Created by Amy Stanley

Answers to Your Questions About Stroke and Aphasia

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is stopped or when bleeding occurs in the brain.

Any time the brain is deprived of oxygen for too long or blood spills in the brain, brain damage may occur.

What is a stroke?

There are two main types:1) An artery carrying blood to the brain may be blocked

by a blood clot or a buildup of material like cholesterol, causing brain tissue to die.

• Over 80% of all strokes happen this way.2) An artery carrying blood to the brain may burst,

causing the blood to spill and clot in the brain.

Are there different types of stroke?

http://www.medicalscale1.com/category/stroke-video/

There are many risk factors for stroke. They include:

What are the risk factors for stroke?

High cholesterol

High blood pressure

Family history of a

stroke

Age (55 or older)

Diabetes

Smoking

Male

African American

Previous stroke

Unusual/low breathing

while asleep

Living in the stroke belt

(mostly southern states)

There are many symptoms of a stoke. They include the following sudden conditions:

Unusual sounding speech or difficulty speakingBlurred visionSevere headache Loss of coordination/ trouble walking Muscle weakness or tingling/numbness in one

side of the body

What are the symptoms of stroke?

Timing is everything. The best thing you can do is get the person to the hospital as soon as possible.

Even if the symptoms go away, the person still needs to seek medical treatment. They may have experienced a mini-stroke that could lead to a more serious stroke.

What should I do if I believe someone is having a stroke?

Act FAST:Face: Does the face look uneven? Ask your loved one to smile.

Arm: Does one arm drift down? Ask them to raise both arms.

Speech: Does their speech sound strange? Ask them to repeat a phrase.

Time: Every second brain cells die. Call 9-1-1 at any sign of a stroke.

http://strokedoctor.com/medical-info/memory-problems-may-be-sign-of-stroke-risk

To help prevent a stroke, you can:

Eat a healthy diet with low cholesterol and fat. You should also eat less salty foods and more vegetables and fruit.

Exercise regularly to maintain a healthy weight.

Do not smoke cigarettes.

What can I do to prevent stroke?

Aphasia is an acquired condition that causes difficulty in understanding language and speaking due to brain damage on the left side of the brain.

Stroke is the number one cause of aphasia.

What is aphasia?

Left side brain damage

Left side brain damage

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Words/Aphasia.htm

Aphasia is not memory loss.

Aphasia is not a loss of intelligence.

Aphasia is not a loss of muscle use, although muscle weakness may be seen with it.

What is aphasia not?

http://www.aphasia.org/EmergencyResponder.html

Aphasia will impact an individual’s language. Some symptoms

of aphasia may include:

Difficulty speaking and writing

Slight or significant difficulty understanding language, spoken or

written

Slow , difficult speech with pauses

Speech that is spoken at a normal rate, but difficult to understand

because of made up words ,off-topic words, or repeated phrases

Difficulty repeating words or identifying objects

What does aphasia look like?

There are several kinds of aphasia depending on which part of the brain is damaged. These are the two major types:

1) One type may allow the person to speak at a normal rate, however their speech may be confusing and difficult to understand . They may also have difficulty understanding language.

2) The second type may allow the person to understand language better than they can speak, so their speech may be slow and difficult to produce. However, some people may have difficulty understanding as well as a difficult time speaking.

Note: severity of language loss will be different among people.

Are there different kinds of aphasia?

A speech-language pathologist can help your loved one.

There are devices that can be usedto help you loved one communicate.

How can my loved one communicate?

http://worldaphasia.blogspot.com/2009/04/smalltalk-for-aphasia-smalltalk-for.html

For more information visit: http://www.dynavoxtech.com/products/maestro/

Most importantly, remember that your loved one is still the same person.

Ask them yes/no questions instead of open-ended questions.

Talk slowly when speaking to them.

Give them plenty of time to respond to questions or comments.

Encourage speech and independence.

What should I do?

Brain basics: Preventing stroke (2011). National

institute of neurological disorders and stroke. Retrieved from

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/preventing_stroke.htm

Chapey, R. (2008). Language Intervention Strategies in Aphasia and Related Neurogenic

Communication Disorders (5th edition). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Kugel, C. & Cafarelli, V. (Directors). (2009) It’s still me! [motion picture] . United States:

Buzzco

Associates, inc.

LaPointe, L. (2005). Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Language Disorders (3rd edition). New

York: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

References