Aphasia 

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Aphasia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  

A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. ...

Aphasia from the Greek root word "aphatos", meaning speechless, is an acquired language disorder in which there is an impairment of any language modality. ...Interactive Internet Site Used to Improve Communication of Adults

Click here to see the Awareness Month 2010 Poster*
*(Theme developed and Poster designed by the Aphasia Advocacy Group at Rehabilitation Insitute of Chicago)

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Pathophysiology

Aphasia may occur secondary to brain injury or degeneration and involves the left cerebral hemisphere to a greater extent than the right. Language function lateralizes to the left hemisphere in 96-99% of right-handed people and 60% of left-handed people. Of the remaining left-handed people, about one half have mixed hemisphere language dominance, and about one half have right hemisphere dominance. Left-handed individuals may develop aphasia after a lesion of either hemisphere, but the syndromes from left hemisphere injury may be milder or more selective than those seen in right-handed people.

Aphasia can be caused by:

• stroke
• injury to the brain
• infections and inflammations of the brain
• tumours in the brain

Stroke is one of the most common causes of aphasia.

A stroke interrupts the blood supply to the brain. The brain tissue becomes damaged.

The left side of your brain controls many things including:

• your right arm and right leg
• language and communication

If the left side of your brain is damaged, you may have problems moving your right side. You may also have language and communication problems (aphasia).

Here is what is looks like--and sounds like:

Most aphasias and related disorders are due to stroke, head injury, cerebral tumors, or degenerative diseases. The neuroanatomic substrate of language comprehension and production is complex, including auditory input and language decoding in the superior temporal lobe, analysis in the parietal lobe, and expression in the frontal lobe, descending via the corticobulbar tracts to the internal capsule and brainstem, with modulatory effects of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum.

Aphasia syndromes have been described based on patterns of abnormal language expression, repetition, and comprehension. These classical syndromes have been roughly correlated with specific left hemisphere locations, though clear overlaps and individual differences make the aphasia syndromes limited in specificity. Patients may lose the ability to produce speech, to comprehend speech, to repeat, and to hear and read words in many nuanced ways. Classical aphasia syndromes (see Aphasia syndromes in History) include global, Broca, Wernicke, and conduction aphasia, as well as transcortical motor, transcortical sensory, and transcortical mixed aphasia. Pure alexia and optic aphasia are often discussed with the classical aphasias.

		Bob Woodruff, a father of four, is back at ABC News working in a somewhat diminished capacity as he continues to recover his full mental abilities after surviving a brain injury while reporting from Iraq in 2006. By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

Struggle for words frustrates Woodruff

 

Language function can be parsed in several important ways other than assignment to the classical aphasia syndromes. A variety of types of evidence have noted that certain specific language functions (such as naming pictures) activate widespread neural networks involving many parts of both hemispheres of the brain. Producing, receiving, and interpreting speech requires specific and distinct cognitive processes such as phonologic decoding and encoding, orthographic decoding and encoding (for reading), lexical access, lexical-semantic representations of words, and semantic interpretation of language. Differentiation of these processes involves testing patients with different aphasia types and attempting to find double dissociations among groups of patients to determine the neurologic basis of specific cognitive processes.

ASHA is the professional, scientific, and credentialing organization for speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and speech, language and hearing scientists. Our members provide treatment to individuals with aphasia, but our organization doesn’t develop materials used for delivering treatment. So, we do not have books or software about aphasia. The web site has information for consumers about aphasia at http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Aphasia.htm , and we would be glad to speak with you about aphasia. ASHA recommends that individuals with aphasia consult a certified speech-language pathologist to receive an individualized assessment and plan of care.

jbrown@asha.org

http://www.asha.org

 We have two books that would certainly be of interest to you.  Both are part of our Brubaker Workbook series.  I've included a link of our catalog for you to take a closer look at the series overall, but these two titles deal specifically with Aphasia.

http://wsupress.wayne.edu/tracker/content/catalogs/splang2010.pdf

The first is our Basic Level Workbook for Aphasia (green). It is a new edition in 2009, updated and expanded with new exercises updated language in a durable ring binder so exercises can be removed and photocopied for multiple use.  Please see the link for the complete title listing.

http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/866/Basic-Level-Workbook-for-Aphasia

The second is called Workbook for Aphasia (blue).  It was last updated in 2006 and works as a treatment tool focusing on adults to early adolescents.  Exercises vary from basic to higher level and address topics of reading, graphics, word retrieval, and other language skills. The link to the complete book information is listed below.

http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/864/Workbook-for-Aphasia

I know how expensive therapy is, but I would not recommend therapy that is not in a  professional environment and conducted by a licensed professional.  That being said, you might want to check out Aphasia Toolbox, which is an online therapy program that has been developed by one State Rep, who is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist. His name is Bill Connors, and the website is http://www.aphasiatoolbox.com/.National Aphasia Association  (800) 922-4622   www.aphasia.org

Parrot Software has launched a web site featuring 75 different software programs for the remediation of speech, cognitive, language, attention, and memory deficits seen in individuals who have suffered aphasia from stroke or brain injury. The treatment path for individuals with brain injury and stroke is usually a long one requiring many hours of rehabilitation. Cost prohibits individuals from seeing specialists for more than 2-3 times a week and medical insurers including Medicare have significantly limited reimbursements for long-term care. The Parrot Software internet site is a low-cost extended-care option. Customers subscribe to this on-line service for  $24.95 per month.  History:  Parrot Software started in 1981 while founder was teaching speech and hearing science at Penn State University.  We started on Apple II computers and switched to Microsoft Based systems in 1987.  In 1995, I left Penn State to run the company full-time.  Our CD based software works on MS based computers only.  Our Internet Based software works on both MS and MAC.  Our programs are designed to mirror what Speech Language Pathologists, Neurologists, and Occupational Therapists do with their patients in a treatment paradigm.  We have over 80 different treatment programs including some that utilize speech recognition and text to speech.

There is help for you do if any of the above items fit for a problem you are having....

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