Aphasia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Aphasia
Regions of the left hemisphere that can give rise to aphasia when damaged
Classification and external resources
Synonyms	Dysphasia
Specialty	Neurology, Psychiatry
Patient UK	Aphasia

Aphasia is a condition that makes it hard for a person to use language. It happens when special parts of the brain that handle words get hurt. People with aphasia might have trouble finding the right word to say. Other people might find it tricky to understand what someone else is saying to them. Some people with aphasia have trouble with reading or writing stories. Even though talking is hard, a person with aphasia is just as smart as they were before. Their thinking mind works well, but their word-sharing tool needs help.

The most common reason people get aphasia is an illness called a stroke. A stroke happens when blood cannot reach a piece of the brain for a short time. Other reasons include a bad bump to the head, a brain tumor, or an infection of the brain. Aphasia can happen to anyone, but it is much more common in older adults. Many people work with friendly helpers called speech therapists to practice their words. With time, practice, and patience, people can find exciting new ways to share their ideas with family and friends.

How Language Works in the Human Brain

The human brain is like a wonderful, superfast computer. It controls everything we do, including running, dreaming, laughing, and talking. The brain has two main halves, which doctors call hemispheres. For most people, the left half of the brain does most of the heavy lifting for language skills. When you want to tell a friend about your day, your brain works like a team in a busy relay race. One part thinks of the idea, another part finds the dictionary words, and another part tells your mouth how to move.

Broca's Area and Word Making

The human cortex showing important language zones.

Near the front of the left brain sits an important spot called Broca's area. It is named after a French doctor named Paul Broca who studied how people talk. Broca's area is like the master planner for spoken words. It takes the ideas you have in your head and puts them into a neat order. It also works closely with the motor cortex, which controls the muscles in your face, lips, and tongue. When Broca's area is happy and healthy, you can speak smoothly in full sentences.

Wernicke's Area and Word Understanding

Further back in the brain, in an area called the temporal lobe, sits another amazing tool called Wernicke's area. It gets its name from a German doctor named Carl Wernicke. This area acts like an instant language translator. When someone speaks to you, your ears hear vibrations of sound. They send these signals to Wernicke's area, which matches the sounds to meanings you have learned. It helps you understand questions, jokes, bedtime stories, and classroom lessons.

The Arcuate Fasciculus Neural Highway

Broca's area and Wernicke's area need to talk to each other constantly. They are connected by a bundle of nerve fibers called the arcuate fasciculus. You can think of this bundle like a super-speedy underground train line or a fiber-optic cable. When you hear a word and want to repeat it out loud, the message travels along this highway. Information zooms from the listening zone in Wernicke's area straight forward to the speaking zone in Broca's area. If this bridge gets damaged, repeating words becomes very tricky.

Common Signs and Symptoms of Aphasia

Aphasia shows up in many different ways because every person's brain is unique. The signs depend on where the brain was hurt and how large the injury was. Some children might notice that a grandparent with aphasia speaks very slowly, while another person might talk very quickly with funny mixed-up words.

Finding and Remembering Words

One of the most common signs of aphasia is having trouble pulling words out of memory. This is known as anomia. Everyone has experienced having a word "on the tip of the tongue." For a person with aphasia, that feeling happens almost all the time. When they look at a pencil, they know exactly what it is and what it does. However, they might say, "It is that thing you use to write." They might also point at the object instead of saying its name.

Making Word Substitutions

Sometimes the brain picks a word that is close, but not quite right. Doctors call this paraphasia. A person might look at an apple and say "orange" because both are delicious fruits. Other times, they might switch around sounds inside a word. They might try to say "cat" but accidentally say "hat" or "tat." The person often knows right away that the word was not correct, and they might try several times to fix it.

Talking in Short Phrases

Some people with aphasia leave out small connector words like "is," "and," "of," and "the." This pattern is called agrammatism. A sentence that should say "I am going to walk the dog in the park" might sound like "walk dog park." Even though the sentence is very short, the main meaning is still clear. It takes a huge amount of physical and mental effort for the speaker to push each word out.

Inventing New Words

In some forms of aphasia, a person speaks very smoothly, but many words are completely made up. These invented words are called neologisms or protologisms. A person might cheerfully say, "Please hand me the flibber," when they really want a cup of water. To their own ears, their sentence sounds completely normal. When other people look confused, the speaker might wonder why nobody understands their request.

Other Everyday Difficulties

Aphasia can also change how a person handles written words and everyday symbols.

• Trouble with reading books, signs, or text messages.
• Trouble with writing names, letters, or grocery lists.
• Difficulty with enunciation and speaking clearly.
• Getting stuck on one phrase, repeating it over and over, which is called perseveration.
• Finding it hard to follow long directions with many steps.
• Speaking in strings of sounds that sound like gibberish.

Different Types of Aphasia

Doctors and scientists group aphasia into several types. This helps them understand what kind of help a person needs most. The most famous grouping system is called the Boston classification system.

Expressive Aphasia or Broca's Aphasia

Expressive aphasia, which is often called Broca's aphasia, is a "non-fluent" type. Non-fluent means that speech does not flow smoothly like water from a tap. Instead, it comes out in slow, bumpy spurts. People with this type understand other people quite well. Because their understanding is sharp, they know when their own speech does not match what they want to say. This can sometimes make them feel frustrated. Often, they also have weakness on the right side of the body, called hemiplegia, because the movement centers of the left brain are nearby.

Receptive Aphasia or Wernicke's Aphasia

Receptive aphasia, often called Wernicke's aphasia, is a "fluent" type. People with this condition speak in smooth, full sentences with a natural rhythm. However, the words they choose might make no sense together. A person might say, "The blue window danced on my paper sandwich." They also have a very hard time understanding what others say to them. Because their brain cannot properly decode language, they often do not realize that their own speech sounds odd to others.

Conduction Aphasia

Conduction aphasia happens when the highway connecting the back and front language centers is injured. A person with this type can understand spoken words very well. They can also speak quite smoothly when sharing their own thoughts. However, if you ask them to repeat back a specific phrase like "no ifs, ands, or buts," it is extremely difficult for them. Their brain knows what was said, but the message cannot travel across the damaged bridge to the speech output center.

Global Aphasia

Global aphasia is the most severe form of language loss. It happens when a large part of the left brain has been injured. People with global aphasia have great trouble speaking words and understanding spoken language. They also struggle with reading and writing. Even though communication is very difficult, these individuals can still share feelings through facial expressions, body language, and warm hugs. With careful practice, they can learn to use picture cards or hand signals.

Anomic Aphasia

Anomic aphasia is a mild and very common type. People with this condition speak with great grammar and understand almost everything they hear. Their one big challenge is naming things directly. When telling a story about a baseball game, they might pause for a long time trying to remember the word "bat" or "glove." They often use clever descriptions to talk around the missing word. Because their overall language is strong, people with anomic aphasia have a wonderful chance of making a good recovery.

Transcortical Aphasias

Transcortical aphasias are interesting conditions where a person can repeat words and sentences amazingly well, even if they cannot speak on their own.

• Transcortical motor aphasia: The person has trouble starting a sentence, but if you say a sentence first, they can repeat it easily.
• Transcortical sensory aphasia: The person can repeat long, complex sentences, but they do not understand what the words actually mean.
• Mixed transcortical aphasia: A rare type where a person can only repeat what they hear, acting almost like an echo.

Primary Progressive Aphasia

Most forms of aphasia start suddenly after an injury, but primary progressive aphasia is different. It is a slow condition linked to changes in brain cells over time, similar to dementia or Alzheimer's disease. It usually begins with tiny word-finding slips. Over months and years, forming full sentences becomes harder. Scientists are working very hard to find new medicines that can slow down this condition.

Sign Language and Deaf Aphasia

Language is not just spoken sounds; it is also hand gestures and visual symbols! People who are deaf use sign language to talk with their hands, faces, and bodies. Research shows that sign language uses the very same left brain areas as spoken speech. If a deaf person has an injury in Broca's area, they develop a form of sign language aphasia. They might know exactly what they want to sign, but their fingers find it hard to make the right shapes. If they have damage in Wernicke's area, they can sign quickly, but the signs may be scrambled. This proves that the brain treats sign language as real, complete language!

Causes of Aphasia

Aphasia happens when language tissues in the brain are injured. The brain requires a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients carried by blood vessels to stay healthy and do its job.

What Happens During a Stroke

A stroke is the leading cause of aphasia. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel carrying oxygen to the brain either gets blocked by a tiny clot or leaks. When blood cannot reach the cells, those brain cells stop working properly. Doctors call an area of damaged tissue an infarct. About one out of every four people who experience a stroke develop some form of aphasia.

Traumatic Head Injuries

A hard knock to the head can cause a traumatic brain injury. This can happen during a bicycle accident, a fall from a high playground structure, or a collision during sports. When the head hits something hard, the soft brain can bump against the inside of the skull. This can bruise delicate nerve paths in the language regions.

Other Health Conditions

Several other medical conditions can lead to language problems:

• A brain tumor, which is an unusual bump of cells that presses against language areas as it grows.
• Brain infections, such as herpesviral encephalitis, caused by a tiny virus.
• Swelling from autoimmune neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
• Conditions that cause seizures, such as epilepsy.
• Rare side effects from powerful pain medicines such as fentanyl.

How Doctors Find and Diagnose Aphasia

When someone has trouble talking, doctors called neurologists run special tests to see what is going on inside the brain. Finding the exact problem helps doctors create the best plan to help the patient speak again.

High-Tech Brain Scanners

Doctors use wonderful scanning machines that take detailed pictures of the inside of the head without hurting at all.

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This scanner uses giant magnets and radio waves to take super-sharp pictures of soft brain tissues. It shows doctors exactly where a lesion or bruised spot is located.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): This special scanner watches blood moving in real time. When a patient inside the scanner listens to a story or reads words on a screen, the language areas light up on the computer.
• Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI): This tool maps the long wiring paths connecting different brain regions, like the arcuate fasciculus.

Speech and Language Tests

A specialist called a speech-language pathologist gives the person a series of fun and thoughtful tasks. They might ask the person to:

• Name everyday items like an apple, a key, a watch, or a shoe.
• Repeat tongue-twisters or simple phrases.
• Follow simple instructions, like "Point to the ceiling, then touch your knee."
• Read a short paragraph out loud and answer questions about it.
• Write down their own name and write a sentence about a picture.

Helping the Brain Heal and Recover

The brain has an amazing secret superpower called neuroplasticity. This means that the brain can bend, learn, rewire itself, and build brand-new connections after an injury! Just like a muscle gets stronger when you lift weights, brain paths get stronger when you practice using them.

The Natural Healing Period

Right after a head injury or stroke, the brain starts fixing itself automatically. This is called spontaneous recovery. During the first few months, swelling inside the head goes down, and sleepy brain cells wake back up. The brain works hard to clean up damaged areas and reroute signals through healthy neighboring cells. While nature does a lot of work on its own, working with a speech teacher makes recovery much stronger.

Speech and Language Therapy

Speech therapists are like personal trainers for language skills. They design clever games and exercises to help patients rebuild their speaking muscles and mental dictionaries.

• Copy and Recall Therapy (CART): Practicing writing and spelling words over and over to make the mental pathway stick.
• Promoting Aphasic's Communicative Effectiveness (PACE): Practicing real conversations using drawings, pointing, hand gestures, and words.
• Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA): Describing an object's color, shape, size, and use to help the brain locate the exact name.
• Group Therapy: Gathering several people with aphasia together in a circle so they can chat, tell jokes, and practice in a friendly, relaxed room.
• Online Practice: Working with speech therapists through computer video calls, which is called telerehabilitation.

Melodic Intonation Therapy: Singing Words!

One of the most fascinating treatments is called Melodic intonation therapy. Have you ever noticed that it is easier to remember the words to a song than a long poem? That is because singing uses parts of the right side of the brain! In this therapy, people who cannot speak words practice singing them to simple, catchy tunes while tapping their left hand to the beat. Over time, the therapist slowly removes the melody until the person is speaking the words normally. A person who cannot say "I want water" might sing it with ease!

Communication Gadgets and Tools

When speech is very slow to return, people can use augmentative and alternative communication tools. These tools make sure everyone can still share their thoughts and feelings:

• Picture communication books filled with drawings of food, clothes, feelings, and family members.
• Alphabet boards where a person points to letters one by one to spell out words.
• Cool tablet computer apps that speak out loud when the user taps on an icon.
• Drawing pads where people sketch out what they are thinking.

How Friends and Family Can Help

Having a friend or grandparent with aphasia can feel confusing at first, but kids can be wonderful helpers! Talking with someone with aphasia just takes a little bit of patience, kindness, and understanding.

Helpful Communication Tips

Here are some great ways to make conversations easier and more fun:

• Speak in a calm, clear voice, but do not shout. The person is not deaf; their brain just needs a moment to sort out the words.
• Keep sentences simple and ask questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no."
• Give the person plenty of time to answer. Try not to jump in too quickly to finish their sentence for them.
• Use hand gestures, point to objects, or draw pictures on a pad of paper while you talk.
• Turn off loud distractions like the television or radio so it is quiet and easy to focus.
• Include them in family fun! Even if they cannot chat easily, they still love playing board games, watching movies, and going for walks.

History of Language Science

People have known about speech problems after head injuries for thousands of years. The oldest written report of a person losing speech after a head injury was found on an ancient Egyptian papyrus called the Edwin Smith Papyrus, written over 3,500 years ago!

In the 1800s, European doctors began studying the human brain with great curiosity. In 1861, Dr. Paul Broca met a patient who could only say one single syllable: "tan." When Dr. Broca examined the patient's brain, he discovered a small injured spot on the left side, proving for the very first time that specific parts of the brain control specific tasks. A few years later, Dr. Carl Wernicke discovered that damage to a different area caused trouble understanding words. Later, famous researchers like Soviet psychologist Alexander Luria created detailed maps showing how many different brain networks cooperate to make human language possible.

The Story Behind the Word

The word aphasia comes from the Ancient Greek language. In Greek, the letter a- means "without" or "not," and the word phásis means "speech." So, put together, aphasia literally means being "without speech."

Keeping the Brain Safe and Healthy

While some brain injuries happen completely by surprise, there are many smart things we can do every single day to protect our heads and keep our brains healthy for a lifetime!

Wearing Helmets and Seatbelts

Whenever you ride a bicycle, scooter, skateboard, or roller skates, always wear a properly fitted safety helmet. If you play contact sports like ice hockey, American football, or baseball, always wear your protective gear. Helmets work like sturdy shields that cushion the brain from hard bumps. In the car, always click your seatbelt!

Heart-Healthy Habits

What is good for your heart is also fantastic for your brain! The brain needs strong, clean blood vessels to stay sharp:

• Eat colorful fruits, crunchy vegetables, and healthy whole grains.
• Run, jump, swim, and play outside every day to keep your heart pumping strong.
• Drink plenty of cool, refreshing water.
• Get a great night of sleep so your brain cells have time to rest and recharge.

See Also

• Agnosia
• Aphasiology
• Apraxia of speech
• Aprosodia
• Auditory processing disorder
• Lethologica
• Lists of language disorders
• Origin of speech