Cognitive communication impairment is also known as cognitive communication disorder or right hemisphere language disorder.
Cognitive communication impairment occurs when communication is negatively affected by changes in cognition (or thinking).
Communication is affected by cognitive impairment
Communication | Cognitive impairment |
Talking Listening Reading Writing Social interaction Conversation | Problems maintaining attention and concentration Poor memory Reduced speed of processing information Impaired executive functioning |
Attention and concentration: The ability to maintain focus when there are distractions present, and shift focus or attention between two or more different things.
People with cognitive communication impairment may be easily distracted and lose their focus and train of thought. They may have trouble focusing on a conversation or task when there is background noise or other distractions. They may be able to maintain attention for only short periods of time before becoming irritable and fatigued.
Memory: The ability to retain and recall information.
People with cognitive communication impairment may have difficulty holding onto verbal instructions or may have difficulty recalling what has been said in a conversation. They may not be able to retain information to store it in their long-term memory. They may have trouble recalling information which can make it challenging to use trained strategies and techniques.
Processing information: Taking on information, interpreting it and responding to it.
People with cognitive communication impairments may have difficulty understanding conversations or conveying verbal messages in an efficient and appropriate way. It might take them longer to understand spoken or written information and make sense of what is going on. They may take a long pause before responding to spoken information. They may respond to a part of conversation after the topic has moved on.
Executive functioning: The ability to solve problems, set goals, plan tasks, initiate (or start) a task, monitor performance during a task and manage time effectively.
People with cognitive communication impairment may find it hard to set achievable goals. They may have trouble ‘thinking outside the box’ or coming up with solutions to solve problems. They may find it difficult to plan a task including identifying all the key steps and knowing where to start. They may find it challenging to organise their schedule, de-prioritise tasks and be punctual.
Social communication: The ability to appropriately use facial expressions, body language and tone of voice to convey emotions or meaning. The ability to interpret emotions and meaning through others’ use of facial expressions, body language and tone of voice.
People with cognitive communication impairment may struggle to follow the social rules in conversation such as maintaining appropriate eye contact (they may not make any eye contact), taking turns (they may talk too much or not enough), knowing when to interrupt (they may not know when it’s their turn to talk or may interrupt conversation a lot). They may not use facial expressions or may have monotone speech, so they might appear flat or annoyed when they aren’t. They may also have trouble interpreting others’ social cues. This might include difficulty understanding sarcasm, noticing irritability in others, or noticing when someone is trying to end a conversation.
Cognitive communication impairments can be complex and unique. Each person often experiences different impairments which affect their communication in different ways. A speech pathologist can help by assessing verbal (listening and talking) and non-verbal (reading, writing, body language, facial expressions) communication. They work together with clients and their families to identify strengths and difficulties, set goals, and develop therapy tasks that focus on both recovery and compensation to improve communication.
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