Types of Aphasia

Let’s start with a diagram that shows various types of Aphasia. You can find out more about how this is used on the Diagnosis Page.

Fluent Aphasia

Anomic Aphasia: This is a mild form of Aphasia and the most common symptom is inability of a patient to remember a word. Quite often they will ‘ummm’, ‘errrrr’ as they can’t recall the right word to be using. Quite often the patient will describe the word rather than saying it. For example, a tree might be “Tall brown thing with green leaves’. The patient will be usually fairly consistent when it comes to understanding and repeating.

Conduction Aphasia: This is a rare form of Aphasia where the patient is usually able to speak and understand ok, but may struggle with the odd word or two. However, they really struggle when it comes to repeating words and phrases, often unable to repeat more than a couple of words.

Wernicke’s Aphasia: This is a type of Aphasia where the patient will often speak in complete sentences however the words make little sense to anyone listening the patient will often get frustrated as they are usually unaware that they are not making sense. Due to the nature of this type of Aphasia, the ability to repeat words and sentences is often limited.  

Transcortical Sensory Aphasia: This is similar to Wernicke’s Aphasia but the patient is often able to repeat words and phrases exactly as heard.

Non-Fluent Aphasia

Broca’s Aphasia: This is a type of Aphasia where the patient will often retain the ability to understand the words required but are unable to put sentences together. For example, “The Cat is sat in a tree” may become just “Cat, Tree”. The patient will often fail to understand and read more complicated sentences and will struggle to repeat sentences, but is able to comprehend more simple phrases.

Transcortical Motor Aphasia: This is similar to Broca’s Aphasia but the patient is often able to repeat words and phrases exactly as heard.

Mixed Transcortical Aphasia: This is a type of Aphasia where the patient will struggle with understanding and articulating speech and language but will be able to repeat words and phrases exactly as heard.

Global Aphasia: This is the most severe type of Aphasia where the patient struggles to express themselves in spoken or written form. They struggle to understand and comprehend and are also poor at repeating words and phrases.

Causes of Aphasia