Rehabilitation measures in patients with aphasia after a stroke
Aphasia after a stroke is a pathological condition with complete or partial loss of speech abilities as a result of local damage to certain areas of the brain.
This type of disorder has a direct relationship with the site and extent of the severity of the lesion, can begin even before the development of the clinical picture of a stroke, and in the third part of patients there is a complete lack of speech.
Because during ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke there is a temporary disruption of the functioning of large areas of the brain, at first often there is total aphasia.
Types of aphasia after a stroke
As a result of an acute ischemic condition, almost any form of aphasia can develop, but most often it is noted:
- Total aphasia. Most often this is the manifestation of post-amputation aphasia. In this state the patient can not talk and does not understand the meaning of words and phrases when referring to him. After a while( and it can be from a few days to a month), another form of speech violation occurs.
- Motor aphasia. The patient begins to understand the appeals to him, but at the same time can respond with words or word combinations( speech embolus), the intonation coloring can correspond to the meaning of the desired answer.
- Sensory aphasia. There is a complete lack of understanding of others, impaired motor function in this state may be absent. For this form, a characteristic feature is the substitution of the perception of words - one and the same word for a patient can carry different meanings or similar words are perceived in meaning, as the same.
- Semantic aphasia. The patient remains able to adequately understand the meaning of simple speech of others, and while he retains the ability to a normal and adequate response. But it is difficult for him to understand more complex turns, as well as sayings.
- Amnestic aphasia. Relatively favorable state, in which verbal communication is practically not disturbed, but the patient has difficulties with the name of individual objects.
In different patients, the manifestations of a single type of aphasia can be different in their picture.
Work with the speech therapist
Treatment of aphasia after a stroke should begin immediately after coming out of a life-threatening condition. Do this only a specialist - speech therapist-aphasiologist.
The beginning of work on speech restoration in post-stroke patients no later than three months after the acute arrest, can guarantee a more favorable prognosis than the later start of the session.
Classes at the first time it is desirable to hold at least three times a week. Part of the exercises is carried out only by a specialist, and the second part refers to independent work. The degree of exercise and the types of exercises can differ from each other in different types and manifestations of speech disorders.
Restorative training in aphasia begins with making every effort to understand the treatment of patients, while preserving this possibility, it is necessary to improve the understanding of patients with a meaningful speech structure, since this disorder occurs to a greater or lesser degree with any variant of aphasia.
It is imperative that you restore or improve your reading and writing abilities. In this process, the help and support of relatives, surrounding sick people and all medical personnel is absolutely necessary.
What you need to know and remember to the relatives of
To return the patient to normal communication, an important factor is the attitude of close people. Therefore it is necessary to understand that:
- A person with speech disorders after a stroke is not mentally ill, despite the fact that he can talk meaningless things without realizing it. And most often the main speech of others he perceives
- You should not raise your voice when talking. The hearing status of such patients is not compromised and the loudness of the tone does not guarantee better communication.
- When speaking, you should exclude extraneous noise - the sounds of radio or TV, because patients with aphasia are sensible.
- Long and fast speech is perceived by the patient with great difficulty. Appeal to it must be built from short phrases, repeating them, if necessary. But do not gesticulate too much. It is better to build the questions in such a way that it is possible to answer monosyllably "yes-no".
- In no case should a patient with aphasia be isolated from communication. This can lead to irreversible changes. Despite certain difficulties, he must participate in any communication at the level of a full interlocutor. You should not tell him the words, it is extremely important to allow a person to do it themselves.