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National Aphasia Awareness Month is a national campaign to increase public education around language disorder and to recognize the people who are living with aphasia or caring for people with aphasia.
Aphasia is defined as an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write, and occurs as a result of an injury to the brain. The most common cause of aphasia is due to brain injury caused by a stroke, however other causes of brain injury which leads to aphasia can be trauma to the head, brain tumors (cancerous or benign), and infection.
Aphasia 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. Often there may be multiple aspects that are affected, and this affects how we must communicate with patients with aphasia. The type of aphasia a person is diagnosed with depends on their ability to speak fluently, comprehend what others are saying and ability to repeat words or phrases.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association is increasing aphasia awareness by sharing communication tips, the effects of having aphasia, assistive devices for those with aphasia and more.
To access their resources please visit: https://www.strokeassociation.org/en/about-the-american-stroke-association/june-is-national-aphasia-awareness-month