Neurologically Based Communicative Disorders

Chapter 10

Aphasia

in adults is a language disorder associated with recent
brain injury caused by such factors as a stroke or a tumor. It
affects all aspects of language

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

is a book written by neurologist Oliver Sacks. The book is a collection of short stories from
some of his patients.

the cause of aphasia is a stroke

including high blood pressure or high levels of blood cholesterol.

embolus

(a traveling blood clot)

thrombosis

(a blood clot at the point of its origin)

aneurysm

(a sack-like bulge on the wall of a weakened artery that eventually ruptures,
causing cerebral hemorrhage)

Anomia

difficulty in naming things, objects, and people, especially when asked to name them.

• Paraphasia.

A word substitution problem is called paraphasia.

 In phonemic paraphasia,

the substituted words sound like the correct words.

 In verbal paraphasia,

the substituted words have meanings similar to the correct words.

 Neologism

is the use of words that do not exist.

Jargon

is somewhat fluent but irrelevant or meaningless speech, often
filled with neologistic words.

The term comprehension problems

describes the failure to understand the
speech of other people.

motor speech disorders

Speech disorders that result from central or peripheral nervous
system damage

Apraxia

is a general term that refers to a disorder of sequenced
movement of body parts in the absence of muscle weakness or paralysis.

Lesions in Broca’s area affect motor programming for speech

causing errors in speech production.

Dysarthria

is a group of speech disorders due to paralysis, weakness, or
incoordination of the speech muscles.

Persons with pure dysarthria

have no problems with language or reading.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

is injury to the brain from physical trauma or external force.