The Stroke Association provides information about what a stroke is…..
It happens when the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off. It can be caused by a blockage in one of the blood vessels leading to the brain or a bleed in the brain.
Blood carries essential nutrients and oxygen to your brain. Without blood your brain cells can be damaged or destroyed.
Strokes affect people in different ways, depending on the part of the brain that is affected, how widespread the damage is and how healthy the person was before the stroke. A stroke can affect the way your body functions as well as your thought processes and how you feel and communicate.
A stroke can also have an emotional impact and can cause problems such as anxiety, depression or changes to your personality.
If a stroke has damaged the parts of the brain responsible for language there can be problems with communicating.
Stroke can also cause communication problems if muscles in the face, tongue or throat are affected.
About a third of stroke survivors have some difficulty with speaking or understanding what others say.
The main communication difficulties caused by a stroke are:
-
Aphasia
-
Dysarthria
-
Dyspraxia
Aphasia
There are around 367,000 stroke survivors in the UK who have aphasia, and it affects people in many different ways.
Aphasia can affect how you speak, your ability to understand what is being said, and your reading or writing skills.
People with aphasia find it difficult to speak, read, write or understand.
Aphasia affects communication not intelligence.
One third of people who have survived a stroke in the UK have aphasia.
Dysarthria
Dysarthria happens when a stroke causes weakness of the muscles you use to speak.
If you have dysarthria, your voice may sound different and you may have difficulty speaking clearly.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia of speech happens when you cannot move muscles in the correct order and sequence to make the sounds needed for clear speech.
You may not be able to pronounce words clearly.
You’ll receive a full assessment of your difficulties from a Speech and Language Therapist who will establish your personal needs and priorities for communication and your goals for therapy.
Your progress will be monitored and support will be offered for as long as therapy is beneficial.
For more information got to : www.stroke.org.uk/about/what-is-a-stroke
Written by Rachel Harrison on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services.
Speech and Language Therapist
