Conditions related to aphasia
If you or someone you love has aphasia, you may hear other terms too — like apraxia, dysarthria, or dysphasia.Here’s what they mean, how they relate to aphasia, and what to expect.
Apraxia
Apraxia of speech is a motor planning speech disorder. A person with acquired apraxia of speech has difficulty coordinating the tongue, lips, and jaw to make the correct sounds in words. Apraxia of speech is characterized by slow, halting speech, with sound and word substitution errors.
Apraxia is not due to muscle weakness, paralysis or a language impairment. Someone with apraxia knows what they want to say, but the brain has difficulty planning and coordinating the required movements to form the words. Apraxia of speech can be developmental when it occurs in children. Apraxia of speech in adults is often caused by a stroke or other brain injury.
What is the Difference Between Apraxia and Aphasia?
What’s the difference between aphasia and apraxia of speech? It may be difficult to know because they are both communication disorders that may result from a stroke. In addition, the two might be present at the same time.
We’ve all experienced that “tip of the tongue” feeling, when you know what you want to say, but can’t come up with the correct word for it. These are moments when we know what it’s like to experience aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder, associated with difficulty finding the right word to express an idea or thought. It can include difficulties with other language modalities, including auditory comprehension, reading, and writing.
Strategies for Dealing with Apraxia
Apraxia of speech makes it difficult and frustrating to effectively express what you want to say. Strategies that may help include:
- Take your time and speak slowly
- If a word is difficult to say, try using a different word or description of the word
- Use a total communication approach. You can use facial expression, pointing and gesturing, drawing and writing, and/or icons and pictures to help convey your message
- Try speaking to a rhythm of tapping or a metronome
Dysarthria
Dysarthria is a speech disorder that most often presents as “slurred speech.” A person with dysarthria has the language to speak, but is difficult to understand due to muscle weakness or paralysis. Like aphasia, it can range from mild to severe. For some people, the severity can vary based on factors like fatigue or medications. In addition to the speech being slurred, it can also be at a faster or slower rate than usual, at a lower volume, or have an atypical rhythm.
What is the Difference Between Dysarthria and Aphasia?
Dysarthria and aphasia have a lot in common. They are both communication impairments that can be the result of a stroke, and can even occur at the same time. Both conditions can make communication difficult. The difference between the two is that dysarthria is a speech impairment while aphasia is a language impairment.
Aphasia is a language disorder, most commonly due to a stroke or other brain injury. People with aphasia often know what they want to say but cannot find the words – as if the word is on the “tip of the tongue.” There are several types of aphasia and they can occur at varying levels of severity. Someone with aphasia might also have impairments in auditory comprehension, reading, and writing.
Like aphasia, dysarthria is sometimes the result of a stroke or brain injury. However, dysarthria can also be caused by many other conditions, including ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Huntington’s Disease or Muscular Dystrophy.
Therapy for Dysarthria
Therapy for dysarthria varies depending on the underlying condition and specific speech patterns that are present. Common techniques that can be useful for people with dysarthria include:
- Slowing the rate of speech
- Speaking at a louder volume
- Practice over-pronouncing sounds and words
- Using more breath to speak
Exercises to make the mouth and tongue muscles stronger are sometimes recommended. For people with severe dysarthria, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can be helpful if others are not able to understand their speech. This can include simple tools, like a pen and paper, or high-tech tools, like speech-generating devices.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with dysarthria, a speech-language pathologist can help. An SLP can determine what techniques and therapy strategies will work best for each individual case.
Dysphasia
Dysphasia is another word for aphasia. It is a language disorder caused by damage to the areas of the brain responsible for language processing. Some people think “dysphasia” was first used to describe a less severe form of aphasia.
Today in the United States, we prefer to use the term “aphasia” to describe the language impairment at all severity levels. Some doctors of speech-language pathologists may still use the terms interchangeably.
It is easy to confuse dysphasia with “dysphagia”, which refers to trouble with swallowing. .
