Technology And Its Effects On Aphasia Patients

Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects many adults and families. Aphasia occurs as a result of damage to the language-specific areas of the brain (ASHA, 2014). Individuals with aphasia may experience difficulties with oral language, receptive language, memory, attention writing, and reading. There are a myriad of approaches designed for the treatment of aphasia. Two treatment approaches, Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (P.A.C.E.) and Constraint Induced Language Therapy (C.I.L.T.), and their efficacy in regard to available evidence will be discussed below.

(2) Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) is characterised by problems with speech production. Individuals may struggle to find the correct words when engaging in conversation. Often individuals will struggle to pronounce words correctly (especially if they have more than two syllables), and their speech will lack appropriate grammar. Problems understanding speech can also be present, especially if the sentence contains complex grammar.

Language is an ability that many of us take for granted in everyday life. For those with aphasia, it is a daily struggle to overcome and effective communication is a goal to strive for. Aphasia patients are able to think, perhaps as well as the average person, but they simply cannot convey their ideas or thoughts easily. The Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination is an excellent examination for the diagnosis of the presence and type of aphasia, and for the location of brain damage. The Minnesota Test for Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia has been shown to be the most comprehensive assessment of the overall patient’s strengths and weaknesses in regard to language; it also allows for physicians to predict recovery accurately. Though it is no longer as popular or applicable as newer diagnostic tests, such as the BDAE, it is still an accurate assessment for aphasia. I think this is the paradox in neurological assessment: as technological advances improve, older assessments are becoming invalidated- though they are not inaccurate assessments. New advances and knowledge are being acquired in medicine every day, therefore there is always room for improvement (Holland, 2008). One of the biggest cons to the two batteries I mentioned in this paper is the fact that they are both time consuming- for both the patient and the

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 parietal lobe of the brain if affected by dementia affects language skills. This means that communication skills could be reduced. The person may not be able to ‘find’ the appropriate words to use, or may not understand questions asked of them. They may not relate ‘words’ to the correct ‘objects’ for instance if they pick up a cup, but call it a ‘pot’.

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.

The effects of two treatments for word retrieval impairments in aphasic individuals. With the use of errorless naming treatment (ENT) and gestural facilitation of naming (GES). The effects of the two treatments that were used for a daily picture naming/gesture production probe measure and in standardized aphasia tests and communication rating scales were administered across phases of treatment. (p.235)

Human beings occasionally suffer bad damage to particular parts of their brains. Unfortunately, these injuries may lead to major failure of speech production, understanding language and comprehension which most of the patients suffer it permanently. This impairment is called Aphasia. Gayle (2012) states that people with aphasia fail to understand sentence comprehension although it is a simple sentence. She also mentioned that aphasia patients also have difficulty in reading and understanding speeches. According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2011), aphasia is a scientific term used to explained language disorder due to brain injuries caused by diseases or trauma. In other words, aphasia involves partial or total loss of the ability to

Standardized and nonstandardized methods are used to screen oral motor functions, speech production skills, comprehension, written language, and cognitive aspects of communication. Screenings typically focus on body structures and functions, (ASHA, 2016). Strengths and weaknesses related to spoken and written language are determined along with noticing how the effects of the language disorder impact the individual’s activities and participation in everyday context (e.g., social interactions, work activities). This is important for the person with aphasia’s quality of life which is targeted in the treatment. The individual’s areas

The most common treatment for aphasia is treatment with a speech-language therapist. The therapist works to identify the exact issues the patient is having and to develop a plan on how to improve and manage those issues. The therapist can help the patient use his or her remaining abilities to the fullest, to restore language abilities where possible, to work around remaining language problems, and to learn other ways to get the message

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)

Aphasia is a language disorder that can be the result of a brain injury. An individual that is suffering from aphasia may experience difficulty speaking, writing, reading, or comprehending. There are three different types of Aphasia that differ in various ways. First, Wernicke’s Aphasia is the inability to grasp the meaning of words and sentences that have been produced by another individual. This type of aphasia is also known as “fluent aphasia” or “receptive aphasia”. Wernicke patients’ speech may come across like a jumble of words or jargon, but it is very well articulated and they have no issue producing their own connected speech. If the patient is consecutively making errors, it is common for them to be unaware of their difficulties, and not realize that their sentences don’t make sense. The severity of the disorder varies depending on the patient, and the disorder results form damage in the left posterior temporal region of the brain, which is also known as Wernicke’s area.

One of the rarest types of aphasia includes Transcortical Sensory Aphasia (TSA) and Transcortical Motor Aphasia (TMA), which also has minimum amount of research, compared to other types of speech disorders. Patients with Transcortical Sensory and Motor Aphasias are most similar to Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia but differ by their repetition skills. Differentiating features including salient features, neurological relation, speech, voice, and/ or swallowing deficits, assessments, and current SLP treatments set these two Aphasias apart from other speech disorders.

To begin, the brain can be strengthened due to neuromodulation, which takes place through the use of altering nerve activity through an electrical stimulus. Neuromodulation can be used to help individuals with aphasia with word finding difficulties. Neuroplasticity is defined as the ability for the brain to reorganize itself, which takes place during rehabilitation. Neuroplasticity can involve learning in the undamaged brain while relearning in the damaged section of the brain. Since the CVA was 5 weeks ago, the client is in good shape for reorganization of the brain because the spontaneous language recovery occurs within those first 2 to 3 months. Considering the principles, repetition is crucial for aphasia therapy because repeating

As Thompson states, “A sufferer of Broca 's aphasia may understand completely the sentences of others. However, he may not be able to speak at all, or may speak in sentences that are hard to understand” (Thompson, 2013). Toivonen, a professor at Carleton University, discussed the significance of information flow in the brain using the example of reading out loud. This example illustrates the phenomenon that when an area of the information pathway is damaged, correspondingly, the message-relay can become interrupted. First and for most, the process of articulating begins with the Wernicke’s area of the brain activating when an individual accesses and interprets the lexicon, their mental dictionary. From there, the arcuate fascicles, a bundle of nerve fibres, transmits information sent from the Wernicke’s area to the Broca’s area. The Broca’s area then interprets this information and transmits articulatory information to the motor cortex. Finally, the motor cortex directs movement of the muscles to produce and pronounce speech. (Toivonen,