Dr. Sornalatha Gunasellan

Child Aphasia is complex disorder that is caused by damage to parts of the brain that controls language and speech. This disorder affects the child's ability to express herself through words and understand the speech of other people. The severity of the problem depends on the extent of the damage as well as the location of the damage. Since this is not a birth disorder, therefore, you should be much more careful as so you notice that your kid is facing language disorder. A speech pathologist can diagnose language disorders and teach your child strategies to help.

What are the leading symptoms of aphasia in kids?

1. Not understanding speech is one of the most common symptoms. Most patients cannot understand spoken or written language. Typically in these cases, the patient suffers from fluent Aphasia, which is caused by damage to the left temporal lobe of the brain. The patient's speech might seem meaningless and incoherent with lots of unnecessary words being used. The child usually becomes upset when people don't understand what he is saying.
2. Patients suffering from this disorder also have trouble expressing their thoughts and understanding language and they often take more time to communicate. Only short sentences are used by these patients with words often left out, making the sentence sound incomplete. Such children suffer from non-fluent Aphasia where they understand what others are saying, but cannot communicate or speak well themselves. Their speech is almost similar to that of telegraphic languages that are usually followed by those toddlers who are just learning how to speak.
3. Some children suffering from Aphasia might have trouble repeating words even though they don't have problem understanding what others are saying. These children suffer from conduction Aphasia and will be able to reproduce only parts of a sentence, if asked to repeat.
4. Children affected with this disorder may see to be not listening to you or ignore you.
5. Such kids might also have behavioral problems and may not be able to keep up with their friends and classmates. They will also suffer from forgetfulness.

Causes of Aphasia: The leading cause of Aphasia is brain injury, brain infection, brain tumour or abscess or bleeding in the brain.

Diagnosis of the disease: The disorder is diagnosed by a speech therapist who assesses the condition with a variety of tools to figure out the extent of damage. Its best to take your child to a paediatric speech pathologist who is an expert in treating children with brain injuries. The child will then be assessed on auditory comprehension, verbal expression, reading and writing ability and functional communication.

Treatment: There are many people who think that the speech trouble cannot be treated, but they are completely wrong. There are various ways to treat Aphasia. The younger the patient the better the chances of recovery since the brain is not that developed to handle specific functions in kids as in adults. The treatment will depend on the severity of the condition and the goal that is to be achieved. Factors behind this trouble need to be determined first otherwise the perfect treatment cannot be decided. Some of the most prominent factors are aphasia type, brain-injury cause, age, brain-lesion size and positioning and others.

Some of the leading tips that can be applied as per Association of National Stroke are as follows:

1. Using props can be helpful in getting across messages.
2. Speaking slowly and staying calm while speaking.
3. Drawing pictures or words on paper for communication.

   If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a pediatrician.