Symptoms

Aphasia is a sign of some other condition, such as a stroke or a brain tumor.

A person with aphasia may:

• Speak in short or incomplete sentences
• Speak in sentences that don't make sense
• Substitute one word for another or one sound for another
• Speak unrecognizable words
• Not understand other people's conversation
• Write sentences that don't make sense

Patterns of aphasia

People with aphasia may have different patterns of strengths and weaknesses.

• Expressive aphasia. This is also called Broca's or nonfluent aphasia. People with this pattern of aphasia may understand what other people say better than they can speak. People with this pattern of aphasia struggle to get words out, speak in very short sentences and omit words. A person might say, "Want food" or "Walk park today."

  A listener can usually understand the meaning, but people with this aphasia pattern are often aware of their difficulty communicating and may get frustrated. They may also have right-sided paralysis or weakness.

• Comprehensive aphasia. People with this pattern of aphasia (also called fluent or Wernicke's aphasia) may speak easily and fluently in long, complex sentences that don't make sense or include unrecognizable, incorrect or unnecessary words. They usually don't understand spoken language well and often don't realize that others can't understand them.
• Global aphasia. This aphasia pattern is characterized by poor comprehension and difficulty forming words and sentences. Global aphasia results from extensive damage to the brain's language networks. People with global aphasia have severe disabilities with expression and comprehension.

When to see a doctor

Because aphasia is often a sign of a serious problem, such as a stroke, seek emergency medical care if you suddenly develop:

• Difficulty speaking
• Trouble understanding speech
• Difficulty with word recall
• Problems with reading or writing