Problems with EXPRESSION

because of DYSPHASIA

HOW TO HELP

Dysphasiadamage to the left side of the brain caused by a stroke or brain injury can result in dysphasia. This can affect a person’s ability to speak and write.

Sometimes a person may appear vague or hesitant due to word-finding difficulties. Depending on the severity, there may be little or no speech, speech that is fragmented or broken, or speech that is fluent but has no real meaning. The person may have difficulty following conversations and answering yes/no questions reliably.

One of the most frustrating problems is “word-finding” difficulties. The person often knows the word they want to say, but cannot retrieve it. Sometimes they will use a similar word to the one they are looking for.

It is like trying to find a book in a library; after some searching you find the right shelf, but then you pick out the wrong book. So instead of calling a picture of a pair of scissors by the proper name, the person with word-finding difficulty may call them “cutters”.

This often has an effect of restricting the person’s vocabulary (range of words) and often means that his conversation is not as fluent as it might be, or sentences are shorter and words are substituted.

The range of difficulties in expression may be from very mile to severe. When problems are severe the person may be unable to make their needs known through speech.

  • If you understand what the person is trying to tell you, accept it and don’t ask them to repeat it after you.
  • Accept and encourage all means of communication, e.g. facial expression, drawing, gesture, pointing, writing, speech, tone of voice etc.
  • Be honest – if you don’t understand, say so – don’t pretend that you do. Be patient as it may not be easy for either of you.
  • If you don’t understand, it may be best to leave it and try again later. It may be easier to convey the message in a different context, or at a different time.

REMEMBER, IT IS THE MESSAGE THAT IS IMPORTANT, NOW HOW IT IS CONVEYED.

Difficulties communicating can lead to feelings of frustration, anger, social isolation and embarrassment. Therefore, it is important to give opportunities to communicate and praise any attempts, no matter if they are successful or not.

IDEAS FOR WORKING ON EXPRESSION

TASKS TO HELP SPEECH

  1. Automatic Speech

It is useful to practice this to encourage any correct speech pattern because automatic speech is so familiar to us and it is one of the easiest things to do. Practice saying aloud the following:

  1. count to 10 – 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
  2. days of the week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc…..
  3. months of the year – January, February, March, April etc….

It might be easier if you say the sequence first, or see if you can do it together.

  1. Naming Objects

Gather some everyday objects, eg. Pen, cup, glasses, book, watch, place them on the table and ask the person to tell you the names. If this is difficult you could try the following cues:

  1. give a description of the word e.g. “you tell the time with this”
  2. give the first sound of the word e.g. “w..”
  3. give a lead-in sentence e.g. “you tell the time with a ….”
  4. say the word and ask the person to repeat it.

TASKS TO HELP WRITING

  1. Writing the names of objects – use the same task as above
  1. Writing name and address – if this is difficult then write it down for the person to copy.

Leaflets/expression