What is Anomic Aphasia?

In this episode of Brain Friends, we share a behind-the-scenes conversation between Angie and Dr. Seles on Anomia. Together we weigh the benefits of recognizing the different types of Anomia and the challenges with diagnosis. 

Anomia is a fluent aphasia characterized by word-finding difficulty or the inability to name objects. 

Should we classify Anomia differently? What can Speech-Language Pathologists and researchers do to better help survivors with Anomia?

https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles

https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/

Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. We are committed to honoring her memory by continuing to push our field forward and fight for equitable services for all people with aphasia. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Brain Friends, where two neuronerds talk all things aphasia, language recovery, culture, and community. I am Dr. Datrina Celeste Gatson, a clinical speech language pathologist and neuroscientist.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

And I am Angie Cawthorn, stroke survivor and aphasia advocate.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Welcome to our show. Welcome to Brain Friends. We want to thank all of our listeners for downloading the podcast. We appreciate everyone listening, so please tell a friend to tell a friend that we are here. And we are.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Right. Rather than getting lost in the weeds, you're dealing with the total problem.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Right. Because we already think about all of the different classifications of aphasia that we have back on our aphasia types episode, where you have all the different, you know, Wernicke's brokas, anomia, global, transcortical motor. So you already have and progressive. Progressive, exactly. So you already have aphasia broken down into those categories. And then now you're like, well, let's tease apart anomia. What are like is that even I mean, no, it is. It could. I mean, it's probably some good information in there.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

I feel like I have aphasia. And granted, I heard a noma, a no umia at or anomic at some point later in my journey. But it's like, no, um, you have aphasia, period. Like, and the lady even told me when I said, Well, why didn't anybody tell me that? And she says, Well, because actually the field as a whole is getting away from all of the teasing out and all of the because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. You have aphasia, you have a communication disorder, you have a neurological disorder caused by stroke. Everything else after that is in the weeds.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah. Yeah, that part I agree with. And I also think what happens sometimes with people who have anomia, which is what I would classify you as, because your speech is very fluent, you're able to repeat, your auditory comprehension is well. So it would be like, okay, you have anomia. Sometimes it can be, and I'll just say maybe even practitioner, researcher, whatever, a little insensitive because anomia is the best aphasia to have out of all of them.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Listen, to God be the glory, to God be the glory, because I didn't start out with anomia, or maybe I did, you know what I mean, but it was definitely more severe. Um and I am exceedingly grateful that I have the lowest form, and that also gives me the opportunity to speak for my fellow Ephesians that don't, that are Brona Keys, uh Warner Keys or um Brokers and the others. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, listen, let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

What are we talking about today? Today we're go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

No, that's okay. I just wanted to start with, hey Angie. I know, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:23

We just jumped right on up in here. We just jumped up in here, and you know, I'm keeping that. That was good stuff. I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I like those spontaneous moments. Um especially just uh really breaking that down, you know, with the with the anomia piece that it's still aphasia, and I would say one of the lessons that I also have to be very sensitive about is not discounting those individuals. It's like, well, you're better than the Wernicke's, but it's like either way, you're still having word-finding difficulty. It's still, you know, even though it is the the highest or the the highest or better form of aphasia is to be a gnomic.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Right, right. It's definitely the desired form. If you have to have it, this is what you want to rock with, but it's still aphasia, and it's still it's still the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

So no, I understand that, but it's um and sometimes you might not even qualify for therapy, you know. If your anomia is so good, then you might not even qualify, and that's what makes it challenging sometimes because as speech language pathologists, you use these hallmark assessments, and if you score a certain number on this assessment, that puts you in a higher anomia category, then sometimes it could be hard for to justify to insurance companies why you still need therapy.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Right. So if you do great on the WAB or this other standardized testing that they have, a person like myself that's mild, it it puts me in a different category to show I have a phasia. And I actually I told the doctor um they were assessing me and like kind of questioning if I had a phasia. And my response to them was I never said I did, nor did I said I had a stroke. I can't um diagnose myself with these things. You diagnose me. Now I have to prove I have it. What kind of deal is that? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

And the insensitivity that comes because I had a patient one time that, you know, they had did well and we were ready to discharge them, but they still had some of their trouble. And they were looking at, which makes sense, their baseline, where I'm looking at my standardized baseline. And I really had to together we had to work, and I had to say, okay, well, I need to see some deficit somewhere, whether it's a situation that I need to put you in, so then I can speak to, you know, let's put her in a crowded room, and then then I'll really see her effacing.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Let's open order the or order that cup of coffee. I remember you spoke of uh that client that you had just wanted to order a cup of coffee or order their own food, those type of, you know, and I'm I have my if you ask me um a certain level of assessment, I did a test for one of the universities and they asked me these questions, and I told the researcher, um, if you ask my husband, he's gonna give you a whole nother set of answers. Just know that. Because he sees me in the raw. Exactly. You know, he sees me when and the more comfortable I am with you, the less my verbiage is good. Yeah. Or if I get excited, you know what I mean? It's either or, but yeah, but I again I am not complaining. Yeah. Shout out to Anomia.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Shout out to Anomia. And speaking of the person that you mentioned, I see you're repping your brain friend shirt. I'm right. Merch coming, merch coming. I'm actually representing Live with Purpose, which is the shirt that Taj A, it's by Taj Tees. She started after, you know, we we did all of our therapies. She got back into her her life, and she now has a t-shirt brand. Um, so I have this one from her, which is Live with Purpose, and then she has another saying, which is women get it done. Okay, then cool. Yeah, and what is her name? Let's give her a quick shout-out. Taj, Tajay. Hey, Tajay.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

So she was a stroke survivor as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Well, she had I don't want to put everybody's business in the case. Right. Nope, this isn't. We're not going against HIPAA. This is actually, we've done a segment on this through the American Speech Hearing Association. She actually had a brain tumor that left her with aphasia.

unknown 9:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

And I apologize. She had a brain tumor that she didn't have she didn't have aphasia, but she did have what we would call cognitive communication difficulties, which is like what that means, doc. So basically, when we think about aphasia, aphasia happens because of damage to the left hemisphere of the brain. Right. So if that damage doesn't occur on the left hemisphere, you can still in the left hemisphere, it's on the right, or maybe in a different part of the brain, you can still have difficulty communicating or finding words, but because it's not that language center, we'll call it cognitive communication because you know it's harder to determine are you having trouble getting your words out and communicating because of something from a planning perspective, um, executive planning, just trying to understand where you put your words versus with people with aphasia, they know the words they want to say. It's more of a production, not planning.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Right. There was a time where my jaws and my mouth wouldn't do what I needed to do. And like I would try to say a word, and my um lip still kind of does it. I noticed it since we started taping the podcast. When I watch myself speak, I can see the uh difficulty I'm having. But it's it's small, and again, shout out to anomia. That's gonna be my shirt. Shout out to anomaly. Okay come on, because listen, them other ones are a whole uh problem, a whole entire problem. So that was really good. Nice little opening there. I like it, I like it. So listen. Um I'm sorry. What did you just show me?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

That I just started our time. You just started it, yeah. Cause that wasn't okay. I had just started recording because I knew we were gonna talk about something good, but I knew it wasn't. So then we have that and you can do however you want. But I just started that's an episode, girl.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

I don't know why you're tripping. Come on, come on, episode, come on, clips. That is an episode, and I love that free back and forth. I love that. So listen, but listen, it is I think we're out of time.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

We're out of time. This was so good. Thank you. I always enjoy talking with you, Angie. You're the best brain friend ever.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Brain friends! Listen, this merch is on the way, guys. Get this merch. We're gonna uh we're gonna be doing some other things, we're gonna keep you guys posted, but we thank you for for rocking with us. We have a YouTube channel, Brain Friend, the podcast. Ow. Okay, not if you book. All right, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

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SPEAKER_02 13:05

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