agraphia Flashcards
pure agraphia
acquired loss of writing skills following brain damage
agraphia is characterized by
errors in spelling, semantics, syntax, and poor formation of letters
agraphia occurs due to ___
language deficits NOT motor deficits
posterior aphasias are typically associated with
alexia and agraphia
central agraphia
deep, phonological, lexical, and surface
deep agraphia
difficulties in both spelling and meaning of words. more deficits for abstract nouns (wisdom, happiness) and grammatical functor words
-associated with damage to perisylvian language areas (brocas, wernickes, and supramarginal gyrus)
*most severe form of central agraphia
phonological agraphia
difficulties in sounding out words with relative preservation of ability to write real words. associated with damage to perisylvian areas
ex: school -> skool, pneumonia -> newmonia
lexical agraphia
difficulties in visualizing spellings of words with relative preservation of sounding them out (intact phonological rules). more errors for uncommon words. lesions of left extrasylvian temporo-parietal regions
surface agraphia
characterized by loss of orthographic rules and spelling is performed based on phonological knowledge (ex. coff for cough). tend to be more mild
peripheral agraphias
allographic disorders, apraxic agraphias, nonapraxic agraphia
allographic disorders
associated with damage to left pariet-occipital region. people may have inability to active or select approropriate letters shapes with relatively intact oral spelling. have difficulties with upper and lowercase letters or produce case-mixing errors (pApeR)
-letters that look similar may get switched (b->d, p->q, m->w)
apraxic agraphia
peripheral agraphia due to damage of graphic motor programs
-poor letter formation
-typical errors may include spatial distortions, illegible handwriting
-seen in people with aphasia and apraxia
-space between letters is inconsistent
nonapraxic agraphia
characterized by deficits in kinematic parameters of handwriting (movement, force, speed, amplitude)
-micrographia: very small and illegible handwriting
-occurs due to dysfunction of the nueral system controlling writing (parietal, supramarginal gyrus)
assessment of writing skills
-graphomotor vs. lingustic writing skills
-automatic writing vs. propositional writing skills
-written confrontation naming versus writing to dictation
-narrative writing
-functional writing
graphomotor vs. lingustic writing skills
look through samples for both quantitative and qualitative aspects. make notes about contect, words used, type and frequency of errors, letter formation, and self-correction attempts
automatic wriing vs. propositional writing skills
use different tasks to elicit both automatic writing (name, signature, numbers, days of the week) and propositional wiriting (sentence level writing about a topic, picture description)
written confrontation naming versus writing to dictation
-confrontational: written naming, includes word retrieval, and graphomotor, and spelling skills
-writing to dictation: inludes only formation of correct letters that correspond to target words
narrative writing
includes story writing which requires combination of language and cognitive skills. can be used for higher-functioning clients or those with occupational demands
functional writing
examples include check writing, phone numbers, address, and email.messages
treatment for central agraphias
may include retaining of lexical semantic or nonlexical spelling process. LIPS, CART, tactile-kinesthetic approach, SFA
Tx of apraxic agraphia
more focus on retraining of graphic motor programs. focus on retraining of the ability to hold a pen/pencil to write effectively, formation of letters, ability to draw, copy, and write figures, numbers, and other symbols
use a combo of _____ to assess
standardized assesments and observation of different wiriting samples
