Question about aphasia after a stroke

[fluidistic]

Hello people,
I'm wondering whether it's possible to suffer a stroke and be severly impaired in speech and still understand perfectly what people are saying.
I imagine such a person would be able to communicate perfectly and quickly by typing the words on a computer keyboard or writing on a sheet of paper, but talking would be utterly hard. Is this possible?
Or does the disability in speech also disables comprehension of speech and disables any way to "think with words" in the mind.
Thanks.

 

[Evo]

Hello people,
I'm wondering whether it's possible to suffer a stroke and be severly impaired in speech and still understand perfectly what people are saying.
I imagine such a person would be able to communicate perfectly and quickly by typing the words on a computer keyboard or writing on a sheet of paper, but talking would be utterly hard. Is this possible?
Or does the disability in speech also disables comprehension of speech and disables any way to "think with words" in the mind.
Thanks.

A stroke can paralyze the vocal cords, impeding speech and have nothing to do with mental capabilities, also the stroke can paralyze body parts making typing or writing difficult or impossible. Strokes can disable a person in many ways, so the answer to your question would differ with every stroke victim.

 

[fluidistic]

A stroke can paralyze the vocal cords, impeding speech and have nothing to do with mental capabilities, also the stroke can paralyze body parts making typing or writing difficult or impossible. Strokes can disable a person in many ways, so the answer to your question would differ with every stroke victim.

Ok thanks Evo so basically the answer to my question is "yes", one can suffer a stroke, not be able to speak well but still understand perfectly.
Now what if the stroke affects the Broca area in such way that the guy mixes words (example: says "dog" instead of "fire") or invent unintelligible new words (apparently this can happen). Are these guys able to write down the correct words/thoughts on a sheet of paper, assuming that their motor skills are unaffected.

 

[Evo]

My father suffered a massive stroke which left him completely paralyzed on one side of his body, it was like you just drew a line straight down the middle of his body, half of his face, his vocal cords, completely paralyzed on one side, but no mental problems. It was very sad, he lived in a rehab center for a year and had just been allowed to move back home when he suffered another massive stroke which killed him. I can not stress enough that people that are prone to stroke do what ever you need, and if you think you've had a stroke, get to the hospital immediately, there are now procedures that can be done shortly after a stroke that can reverse or greatly reduce the damage.

 

[Evo]

Ok thanks Evo so basically the answer to my question is "yes", one can suffer a stroke, not be able to speak well but still understand perfectly.
Now what if the stroke affects the Broca area in such way that the guy mixes words (example: says "dog" instead of "fire") or invent unintelligible new words (apparently this can happen). Are these guys able to write down the correct words/thoughts on a sheet of paper, assuming that their motor skills are unaffected.

That's hard to say, it is possible that areas of the brain could be affected, only a doctor with proper tests to evaluate could tell for sure. My guess is that if their brain is affected and they can't think of the right word to say, they would also write the wrong word. Again, this is one of those things that is so individualized.

My father survived WWII, he survived shrapnel to his face during bombing of his ship that blinded him. He went on to get his EE degree after the war while working full time and supporting a wife and two small children. He was very smart and nothing could keep him back. He had quite a bit of will power, but I'm going off topic, sorry.

 

[fluidistic]

No problem Evo with the off topic.
I've found something interesting about different types of aphasias but nothing is said about the ability to write correct sentences although in some types of aphasias there's no doubt that there's also an impairment at the writing level.

Oops the link is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia#Presentation.