APHASIA What is Aphasia Aphasia is a total

APHASIA

What is Aphasia? Aphasia is a total or partial loss of the ability to use words.

Causes… • The left hemisphere of the brain has been compromised. • Stroke, tumors, trauma, infection (ex: herpes)… however, does not include conditions attributed to a loss of muscle control. • Since aphasia is a condition caused by other factors, it’s usually diagnosed quickly via language assessments. -Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination or the Western Aphasia Battery

Lets Take A Closer Look…

Types Of Aphasia: Global Wernicke’s Broca’s Conduction Transcortical Motor Transcortical Sensory Anomic

Global- An almost total reduction of all spoken and written language. Involves severe Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasias. Wernicke’s- Speech is preserved, but language content is not correct. This may vary from a few incorrect or nonexistent words to a profuse outpouring of jargon. Ex: “I called my mother on the television and did not understand the door. It was too breakfast, but they came from far to near. My mother is not too old for me to be young. ” Broca’s- These individuals frequently speak short, meaningful phrases that are produced with great effort. They tend to leave out words such as ‘and’, ‘the’, & ‘is’ Ex: Individuals may say, "Walk dog" meaning, "I will take the dog for a walk".

Conduction- Seen in individuals with damage to the arcuate fasciculus, the structure that transmits information between Wernicke's area and Broca's area. Auditory comprehension is almost normal, and oral expression is fluent with occasional minor errors. The ability of repetition is quite poor. Transcortical Sensory- Similar to Wernicke’s aphasia, but repetition ability remains unharmed. Transcortical Motor- Similar to Broca’s aphasia, but repetition remains intact for simple conversations. The ability is lost with more complex conversations. This is associated with right hemiparesis, meaning that there will be paralysis of the patient's right arm, leg, and face. Anomic- Refers to a difficulty with naming. The patient may have difficulties naming certain words, linked by their grammatical type (e. g. difficulty naming verbs and not nouns) or by their semantic category (e. g. difficulty naming words relating to photography, but nothing else) or a more general naming difficulty.

Symptoms… Excessive creation and use of personal neologisms (accepted-slang) Agrammatism (inability to speak in a grammatically correct fashion) Inability to pronounce, not due to muscle paralysis or weakness Dysprosody (alterations in inflexion, stress, and rhythm) Paraphasia (substituting letters, syllables or words) Poor enunciation (not clearly spoken) Inability to comprehend language Inability to speak spontaneously Persistent repetition of phrases Inability to repeat a phrase Inability to name objects Incompleted sentences Inability to form words Inability to write Inability to read

Treatment… • In some instances, an individual will completely recover from aphasia without treatment. This type of "spontaneous recovery" usually occurs following a stroke. Recovery usually continues over a 2 -year period. • • Speech-language therapy start early build on success shift focus outings • Group therapy Family involvement