ADULT LANGuAGE

Adults who experience a stroke, traumatic brain injury or the progression of a degenerative disease may have a subsequent acquired language disorder. This is known as aphasia. Aphasia may impact their understanding of language, ability to use language, read and write. 

If a person's receptive language is impacted, they may have difficulty: 

• understanding and following a conversation 
• understanding what you have said if there is background noise (e.g. TV, radio or a loud coffee shop) 
• following instructions 
• understanding questions correctly (including yes/no questions and 'wh' questions - e.g. who, what, where, why) 

If a person's expressive language is impacted by Aphasia, they may have difficulty: 

• engaging in a conversation 
• answering yes/no or 'wh' questions (e.g. who, what, where, why) 
• finding the word that they want to say
• saying the wrong word (e.g. saying 'spoon' instead of 'knife') 

It is very important to remember that aphasia does not impact a person's intellect. They may know what they want to say but have difficulties expressing their message.