Key Disorders (RJ)

Question 1

What is Broca’s Aphasia?

Answer 1

Broca’s aphasia or non fluent aphasia is neurological in origin and impacts speech motor planning. It results from damage to Broca’s area due to a degenerative disease such Parkinson’s, surgery or head trauma. People with Broca’s aphasia can understand what people are saying but find it difficult to put their thoughts into words due to its impact on linguistic-symbolic planning. They are likely to have reduced length and complexity of sentences.

NB: Broca’s area is found in the lower lateral area of the frontal lobe. It is involved in linguistic -symbolic planning. It is only found fully developed on the dominant side of the brain, for most people (right handers)… this is the left side.

Question 2

What is Wernicke’s Aphasia?

Answer 2

Wernicke’s aphasia or fluent aphasia is neurological in origin and impacts on a persons ability to understand language. It doesn’t impact though on a persons ability to speak in fluent sentences. It occurs due to damage to Wernicke’s area as a result of a degenerative disease, surgery or brain trauma.

Wernicke’s area is located in the temporal lobe.

Question 3

What is Dysarthria?

Answer 3

Dysarthria is a disorder of speech and is neurological in origin. It is caused by upper/lower motor neurone lesions or disruptions. The specific type is related to the specific area of damage.

Dysarthria can affect all 5 of the subsystems (phonation, respiration, prosody, articulation, resonance).

It may sound like slurred, weak articulation or monotonous voice or hypernasality.

Treatment includes exercises to improve muscle tone and movement or techniques to increase clarity of speech.

Question 4

Dysarthria

Answer 4

Dysarthria is a broad term for a range of acquired speech difficulties that vary in their presentation dependent on cause. Dysarthria is broadly defined as difficulty producing clear speech (individual sounds or connected speech), as a result of damage affecting muscle tone/coordination

Question 5

Apraxia/Dyspraxia

Answer 5

Dyspraxia (or apraxia) is defined as difficulty planning/programming speech output, without necessarily having impaired musculature or other language difficulty. This dyspraxia is an acquired dyspraxia, and is a little different to that found in childhood (Childhood apraxia of speech). Dyspraxia can present in oral (non-verbal) and verbal forms, meaning that you can have an apraxia that may affect only the oral movements, or both oral and verbal attempts.

Question 6

Aphasia

Answer 6

Aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write. Aphasia is always due to injury to the brain-most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals. But brain injuries resulting in aphasia may also arise from head trauma, from brain tumors, or from infections.
Aphasia can be so severe as to make communication with the patient almost impossible, or it can be very mild. It may affect mainly a single aspect of language use, such as the ability to retrieve the names of objects, or the ability to put words together into sentences, or the ability to read. More commonly, however, multiple aspects of communication are impaired, while some channels remain accessible for a limited exchange of information.

Question 7

Define and describe stuttering.

Answer 7

Stuttering is a disorder of speech which involves speech disruptions which normal speakers do not experience which may interfere/prevent normal communication.

Normal dysfluency is what we all occasionally experience when we stop to plan our speech or stumble over our words.

Lidcombe Behavioural Data Language describes these stuttering moments.

1. Repeated movements (syllable, incomplete syllable, multi syllable)
2. Fixed Postures (with/without audible airflow)
3. Superfluous Behaviours (verbal/nonverbal)

NB one stuttering moment can contain more than one of these types of stuttering behaviours