8a. Neurologically Based Communication Disorders and Dysphagia -- APHASIA Flashcards
Types of Neuropathologies/Brain Trauma (6)
Aphasia AoS Dysarthrias Dementia Right hemisphere syndrome TBI
Aphasia: Foundational Concepts
*A neurologically based language disorder
(distinct from neurologically based speech disorders such as AoS and dysarthria)
*Caused by various types of neuropathologies (usually strokes aka cerebrovascular accidents (CVA)); More than 50% of people w/ strokes have aphasia
*Strokes may be ischemic or hemorrhagic
*Other causes of aphasia: brain trauma, intracranial tumors, and infections
Ischemic vs Hemorrhagic Strokes
Ischemic: caused by blocked or interrupted blood supply to brain caused by either thrombosis (blood blockage) or embolism (traveling clot)
Hemorrhagic: caused by bleeding in brain due to ruptured blood vessels; Ruptures may be intracerebral (w/in brain) or extracerebral (w/in meninges)
Aphasia: Definition and Classification
- Numerous definitions exist; Some are non-typological (suggest a single disorder) and others are typological (classify aphasia into types); Other definitions are based on cognitive functions
- General definition: A loss or impairment of language caused by a recent brain injury. Comprehension and expression of language, along with reading and writing, may be impaired
- Most contemporary experts classify aphasia into types: fluent, nonfluent, or subcortical
Types of NONFLUENT APHASIA (4)
[Characterized by limited, agrammatic, effortful, halting, and slow speech w/ impaired prosody; Generally caused by lesions in the anterior brain structures]
- Broca’s Aphasia
- Transcortical Motor Aphasia
- Mixed Transcortical Aphasia
- Global Aphasia
Broca’s Aphasia
- Caused by damage to Broca’s area (Brodmann’s area 44 and 45) in posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the L hemisphere of brain
- Broca’s area is supplied by the upper div. of the middle cerebral artery
- Damage to Broca’s area is not always necessary to produce this type of aphasia…
- Patients may have 1+ independent speech disorders (Aos, dysarthria)
- May have R-sided paralysis or paresis
- Some pts may be depressed or react emotionally when confronted w/ difficult assessment tasks
Broca’s Aphasia: General Characteristics
- Nonfluent, effortful, slow, halting, and uneven speech
- Limited word output; short phrases and sentences
- Misarticulated or distorted sounds
- Agrammatic or telegraphic speech
- Impaired repetition or words and sentences, esp. grammatical elements of a sentence
- Impaired naming, esp. confrontation naming
- Rarely normal but better auditory comprehension of spoken language vs production
- Diff. understanding syntactic structures
- Poor oral reading and comprehension of read material
- Writing problems (slow/laborious + sp. errors; possibly due to having to use nonpreferred L hand)
- Monotonous speech
Transcortical Motor Aphasia
- Caused by lesions in the anterior superior frontal lobe, often below/above Broca’s area, which is not affected
- The areas supplied by anterior cerebral artery and ant. branch of middle cerebral artery are affected in TMA
- Pts tend to exhibit such motor disorders as rigidity of upper extremities, absence or poverty of movement (akinesia), lowness of movement (bradykinesia), buccofacial apraxia, and weakness of legs
- Apathy, withdrawal, and little interest in comm. may be additional behavioral characteristics of some pts
Transcortical Motor Aphasia: General Characteristics
- Speechlessness
- Echolalia and perseveration
- Absent or reduced spontaneous speech
- Nonfluent, paraphasic, agrammatic, telegraphic speech
- *Intact repetition (distinguishing characteristic of TMA)
- Awareness of grammaticality
- Refusal to repeat nonsense syllables
- Unfinished sentences
- Limited word fluency
- Simple and imprecise syntactic structures
- Attempts to initiate speech w/ help of motor activities
- Usu. good comprehension of simple conversation
- Slow and difficult reading aloud
- Seriouly impaired writing
Mixed Transcortical Aphasia
- Somewhat rare variety of nonfluent aphasia
- Caused by lesions in the watershed area or the arterial border zone of the brain (between the areas supplied by the middle cerebral arteries and the anterior and posterior arteries)
- Varied neurologic symptoms are seen in pts; these may include: bilateral UMN paralysis (spastic paralysis that affects the volitional movements), weakness of all limbs (quadriparesis) and visusal field defects
Mixed Transcortical Aphasia: General Characteristics
- Limited spontaneous speech
- Automatic, unintentional and involuntary nature of comm.
- Severe echolalia
- Repetition of an examiner’s statement
- Severely impaired fluency
- Severely impaired auditory comprehension for even simple conversation
- Marked naming difficulty and neologism; impaired confrontation naming
- Mostly unimpaired automatic speech (e.g., reciting months in a year) if initiated and not interrupted
- Severely impaired reading, reading comprehension, and writing
Global Aphasia
- Most severe form of nonfluent aphasia
- Caused by extensive lesions affecting all language areas (the perisylvian region)
- Widespread destruction of fronto-temporoparietal regions of brain is common
- The more common sites of damage are supplied by the middle cerebral artery
- Verbal and nonverbal apraxia, although technically not part of aphasia, may be present
- Strong neurological symptoms, incl. R-sided paresis or paralysis, R-sided sensory loss, and neglect of L side of body may be observed in many pts
Global Aphasia: General Characteristics
- Profound impaired language skills and no significant profile of differential skills
- Greatly reduced fluency
- Expressions limited to a few words, exclamations, and serial utterances
- Impaired repetition
- Impaired naming
- Auditory comprehension limited to single words at best
- Perseveration (repetition of short utterances)
- Impaired reading and writing
Types of FLUENT APHASIA (4)
[Characterized by relatively intact fluency but generally less meaningful, or even meaningless, speech; Generally caused by lesions in the posterior brain structures]
- Wernicke’s Aphasia
- Transcortical Sensory Aphasia
- Conduction Aphasia
- Anomic Aphasia
Wernicke’s Aphasia
- Caused by lesions in Wernicke’s area (the posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus in the L hemisphere of the brain)
- Wernicke’s area is supplied by the posterior branch of the left middle cerebral artery
- Pts may sound confused
- B/c of lack of insight into their lang. probs, pts are less frustrated w/ their failed attempts at comm.
- Pts may also be paranoid, homicidal, suicidal, and depressed; Therefore, they may be confused with psychiatric patients
- Pts are generally free from obvious neurological symptoms; Paresis and paralysis are uncommon