Neurological Communication Disorders

Neurological Communication Disorders are impairments in the ability to understand, produce, or use language due to damage or dysfunction in the brain. These disorders can be developmental (present from early life) or acquired (caused by brain tumors, stroke, traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative diseases, brain infections, and seizure disorders).

Major types of Neurological Language Disorder are:

• Aphasia
• Specific Language Impairment (SLI) / Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
• Language-related conditions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Cognitive-Communication Disorders

Major types of Neurological Speech Disorders are:

• Apraxia of Speech (AOS)
• Dysarthria
• Speech impairments in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis etc.
• Speech deficits in Cerebral Palsy

SLPs provide assessment for Neurological Communication Disorders using standardized tests, language sampling, and functional communication analysis.
They provide intervention strategies like language stimulation and retraining, compensatory strategies, AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) training, family/caregiver training etc.