Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to the parts of the brain that contain language. Aphasia causes problems with any or all of the following: speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Damage to the left side of the brain causes aphasia for most right-handers and about half of the left-handers. Individuals who experience damage to the right side of the brain may have additional difficulties beyond speech and language.

Individuals with aphasia may also have other problems, such as dysarthria, apraxia, or swallowing problems.

What are some signs or symptoms of aphasia?

Some people with aphasia have trouble using words and sentences (expressive aphasia). Some have problems understanding others (receptive aphasia). Others with aphasia struggle with both using words and understanding (global aphasia).

Aphasia can cause problems with spoken language (talking and understanding) and written language (reading and writing). Typically, reading and writing are more impaired than talking or understanding.

Aphasia may be mild or severe. The severity of communication difficulties depends on the amount and location of the damage to the brain.

For more information, please go to the American Speech and Hearing Association's Website

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder. The muscles of the mouth, face, and respiratory system may become weak, move slowly, or not move at all after a stroke or other brain injury. The type and severity of dysarthria depend on which area of the nervous system is affected.

Some causes of dysarthria include stroke, head injury, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy. Both children and adults can have dysarthria.

What are some signs or symptoms of dysarthria?

A person with dysarthria may experience any of the following symptoms, depending on the extent and location of damage to the nervous system:

• "Slurred" speech
• Speaking softly or barely able to whisper
• Slow rate of speech
• Rapid rate of speech with a "mumbling" quality
• Limited tongue, lip, and jaw movement
• Abnormal intonation (rhythm) when speaking
• Changes in vocal quality ("nasal" speech or sounding "stuffy")
• Hoarseness
• Breathiness
• Drooling or poor control of saliva
• Chewing and swallowing difficulty

For more information, please go to the American Speech and Hearing Website.

Apraxia is a general term. It can cause problems in parts of the body, such as arms and legs. Apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder. It is caused by damage to the parts of the brain related to speaking. Other terms include apraxia of speech, acquired apraxia of speech, verbal apraxia, and dyspraxia.

People with apraxia of speech have trouble sequencing the sounds in syllables and words. The severity depends on the nature of the brain damage.

What are some signs or symptoms of apraxia of speech?

People with apraxia of speech know what words they want to say, but their brains have difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words. They may say something completely different, even made-up words. For example, a person may try to say "kitchen," but it may come out "bipem" or even "chicken." The person may recognize the error and try again, sometimes getting it right, but sometimes saying something else entirely. This can become quite frustrating for the person. It may be hard to understand a person with apraxia of speech.

Apraxia of speech can be mild or severe. People with apraxia may have difficulty

• imitating speech sounds
• difficulty imitating non-speech movements (oral apraxia), such as sticking out their tongue
• groping when trying to produce sounds
• in severe cases, an inability to produce sound at all
• inconsistent errors
• slow rate of speech
• somewhat preserved ability to produce "automatic speech" (rote speech), such as greetings like "How are you?"

Apraxia can occur in conjunction with dysarthria (muscle weakness affecting speech production) or aphasia (language difficulties related to neurological damage).

For more information, please refer to the American Speech and Hearing Web site.

Poor attention skills have an affect on other cognitive processes such as memory. Following an assessment of your attention skills, you will learn about the attention processes, practice skills, and learn ways to maximize your functioning.

Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain, and later retrieve information. There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Human memory involves the ability to both preserve and recover information we have learned or experienced.

Our therapists will assess your memory and help you better understand the processes involved and types of memory. They will assist you to restore memory functioning as well as learn strategies and implement the use of assistive devices to maximize your memory.

Executive functioning skills help you get things done. These skills are controlled by an area of the brain called the frontal lobe.

Executive function helps you:

• Manage time
• Pay attention
• Switch focus
• Plan and organize
• Remember details
• Avoid saying or doing the wrong thing
• Do things based on your experience
• Multitask

When executive function isn’t working as it should, your behavior is less controlled. This can affect your ability to:

• Work or go to school
• Do things independently
• Maintain relationships

Following a standardized assessment, our speech therapists will work with you to develop goals to improve your executive functioning by targeting restorative tasks, development of compensatory strategies, and the use of external aids or devices.

Headway program's description of Executive Functioning, Headway

Related to neurological injuries or diseases such as Parkinson's Disease or others and may include LSVT LOUD.- See our list of Specialized Treatments for more information.