Speech Therapy For Right Hemisphere Brain Damage

 

No matter the cause, brain damage is a serious medical condition that can cause debilitating symptoms.

If you or a loved are living with brain damage, you know how drastically the symptoms can interfere with daily life, including speech communication.

At District Speech and Language Therapy, we can help you manage these speech related symptoms.

Speech-language therapy is an effective solution that can help you recover from a traumatic brain injury.

In this article, we’ll further explore this idea.

You’ll find out more about right hemisphere brain damage, its symptoms and causes, as well as how speech therapy can help.

What Is The Right Hemisphere?

Your brain is divided into two parts, or hemispheres, which control different aspects of your body.

The right hemisphere is the part of the brain that is responsible for your communication skills and pragmatics, including eye movement and facial expressions.

Damage to this part of the brain commonly causes severe communication and language difficulties.

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For instance, a 2022 study by Brian MacWhinney found that patients with right hemisphere brain damage experience limitations in their question asking abilities.

Additionally, right hemisphere brain damage can affect language and communication skills in many other ways.

Examples include:

• Difficulty assigning meanings to words, or relate words with similar meanings (semantic processing of words)
• Difficulty with comprehending language (discourse processing)
• Difficulty using rhythm and intonation (prosody)
• Difficulty understanding relationships between words, people, and contexts (pragmatics)

Symptoms Of Right Hemisphere Brain Damage

Right hemisphere brain damage can cause a variety of symptoms that can range in severity, depending on the site and extent of your brain injury.

Symptoms of right hemisphere brain damage can include difficulties surrounding language, cognitive processing, and emotional regulation.

In addition to the ones we previously listed, symptoms of right hemisphere brain damage on language include:

• Difficulty understanding the meaning of words in different contexts (apragmatism)
• Difficulty with nonverbal communication
• Difficulty comprehending longer sentences, both spoken and written

Symptoms of right hemisphere brain damage on cognitive processing include:

• Executive function difficulties, including losing track of thoughts and actions, and logical thinking
• Attention difficulties
• Unilateral neglect, or the inability to see objects towards your left side
• Judgment and reasoning difficulties
• Difficulty with problem solving
• Awareness difficulties
• Memory difficulties

Symptoms of right hemisphere brain damage on emotional regulation include:

• Emotional disorders, such as emotional ability
• Difficulty interpreting or conveying information
• Reduced empathy

Additional right hemisphere brain damage symptoms include:

• Difficulty controlling muscles to speak (dysarthria)
• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• Paralysis in lower face, arm, and leg on one side of the body (hemiplegia)

It’s worth noting that these symptoms overlap with a number of other health concerns, including autism spectrum disorder and dementia.

RELATED ARTICLE: A Speech Therapist’s Role In Dealing With Dementia

At District Speech and Language Therapy, we can screen both children and adults to help determine the underlying cause of your symptoms.

What Causes Right Hemisphere Brain Damage?

Right hemisphere brain damage is an acquired injury, meaning it occurs after some sort of trauma.

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Examples of such trauma include:

• Stroke
• Brain tumors
• Brain surgery
• Brain infections
• Accidents
• Seizure disorders
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Screening For Right Hemisphere Brain Damage

If you suspect that you or a loved one are living with right hemisphere brain damage, a speech therapist can conduct a screening to identify areas for further assessment.

Your speech therapist may use a combination of standardized and non standardized screening methods to assess a variety of your skills, including your:

• Oral motor functions
• Speech production skills
• Language comprehension and production
• Pragmatic language skills
• Attention
• Memory
• Executive function

Depending on the results of your screening, your speech therapist might recommend you for a comprehensive assessment or refer you for other examinations, such as psychiatric, hearing, or vision testing.

RELATED ARTICLE: Speech Therapy Treatments For Hearing Impaired Kids

Should you require a comprehensive assessment, your speech therapist will assess the following:

• Limitations in your body structure and function
• Comorbid conditions that may explain your symptoms, such as medications or an underlying neurological condition
• Your limitations in social activities and participation
• Contextual factors, such as environmental factors, that serve as barriers to successful communication;
• The impact of your limitations on your quality of life

During a comprehensive assessment, your speech therapist will use a variety of examination methods, including:

• Case history
• Self reports
• Oral and language assessments
• Feeding and swallowing assessments
• Hearing assessments

How A Speech Therapist Can Help With Brain Damage

Speech therapy is an excellent solution for right hemisphere brain damage.

According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, speech therapists can help assess and provide solutions for people with right hemisphere brain damage.

The type of intervention you will receive will depend on which areas you are experiencing difficulties, as well as your personal goals.

Your speech therapist can help with both restorative and compensatory techniques.

However, early intervention is incredibly important for your long term success.

Next, we’ll take a look at some of the intervention methods your speech therapist might use.

1. To Improve Language

Your speech therapist can help you with your language difficulties by improving narrative and conversational discourse.

For instance, they can help you practice identifying the “big picture” in stories, as well as improving your ability to understand relationship between different words or items.

Understanding and managing alternate meanings is another target area during speech therapy for right hemisphere brain damage.

Your speech therapist will help you focus on improving your ability to understand nonliteral language and assign multiple meanings to words.

Finally, your speech therapist can help you improve your pragmatics skills but utilizing techniques, such as role play and video modeling, to improve your social communication.

2. To Improve Executive Function

Executive function refers to cognitive skills, such as problem solving, thinking flexibly, setting and completing goals and staying on track.

Your speech therapist can target these skills in a number of ways, including metacognitive and compensatory strategies, as well as environmental modifications.

Metacognitive and compensatory strategies encourage the use of systems, such as brainstorming for problem solving and creating a timeline to complete goals, to improve your executive function.

Environmental modifications utilize strategies, such as labelling drawers and cabinets, to improve executive function.

3. To Improve Attention

Your speech therapist will utilize direct approaches to encourage attention improvement.

Examples include computerized attention tasks that require you to monitor a computer screen and cancellation tasks that require you to select a specific target.

During your speech therapy sessions, you may also work on metacognitive and compensatory strategies, as well as environmental modifications.

Metacognitive and compensatory strategies use tools, such as graphs or charts, to help you stay focused on the steps needed to achieve a specific goal.

Environmental modifications focus on changing your environment to minimize distraction, including the removal of distracting objects.

4. To Improve Memory

Speech therapy solutions for right hemisphere brain damage memory symptoms utilize external reminders and internal strategies.

External reminders for the improvement of memory include the use of tools, such as to do lists and calendars.

Internal strategies for the improvement of memory focus on tools, such as visualization, rehearsal, and repetition of information.

5. To Address Unilateral Neglect

Speech therapy solutions for unilateral neglect typically focus on left visual neglect as it affects language and communication.

Strategies to improve unilateral neglect include completing tasks that require scanning an entire room, as well as using virtual reality computer programs in order to encourage three dimensional navigation of an environment.

Book Your Appointment With District Speech Today

If you or a loved one has experienced right hemisphere brain damage, you are not alone.

Speech therapy can help you gain confidence and get you back to feeling your best.

At District Speech and Language Therapy, our qualified speech therapists can help you manage and improve your symptoms.

If you’re unsure how to get started with our services, we’re here to help.

Book your appointment with District Speech and Language Therapy today to explore your options.