Broca’s Aphasia is a condition that affects a person’s ability to communicate, read, or understand words and specific terms. It can vary in severity, and some people only struggle with particular words or certain types of conversations. The condition is typically caused by a head injury or an infection that affects the brain. Some people are able to overcome the condition and find success with rehabilitation. Others must find ways to deal with the condition and learn to communicate in different ways.
If you are working with someone at home and hope to ease the severity of the condition, there are many therapies and exercises you can try. Some of these exercises are the same ones used by rehabilitation programs.
Working at home with a person suffering from this condition can give them extra opportunities to work through the words, letters, or phrases that they have trouble within real-life scenarios.
1. Opposites Exercise
Broca’s Aphasia can affect a person’s ability to understand simple words and their meanings. Often, people have some memory of the meaning of the word or a meaning that relates to it, but confuse it with its opposite. A good exercise to help distinguish between two different words or commands is the opposites exercise. In this exercise, you may say something and ask the person to name the opposite. You may start with directions or feelings and go from there. If a person does well with simple things, they may be able to move on to more difficult opposites. This exercise can stop confusion and make people more aware of specific commands and their meanings.
If speech improves, you can ask them to be more specific about opposites and continue to add new words and opposites to the exercise to make it more challenging. This exercise can also be done with flashcards or picture boards.