Language Breakdown and Therapy Flashcards
Aphasia
Specific language impairment, caused by lesions. Types of apahsia include Broca’s (speech production impacted), Wernicke’s (speech processing affected), and mixed aphasia.
Most common region of focal lesions leading to aphasia
Perisylvian cortex
Picture naming task
Therapy type.
“What is this?” (shows patient a picture)
Word-to-picture matching
Therapy type.
“Point to the picture of the deer”
Other typical aphasia therapy exercises:
completing sentences (syntax), finding synonyms (semantics), describing pictures
What is the recommended frequency of aphasia therapy?
2-3 hours/week is ideal
Hebbian “Correlation” learning (and anti-Hebb learning)
“neurons that fire together, wire together”
“neurons out of sync, de-link”
Neuroanatomical basis for language-action links
The left Perisylvian language cortex is functionally
interwoven with the brain’s action system
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
A technique used to inhibit targeted areas of the brain for research purposes. For example, TMS to the left hemisphere resulted in longer response times when participants read words related to arms.
Naming and requesting
the action context of a word or sentence facilitates language processing. Important to learn (or re-learn) language in the relevant action context.
Neuroscience principles for aphasia therapy
- Frequency (as much therapy as possible in a short time)
- Language use in action contexts (embedding language into behaviorally relevant speech acts)
- Focussing language on the patient’s communication needs
Language game therapy
3 patients, 1 therapist. Requesting objects from one another. Pass card pictures. Verbal communication encouraged.
Constraint-induced aphasia therapy/ Intensive language action therapy
High intensity. Involves frequent therapy in form of language games. Effective for rehabilitation in Post-Stroke Aphasics
