In order to learn and go about our business day to day, we need to take in and give out information. As we interact with others, the main way information is shared is to talk to one another. Unfortunately, for a fairly large group of people, their ability to speak has been compromised. In medicine, we call this Aphasia. I have been wanting to write this about this topic for some time now, but it is not very exciting. There seems to be less controversy about this subject than many of the previous articles that I have written. It has taken a bit longer to find the motivation than I would have cared for, but maybe that is a good thing, I have had time to write a more objective article.
Let’s start with a definition. Aphasia should translate literally as “without speech,” but more generically it means that there is something wrong with a person’s speech, either their ability to speak or their ability to understand speech. There can be both sudden and slowly developing conditions that may lead to aphasia.
One of the sudden conditions is stroke. An acronym that is often cited for symptoms to watch for signs of a stroke is BE FAST. “S” is for speech. Slow developing conditions are numerous. Things like multiple sclerosis, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and others will affect a person’s ability to speak clearly. Los ...
