Aphasia Support Group

Aphasia is caused by damage to the language-dominant side of the brain, usually the left side, and may be brought on by stroke, head injury or a brain tumor. Our online Aphasia Support Group brings together brain tumor patients who are struggling with aphasia. Erica Johns Freestone, SLP, from Emory John’s Creek Rehab department facilitates this meeting.

The support group meets virtually using the Zoom platform. This allows participants not in the Atlanta area and those who do not feel comfortable in a face-to-face group setting to still have access to the support group.

The Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation hosted online aphasia support group meets bi-weekly via Zoom at 12:30 – 1:30 pm ET on Thursdays. Some meetings include a guest speaker on topic relevant to the aphasia and brain tumor community.

Please contact us at supportgroups@sbtf.org for the online aphasia support group Zoom invite and details.

Learn about all the other brain tumor support group opportunities on our Support Group Resource page.

Aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write. Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain-most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals. But brain injuries resulting in aphasia may also arise from head trauma, from brain tumors, or from infections.

Aphasia can be so severe as to make communication with the patient almost impossible, or it can be very mild. It may affect mainly a single aspect of language use, such as the ability to retrieve the names of objects, or the ability to put words together into sentences, or the ability to read. More commonly, however, multiple aspects of communication are impaired, while some channels remain accessible for a limited exchange of information.