Saturday, 8 September 2012

Useful Information About Aphasia Treatment

By Tara Webb


People who have suffered a stroke or head injury usually suffer a condition referred to as aphasia. This is a disorder that impairs the language abilities of a person due to injury of that part of brain that controls language. The symptoms of this condition are; failures to remember words, inability to speak, write and even read. Other conditions that may also cause this disorder can be brain tumors, dementia or infections. Various aphasia treatment methods have thus been devised to manage the disorder.

Although there are numerous ways of managing this disorder, there is no one method which cures completely. This is because the disorder can occur in various forms. With this said, the first mode of treatment is cognitive linguistic therapy. The aim of this is to help patients understand the emotional parts of a language. An example of a session is where the therapist makes the patient to listen to a recording and then describe the emotional tone. This also improves comprehension ability of the person.

Stimulation facilitation method is the other mode of management. This method utilizes the hearing senses of a person. The individual is made to listen to some spoken words and then repeat exactly what is being said. The words are repeated severally with the aim of improving the memory ability of a person and the language abilities.

Group therapy is yet another way of management. Here, patients are put in small groups in order to practice communication skills learned. The patients discuss what they have gained during the individual sessions. There are also stroke clubs formed by people who had once suffered stroke among other support groups that also advice a person and his family and adjustments that accompany stroke and development of aphasia.

There is also the PACE (promoting aphasics communicative effectiveness) method of management. Here, the learning tool is conversation which is between a therapist and a patient. The conversation entails the use of visual stimulating materials like pictures, drawings to stimulate ideas. The therapist and patient both take turns to use the materials. More difficult items of generating ideas are then introduced gradually.

Yet another mode of treatment used is the pharmacotherapy. Specialists have found this way as the most appealing. This is because it is simple as it involves use of prescribed medication. There are many medications developed for this condition but the most effective ones include donepezil, amphetamines and piribedil. Research is however going on to try and come up with other effective combination of medicines.

Some other methods introduced are those that utilize computers to help in improving language abilities. This mode can also be referred to as computer assisted therapy. Some experts have proven that this method can help revive some parts of speech. Also, people suffering from this condition can use computers to communicate for those who cannot speak properly.

The outcome of any aphasia treatment method can be improved greatly by increasing intensity of the therapy. The more hours put into sessions the more the chances of full recovery. Other methods can also be incorporated in the procedure such as speech rehabilitation and other stimuli ideas like use of music.




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