The Aphasia Mash Up Project

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.

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

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand oral and written language, speaking and writing. It is estimated that one third of those who survive stroke have aphasia (Department of Health, 2007). Most patients with aphasia exhibit spontaneous recovery, usually in the first 2-3 months following stroke onset (Godecke, Hird, Lalor, Rai, & Phillips, 2012). However, 30-40% of these patients may experience long-term post-stroke aphasia (Bakheit et al., 2007). Continued rehabilitative treatments with the speech and language pathologists (SLPs) are not as significantly effective due to the current high demands on limited resources (Palmer et al., 2012), which reduced the availability of face-to-face speech

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)

A contributing factor to this is how difficult it is for people with aphasia to produce sentences that flow smoothly and to connect their sentences. Computer software is helpful in speech therapy because it allows the patients to be able to record themselves speaking, replay it so they can hear exactly what they sound like, and be able to string together partial sentences. This computer program helps the patient produce sentences as they are being formulated. The goal of this program is to “investigate the utility of a two-step treatment that supplements improvements achieved from the use of the software with explicit structural treatment.” (Aphasiology 2009). The results of this study show that this specific approach improves the speech of patients suffering from aphasia, even chronic and non-fluent

Therefore, speech becomes agrammatic and difficult to comprehend, often due to a significant shortage of verbs and phonological errors in conversational speech 6. Additionally, agrammatism in nfvPPA may include omitting required determiners, and failure to produce appropriate subject – verb agreement 7. As the disease progresses, language impairment becomes more prominent and speech fluency decreases. The language profile of semantic variant PPA, is characterized by a progressive loss of semantic knowledge 8. Thus, patients with svPPA lose the meaning of words and concepts, seen particularly in the context of naming and single-word comprehension 9. At present, there has been considerably less research focusing on the treatment of FTD than that of AD. Currently available FTD medications have been used to control behavioral symptoms although they are expensive and ineffective in some patients 10. However, there are no FDA-approved medications specifically indicated for the treatment of FTD 11. Therefore, complementary or alternative non-pharmacological approaches in patients with FTD are of great

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

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 purpose of this study was to see if training atypical examples within a semantic category was a more efficient way to achieve generalization compared to training typical examples when treating individuals with aphasia.

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

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).

During the clinical observations I observed a 60-year-old man whose clinical diagnosis is non-fluent aphasia. To improve on his conversation skills he has worked with the clinician using conversational therapy. When viewing the session, the client expressed an understanding when asked questions on cars and movies. Most of the time he was intelligible, but it becomes hard to understand him when he stops to retrieve a word. As this takes place, he uses SAF or AAC’s triggering for the word he did not remember. His AAC’s consisted of unaided and aided communication systems using his body to receive kinesthetic feedbacks and his phone. He not only expressed his ideas, but demonstrates an interest on his goals for this session and semester. By asking

For what type of problem is this treatment intended? This treatment is intended to improve speech production and use of informative language in persons with moderately severe non-fluent aphasia.

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)