for speech therapy, then this might be the most important sale you've ever come across.
Very few resources offer speech and language therapy to adults after they've left a rehabilitation center.
This fact was the reason why we designed and created professional speech and language therapy on DVD and VHS!
Through a collaboration of certified speech-language pathologists, a series of professional speech and language videos are now available to successfully treat expressive aphasia at home.
These videos provide adults the opportunity to receive effective therapy at home in an easy-to-use, affordable way.
To learn more about our innovative Speech and Language videos please follow the link below:

Improve Expressive Aphasia with Speech-Language Videos

Home | Contact Us | Disclaimer

Copyright � 2006 speech-therapy-on-video.com

Expressive Aphasia: Effective Home Treatment