Aphasia
Pronunciation: ah-FAY-zee-ah
Language disorder affecting the ability to communicate through speaking, understanding, reading, or writing.
Full Definition
Aphasia is an acquired language disorder resulting from brain damage, most commonly stroke, that affects one or more aspects of language function including expression, comprehension, reading, and writing. In rehabilitation medicine, aphasia is classified into several types including Broca's aphasia (primarily affecting expression), Wernicke's aphasia (primarily affecting comprehension), global aphasia (affecting all language modalities), and anomic aphasia (primarily affecting word retrieval). Speech-language pathologists work as integral members of the rehabilitation team to assess language function and develop individualized treatment plans to maximize communication recovery and develop compensatory strategies.
Usage
Usage note: Specify type of aphasia when known; distinguish from speech disorders like dysarthria.
In Context
- "The patient's Broca's aphasia significantly limited verbal expression despite intact comprehension." — Speech-language pathology evaluation
- "Aphasia treatment focused on improving functional communication using multimodal approaches." — Therapy progress note