Analysis Of Broca 's Aphasia And Its Effects On The Production Of Speech

The Broca speech area is rostral to the inferior edge of the premotor area on the inferior frontal gyrus. It is usually on the left hemisphere and is responsible for the motor aspects of speech. Damage to this area leads to expressive aphasia or dysphasia (p.452)

Broca’s area gives an individual the motor ability to speak. Damage to this area may cause an individual to have difficulty speaking. For instance, not only does Mr. Fix-it demonstrate incoherent speech, he also has a mild articulatory problem, in which it would be difficult for the patient to say certain words or say it in an unusual accent.

Expressive (motor) Aphasia is a neurological condition that occurs when words cannot be formed, expressed, or may be absent due to an injury to the cerebral cortex. (Brooks & Brooks, 2012).

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

The nervous system is a complex arrangement of nerves and specialized cells called the neurons carry messages to and from the brain and the spinal cord to different parts of the body. Nervous system is consisted of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system is made up of nerves that are outside the brain and spinal cord. Nervous system diseases affect the functioning of the human nervous system consisting of the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system and one such disorder is aphasia. Aphasia is a neurological disorder that is caused by damage to the portions of the brain which is responsible for communication. Aphasia damages the left part of the brain that contains language and is usually caused by stroke but at the same time can be caused by other diseases such as brain tumors, infection, head injury, or dementia that damages the brain. There are four types of aphasia and they are expressive aphasia, receptive aphasia, anomic aphasia, and global aphasia.

Standardization of the revised Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination is based on a normative sample of 242 patients with aphasic symptoms tested at the Boston, VA. Medical Center between1976-1982.

Nearly one million individuals within the United States experience aphasia resulting from a stroke. The website for the American Heart Association states that strokes are the third leading cause of death in the United States. They are often referred to as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). This occurs when the blood flow to the brain has been either stopped or interrupted. The deprivation of blood flow and oxygen to the brain results in a stroke. Around 41.2 percent of individuals who suffered from a stroke will have aphasia (Guyomard et al., 2009). Manasco (2014) stated that aphasia is a deficit in language abilities resulting from the brain. It is broken down into, two categories fluent and non-fluent. Individuals with aphasia typically suffer from anomia. This is a condition where word retrieval (anomia) is difficult. “Most unimpaired individuals do not need to put forth any effort to express themselves verbally. However,

Expressive aphasia, also known as Broca’s aphasia, impairs the way in which a person’s language is produced. Although this type of aphasia impairs a person’s ability to speak, they are still able to use the other aspects of language, such as comprehending when someone is speaking to them. Broca’s aphasia may cause long pauses between words, this is called dysprosody, and leaving out important words or endings of words, which is known as agrammatism. This type of aphasia occurs when there is traumatic damage to what is referred to as the Broca’s area of the brain. Treatment of Broca’s aphasia is done by a Speech Language Pathologist, and is different for each person depending on their specific needs. Receptive aphasia, known as Wernicke’s aphasia, impairs one’s ability to understand themselves and others. The way that they speak is barely comprehensible; this is known as logorrhea. Patients with Wernicke’s aphasia may have something called anosagnosia, which makes them believe that what they are saying is being understood. This type of aphasia makes it very difficult for SLP’s to treat because of the anosognosia. Wernicke’s aphasia is caused by damage to what is known as the Wernicke’s area of the

(Damage to this area would result in, Broca’s Aphasia; the inability to use or understand written or spoken words. People who suffer from this condition may understand what they are wanting to say, but are unable to say it in clarity. Such as “bot” instead of “box”

This is when the sufferer cannot find the correct word for what they intend. Often aphasia does not develop until the sufferer has reached the second stage of the disease (estimated to be last between 4 and 10 years after the first symptoms) (Devinsky & D'Esposito, 2004). Alzheimer’s disease is not the only cause for aphasia, and it affects patients in different severity levels. Aphasia is clear to recognise as you can detect it by simply conversing with the patient, however differentiating between it being caused by Alzheimer’s disease or another condition (e.g. semantic dementia) can prove more difficult. A study was carried out (Libon et al., 2013) where 57 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, 15 with semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and 35 healthy seniors (used as the control group). They were asked to carry out a number of tasks such as categorizing words. They were shown a basic word on a card (e.g. ‘tree’), and then the experimenter would say a category (e.g. ‘nature’). The participant was required to reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ depending on if the word related to the category. The task was repeated using picture images of the words instead, so the participant would be shown the image of a tree instead for example. Both the experimental groups (the Alzheimer’s patients and the semantic variant PPA patients) showed a significant deficiency in word processing from the task. MRI

Imagine a life where someone could not force words to come out of his or her mouth, even if he knew what he wanted to say. Such is the life for people who suffer from Broca’s aphasia. Broca’s aphasia is a speech disorder where the Broca’s area in the brain’s left frontal lobe malfunctions, resulting in the inability for a patient to form the necessary movements of the muscles for speech production. This type of non-verbal aphasia is often referenced as motor aphasia because of the lack of motor skills in the brain for speech production. Thousands of people suffer from this disorder, and as a result communication between these people and society is incredibly difficult. Although each person experiences Broca’s aphasia differently, there are

These facts give momentum to the importance of the roles and responsibilities for Speech Language Pathologists when counseling patients, and the caregivers of people who have Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease directly attacks areas of the brain that effect cognitive abilities and memory, these skills are essential for an individuals comprehension and the production of language – this acquired language disorder is called Aphasia and it is within the speech language pathologists scope of practice to provide counseling to those that are diagnosed, and their caregivers.

The topic of this annotated bibliography is communicating with people who have Aphasia. Aphasia is neurological condition that occurs when the tissues in the left hemisphere of the brain that are responsible for speech, reading and writing are impaired (National Institute of Neurological Disorders, 2013). The main signs of this disorder are: trouble in articulating oneself when speaking, difficulty understanding speech, and problems with reading and writing. Aphasia is usually caused by a stroke, severe head trauma, brain tumors, and brain infections (National Institute of Neurological Disorders, 2013). Aspasia is more common in elderly individuals, The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) states that Aphasia will occur in 15% percent of persons under the age of 65 and will increase to 43% for people that are 85 years of age and older (National Institute of Neurological Disorders, 2013).

This treatment was applied to eight subjects with a diagnosis of Broca’s aphasia, as well as to a control group of 20 with matched ages and education levels.

Aphasia is a language disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are parts of the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. “Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage”. (Sarno 23)