If he could produce a stream of words, he would. My husband, a 5-year stroke-survivor, has Broca’s aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder that interrupts language. In my husband’s case, it’s an expressive language disruption. He can take language in, but getting language out is difficult. Learn how aphasia affects communication, and read how my husband and I deal with some of the communication challenges.
Aphasia: Language In But Not Out
Because of his aphasia, my husband can’t spell very well; so he can’t write what he can’t say. Spelling is an expressive form of language. And speaking is also an expressive form of language; therefore, speaking is very difficult for him. The words are in his thinking, but they don’t come out when he wants them to or as they should. Although expressive language tasks are challenging, he has little difficulty listening and understanding what he hears. Aphasics differ in the degree of disability regarding expressive or receptive language.
Aphasia: Gestures and Questioning
How many women would envy me having a husband who listens and doesn’t talk back? It may seem ideal, until you really need a piece of information, and all you get is gestures. If you need information, you have to get it one way or another. Generally, it means asking questions–dozens of them. If you like playing 20-questions, you’d like communicating with an aphasic. Most questions–by virtue of necessity–seek yes and no answers.
Aphasia: No Consistent Yes or No
The most difficult thing about aphasia from my point of view is that my husband’s yes’s and no’s are not always consistent. A yes answer may mean yes 90% of the time, but it could mean no the other 10%. Whatever he is thinking is what it means. So, trusting the yes or no of an aphasic may not be as dependable as one would hope.
Apahsia: Unsaid Words and Phrases
The second most difficult thing about aphasia is all the unsaid words and phrases. You may get a few words per day in conversation or a hundred words, but you won’t get a thousand. Thankfully, a lot of things can be said nonverbally. Also, a mere word is often enough of a clue to generate information. A single word clue can help get me on topic or at least into the ballpark. Once I get the topic that my husband is trying to convey, I can usually question my way to the information he would have told me–if he could have told me.
Aphasia: Stuck Mid-Word or Mid-Sentence
The third most difficult thing about aphasia has to do with personality and sociability. My husband happens to be a people-person and likes to socialize and be part of conversations. Unfortunately, he may open his mouth to speak and only get a word or two out, before he gets stuck. Then he’ll call for me to come and pick up where he left off. I’m expected to tell the story he started–which really isn’t in my comfort zone. But since I know most of his stories and his one word clues or gestures, I can most often guess his topic and become his voice.
With Broca’s aphasia, my husband presents several communication challenges. But the extra work it takes for him to get his language out, makes it all that more amazing when I’m the recipient of a laboriously crafted 10-word sentence.
