aphasia therapy

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

speech-language rehabilitation interventions aimed at improving communication abilities in individuals with aphasia — the impairment of language production and comprehension resulting from brain damage, most commonly from stroke affecting the left hemisphere's language networks; aphasia therapy approaches include constraint-induced aphasia therapy which intensively drills spoken language production, semantic feature analysis for word retrieval difficulties, treatment of underlying forms for grammatical impairments, script training for frequently needed conversational contexts, and augmentative and alternative communication strategies that supplement residual spoken language; evidence supports the efficacy of intensive, targeted aphasia therapy delivered by trained speech-language pathologists across a range of aphasia types and severities; group aphasia therapy additionally addresses the psychosocial impacts of communication disability including social isolation, depression, and loss of vocational and social identity