About National Aphasia Awareness Month

DESCRIPTION:

Aphasia Awareness Month is Sponsored by the National Aphasia Association each June to raise public awareness and understanding of aphasia and provide support to all persons with aphasia and their caregivers.

Aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write. Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain-most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals. But brain injuries resulting in aphasia may also arise from head trauma, from brain tumors, or from infections.

Aphasia can be so severe as to make communication with the patient almost impossible, or it can be very mild. It may affect mainly a single aspect of language use, such as the ability to retrieve the names of objects, or the ability to put words together into sentences, or the ability to read. More commonly, however, multiple aspects of communication are impaired, while some channels remain accessible for a limited exchange of information. It is the job of the professional to determine the amount of function available in each of the channels for the comprehension of language, and to assess the possibility that treatment might enhance the use of the channels that are available.

The hope is that by raising awareness through Aphasia Awareness Month aphasia will be a commonly understood word and where all persons with aphasia, regardless of individual differences, their families, health professionals, and the public have access to appropriate education and resources that would enhance their potential for an acceptable quality of life.