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Aphasia is an acquired language problem caused by damage to the brain in the hemisphere responsible for communication. A stroke is the most common cause of aphasia, but any disease or injury that affects the language areas of the brain can result in aphasia. Aphasia affects all modes of expressive and receptive communication including speaking, writing, reading, understanding and gesturing. The extent to which each of these is affected depends on the location in the brain where the stroke occurred and the size of the stroke. Some people may experience equal difficulty across modalities while others may experience more severe problems in one or more areas. Cognition- how we acquire language, and communication- the use of language, are the underlying processes which may be affected in aphasia. Some people may recover completely from aphasia while others may have permanent speech and language difficulties of varying degree.