What is your approach to counseling older patients and their families regarding expected recovery of aphasia following a large hemispheric stroke?

There is no precise answer for this question. Every patient follows their own course after a stroke. The size of the infarct and the age of the patient will affect the prognosis. Older patients and those with larger infarcts tend not to have as much recovery. The improvement of aphasia can proceed o...

The general approach I take is the same as with all stroke recovery conversations. First, assuming the patient survives (10-15% mortality at 30 days when considering all ischemic stroke), all patients will improve from stroke, and the critical issue is to what degree. Recovery of function to the lev...

I spent much of my career studying aphasia, and there are many variables, including how much of the language cortex and deep structures are affected. Aphasia recovery can continue for a long time, and the amount and duration of speech/language therapy are important. Families can help by asking SLPs ...