How long does it take to regain speech after a stroke?
Unfortunately, speech disturbance is one aspect that recovers slowly, if ever. In general, recovery from a stroke is not as predictable as it is in other diseases. Take for example a broken arm: you set the bone, place a cast, wait a few weeks, and the bone recovers. In stroke, although improvement from the initial symptoms is the rule, there is a tremendous amount of variability in the degree of progress. Although some patients return to normal, many others make only modest strides, and some have little or no improvement. In general, the vast majority of recovery is seen in the first 6 months after the stroke, although people often tell stories of continued recovery out to 2 years.
As a speech pathologist who specializes in speech/language therapy post-stroke, I can tell you that there is no quick or easy recovery of communication function. I recommend a speech evaluation to determine diagnosis, (there are several tyes), and prognosis. It is not accurate or fair to compare one person's recovery to another, due to the many variables affecting speech/language, including: location and extent of brain trauma ,age and health, and how quickly and frequently speech services are implemented. Good luck!
it helped a little.
My mom had a stroke September 2009, she left the hospital after 6 weeks with very little speech, just yes/no, the rest was a nonsensical. Today, almost 18 months after her stroke, 6 months of outpatient speech therapy and she continued speech therapy at a local university's speech clinic. Her improvments have slowed down but she continues to get additional speech back. We are able to have telephone conversations, chat during dinner (mostly w/ leading questions from me) and she can communicate how she is feeling. The speech is still choppy but we are learning to live with our 'new normal'. Keep the faith and a positive attitude...and practice, practice, practice.
