- Last edited on June 29, 2020
Approach to Aphasia
Primer
Aphasia is a disturbance of language due to brain damage. This damage can affect comprehension (listening and reading) and/or expression (speaking and writing). In aphasia, the ability is name objects is always impaired to some degree. Aphasia most commonly develops after a brain injury, such as a stroke or head trauma. However, it can also develop due to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia, leading to syndromes such as primary progressive aphasia.
Normal Speech
When we say someone has normal speech or fluency in a neurologic/psychiatric context, it means they have good phrase length, rate, and an abundance of spontaneous speech. It also means they have no paraphasic errors (inappropriately substituted words or syllables), no neologisms (nonexistent words), and no errors in grammar. Normal prosody is a term also frequently used, meaning there is normal range of rhythm, pitch, stress, intonation.
Aphasic Speech
When speech is impaired and not normal, it is called aphasic speech. Aphasias are first categorized as either fluent or non-fluent. They can then be further sub-characterized by whether there are deficits in repetition, comprehension, and naming.
- Fluency
- Fluent: Patient is able to produce connected speech. Sentence structure is relatively intact but lacks meaning.
- Non-fluent: Speech production is halting and effortful. Grammar is impaired; content words may be preserved.
- Repetition: Patient is able to repeat words over and over again
- Language Comprehension: Patient is able to understand the context and meaning behind sentences and words
- Naming: Patient is able to recognize and name and object
- Paraphasia: inappropriately substituted words or syllables
- Phonemic paraphasias: “baby flitter” instead of “baby sitter”
- Semantic paraphasias: “clock” instead of “watch,” “pen” instead of “pencil,” “apple” instead of “orange.”
- Neologisms: a completely new word (e.g. - “bobfrest” instead “tree”)
- Perseveration: returning to a same topic or word, over and over again
- Anomia
- Anomia is a symptom of all forms of aphasia, but patients whose primary deficit is word retrieval are diagnosed with anomic aphasia. Some level of anomia is seen in all of the aphasias.
Syntax Errors and Semantic Errors
- A syntax (or synatactic) error is a violation of the grammatical rules of a language
- e.g. - “I is going to the store.”
- e.g. - “people elderly” instead of “elderly people”
- A semantic error is a violation of the rules of meaning of a language.
- e.g. - “My banana just flew a car to Chicago”
- e.g. - “time-telling thing” instead of “watch”)
- Although the syntax (grammar) above is perfectly correct, the semantics (meaning) does not make sense!
Is it Aphasia or Something Else?
Keep in mind that aphasia is a separate disorder from dysarthria, an impairment of the motor functions of speech (i.e. - the actual muscles involved in speech). To distinguish aphasia from dysarthria, remember that aphasia by definition requires difficulties with naming (e.g. - naming common daily objects).Comparison Table
Aphasia Syndromes
N = Normal or relatively spared, Imp = Impaired, * = with paraphasia, † = with echolalia| Aphasia | Fluency | Repetition | Comprehension | Naming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broca's (Expressive) | Imp | Imp | N | Imp |
| Transcortical Motor | Imp | N | N | Imp |
| Mixed Transcortical | Imp† | N | Imp | Imp |
| Global | Imp | Imp | Imp | Imp |
| Wernicke's (Receptive) | N* | Imp | Imp | Imp |
| Transcortical Sensory | N† | N | Imp | Imp |
| Conduction | N* | Imp | N | Imp |
| Anomic | N | N | N | Imp |
Non-fluent Aphasia
Non-fluent aphasias usually involve damage or a lesion affecting the anterior portion of the language centre in the left hemisphere.
Broca's Aphasia
Broca's Aphasia (also known as “expressive aphasia”) is often referred to as a non-fluent aphasia because of the halting and effortful quality of speech.
Transcortical Motor Aphasia
Transcortical Motor Aphasia is a type of of non-fluent aphasia similar to Broca's aphasia, but repetition skills are intact. The deficit is usually due to a small subcortical lesion superior to Broca's area, or the anterior superior frontal lobe in the perisylvian area of the left hemisphere.[1] The patient may have difficulty spontaneously answering a question but can repeat long utterances without difficulty.
Mixed Transcortical Aphasia
Mixed Transcortical Aphasia is a combination of the two transcortical aphasias (transcortical motor aphasia and transcortical sensory aphasia), where both reception and expression are severely impaired. Repetition remains intact.
Global Aphasia
Global Aphasia is a non-fluent aphasia with severe impairment of both expressive and receptive skills (hence the term global). This aphasia is usually associated with a large left hemisphere lesion that affects both the receptive (Wernicke's) and expressive (Broca's) areas of the brain. Despite these deficits, individuals may be able to express themselves through facial expressions, gestures, and intonations.
Fluent Aphasia
Fluent aphasias usually involve damage or a lesion affecting the posterior portion of the language centre in the left hemisphere.
Wernicke's Aphasia
Wernicke's aphasia (also known as “receptive aphasia”) is a fluent aphasia where the ability to grasp the meaning of spoken/written words is impaired, but fluent speech is still produced. However, this does not mean spoken speech is normal by any means. Although the speech is fluent (i.e. - smooth), there are paraphasias such as jumbled words and meaningless sentences. An individual may be unable to understand spoken or written words, or may read and not understand what they are reading. Sometimes, an individual pretends to understand and even nods in agreement, known as “cover-up aphasia.”
Transcortical Sensory Aphasia
Transcortical Sensory Aphasia is similar to Wernicke's aphasia, with the exception of a strong ability to repeat words and phrases. The patient may repeat questions rather than answer them (also known as “echolalia”).
Conduction Aphasia
Conduction Aphasia is a fluent aphasia with a significant impairment with repetition. The lesion involves the arcuate fasciculus and the left parietal region. The patient can express themselves reasonably well, with some word-finding issues, and comprehension can be good. However, the patient will show significant difficulty repeating phrases, particularly as they increase in length and complexity. They may stumble over words they are attempting to pronounce.
Anomic Aphasia
Anomic Aphasia is a fairly mild form of aphasia. The patient will use generic fillers, such as nonspecific nouns and pronouns (e.g., “thing”), or circumlocution, where the person describes the intended word in a roundabout way. Comprehension and repetition is typically intact, but the patient may not always recognize the retrieved word is the correct one, indicating difficulty with word recognition as well.