Aphasia

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Aphasia

• Lecture 14

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Aphasia

• The Brain, Unit 6 http//www.learner.org/resou
  rces/series142.html

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Aphasia A Definition

• an abnormal neurologic condition in which
  language function is defective or absent because
  of an injury to certain areas of the cerebral
  cortex. The deficiency may be sensory or
  receptive, in which language is not understood,
  or expressive or motor, in which words cannot be
  formed or expressed.
• Mosby's Medical and Nursing Dictionary (2nd ed),
  1986

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Some Aphasia Basics

• How many people have Aphasia?
• 1 million Americans
• What causes Aphasia?
• Damage to the language-processing areas of the
  cerebral cortex
• Stroke
• Head injury
• Brain tumor
• Infections
• Toxic exposure
• Who typically suffers from Aphasia?
• Its most common among the elderly
• but can strike anybody
• whos got a brain.

How does one prevent aphasia?
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What Regions of the Brain are Associated with
Aphasia?

Left Hemisphere Regions
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1
2
4
Brocas Area Wernickes Area Arcuate
Fasciculus Angular Gyrus
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Other Syndromes Associated w/Aphasia

• Motor problems with which side of the body?
• Right
• Depression
• NOT memory lossthey remember, just cant express

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Examining Language Data from Aphasiacs
Situation 1 Paul's dad had brought him in to
have some work done on his teeth
Examiner What brought you to the hospital?
Patient Yeah Wednesday, Paul and dad
Hospital yeah doctors, two an' teeth

• Brocas Aphasia (Expressive, Non-Fluent, Motor)
• Low fluency
• Reduced verbal output
• Telegraphic speech loss of function words and
  bound affixes
• Good comprehension skills

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More Aphasia Data
Situation 2 Patient is explaining his poor
vision Patient See, my refkid is are bad.
Oh, may cathopes noe too good. Well, my gupa
wasn't too good. Situation 3 Patient is
describing a picture young woman books in her
arms, portrayed in a farm scene Patient
Well, all I know is, somebody is clipping the
kreples and some wha, someone here on the
kureping arm, why I don't know. Situation 4
Interview Examiner How are you
today? Patient I feel very well. My
hearing, writing been doing well, Things that I
couldn't hear from. In other words, I used to be
able to work cigarettes I didn't know how
Chesterfeela, for 20 years I can write it
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Wernickes Aphasia

• Also called Receptive Aphasia, Fluent Aphasia,
  Sensory Aphasia
• Fluent articulation
• Often nonsensical
• Neologistic Jargon
• Problems in word-finding
• Impaired Comprehension Difficulty sorting out
  roles in a sentence
• If there are writing skills, they mirror speech
  long and rambling

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One Final Set of Data

• Situation 5 Interview
• Examiner Well, how are feeling Mr. K?
• Patient Well, I was a little tight earlier one
  word toyce toy tensh tench (tense?)
• Situation 6 Patient is describing a picture of
  boy falling off a stool water is overflowing
  from a sink
• Patient He's falling off the t t t Anyhow,
  the mother is t t she's The water is falling
  over the fink fink stink sink
• Situation 7 Repetition Task
• Target Word Patient Output
• dart cart part chart
• broom broo croo broom
• bench fence park bence bench

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Conduction Aphasia

• Also known as Central Aphasia
• Damage to the Arcuate Fasciculus
• Disrupted speech
• Repeated attempts to correct
• Difficulty repeating
• Good comprehension

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How Should You Interact with an Aphasiac?
Work in groups of 3 or 4 and come up with three
specific recommendations. Justify each one.

• Talk to the person with aphasia as an adult and
  not as a child.
• During conversation, minimize or eliminate
  background noise (i.e., television, radio, other
  people).
• Make sure you have the person's attention before
  communicating.
• Praise all attempts to speak.
• Make speaking a pleasant experience and provide
  stimulating conversation.
• Encourage and use all modes of communication
  (speech, writing, drawing, yes/no responses,
  choices, gestures, eye contact, facial
  expressions).
• Allow the person time to talk and permit a
  reasonable amount of time to respond.
• Accept all communication attempts (speech,
  gesture, writing, drawing).
• Downplay errors and avoid frequent
  criticisms/corrections.
• Keep your own communication simple, but adult.
• Augment speech with gesture and visual aids
  whenever possible.
• Repeat when necessary.
• Encourage independence.
  http//www.aphasia.org/NAAcommun.html

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Two Types of Dyslexia

• Developmental Dyslexia
• problems with reading in the developing child
• normal hearing, vision, intelligence
• neuron deficit prevents child from connecting
  symbol with sound (especially stop sounds
  p, b, d, t, k, g)
• appears to have a genetic component
• early studies suggested more common in boys more
  recent work suggests that it strikes boys and
  girls with equal frequency
• autopsied brains of dyslexics often show
  symmetrical structure
• Acquired Dyslexia (Alexia)
• a form of aphasia ? results from damaged to the
  cerebral cortex (where?)
• damage to the angular gyrus
• normal hearing, vision, intelligence
• words and letters are perceived as meaningless
  symbols