A cognitive disorder marked by an impaired ability to comprehend or express language in its written or spoken form. This condition is caused by diseases which affect the language areas of the dominant hemisphere. Clinical features are used to classify the various subtypes of this condition. General categories include receptive, expressive, and mixed forms of aphasia.

An acquired language impairment of some or all of the abilities to produce or comprehend speech and to read or write.

Any disturbance in the comprehension or expression of language caused by a brain lesion.

Aphasia is a language disorder that makes it hard for you to read, write, and say what you mean to say. Sometimes it makes it hard to understand what other people are saying, too. Aphasia is not a disease. It's a symptom of damage to the parts of the brain that control language. The signs of aphasia depend on which part of the brain is damaged. There are four main types of aphasia: Expressive aphasia is when you know what you want to say, but you have trouble saying or writing your thoughts.; Receptive aphasia affects your ability to read and understand speech. You can hear what people say or see words on a page, but you have trouble making sense of what they mean.; Global aphasia is the loss of almost all language ability. You can't speak, understand speech, read, or write.; Anomic or amnesia aphasia is when you have trouble using the right words for certain things, people, places or events. In some cases, aphasia may get better on its own. But it can be a long-term condition. There's no cure, but treatment may help improve language skills. Aphasia happens from damage to one or more parts of the brain involved with language. The damage may be from: Stroke, which is the most common cause of aphasia; Brain tumor; Brain infection or inflammation; Brain injury; Other brain disorders or neurologic diseases that affect the brain and get worse over time, such as dementia. Anyone can have aphasia at any age, but most people with aphasia are middle-aged or older. Most aphasia happens suddenly from a stroke or brain injury. Aphasia from a brain tumor or other brain disorder may develop slowly over time. If a health care provider sees signs of aphasia, the provider will usually: Test the person's ability to understand language and speech. This includes asking questions and checking to see if the person can follow simple commands.; Order an imaging scan to see if there's a brain injury and what part of the brain is damaged. Possible tests include: MRI; CT scan. . If imaging shows signs of aphasia, more tests may be needed. These tests measure how much the brain damage has affected the ability to talk, read, write, and understand. In most cases, the tests are done by a speech-language pathologist or speech therapist (a specialist who treats speech and communication disorders). Some people fully recover from aphasia without treatment. But most people should begin speech-language therapy to treat aphasia as soon as possible. Treatment may be one-on-one with a speech therapist or in a group. Therapy using a computer may also be helpful. The specific therapy depends on the type of language loss that a person has. It may include exercises in reading, writing, following directions, and repeating what the therapist says. Therapy may also include learning how to communicate with gestures, pictures, smartphones, or other electronic devices. Family participation may be an important part of speech therapy. Family members can learn to help with recovery in many ways, such as: Using simpler language; Including the person with aphasia in conversations; Repeating or writing down key words to help communicate more clearly. Language abilities may continue to improve over many years. In general, people recover their ability to understand language more fully than their ability to speak. How much a person recovers depends on many things, including: What caused the brain injury; What part of the brain was hurt; How badly and how much of the brain was hurt; The age and health of the person. You can help prevent aphasia by: Making heart-healthy lifestyle changes to lower your chance of having: A stroke; Heart disease;...

Cognitive disorder marked by an impaired ability to comprehend or express language in its written or spoken form; caused by diseases which affect the language areas of the dominant hemisphere; general categories include receptive, expressive, and mixed forms of aphasia.

Difficulty speaking or comprehending language; a common occurrence after a stroke affecting the left hemisphere of the brain, where language is processed.

Impairment of the expression or comprehension of verbal and written language.

Aphasia is language dysfunction that may involve impaired comprehension or expression of words or nonverbal equivalents of words. It results from dysfunction of the language centers in the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia or of the white matter pathways that connect them. Diagnosis is clinical, often including neuropsychologic testing,...

Aphasia is an acquired disorder of language due to brain damage. Aphasia does not include (1) developmental disorders of language, often called dysphasia in the United States; (2) purely motor speech disorders, limited to articulation of speech via the oral-motor apparatus, referred to as stuttering, dysarthria, and apraxia of speech; or...

Aphasia is a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate. It can affect your ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written.

Aphasia, defect in the expression and comprehension of language caused by damage to the temporal and the frontal lobes of the brain. Aphasia can be caused by a head injury, a tumour, a stroke, or an infection. Symptoms vary with the location and extent of the brain tissues involved. Damage to the...