For Sped teachers

1. APHASIA
&
OTHER RELATED
DISORDERS
By Shane Marie M. Baltazar
BEEd-SPED

2. Aphasia is
an impairment of
language, affecting
the production or
comprehension of
speech and the
ability to read or
write.
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.
AGRAPHIA - in
writing
ALEXIA - in reading

4. W H O H A S A P H A S I A ?
Most commonly seen in
adults who have suffered
a stroke, aphasia can also
result from a brain tumor,
infection, head injury,
or dementia that damages
the brain.
1 million
people in
the
United
States
today
suffer
from
aphasia.

5. VARIETIES AND SPECIAL
FEATURES OF APHASIA
 Global Aphasia
 Broca’s Aphasia (Non-fluent Aphasia)
 Mixed Non-fluent Aphasia
 Wernicke’s Aphasia (Fluent Aphasia)
 Anomic Aphasia
 Other Varieties of Aphasia

6. G L O B A L A P H A S I A
This is the most severe form of
aphasia, and is applied to patients
who can produce few
recognizable words and
understand little or no spoken
language. Persons with Global
Aphasia can neither read nor
write.
Non fluent, naming,
repetition,
comprehension all
impaired

7. BROCA’S APHASIA (NON-FLUENT APHASIA)
In this form of
aphasia, speech output is
severely reduced and is
limited mainly to short
utterances of less than four
words. The person may
understand speech
relatively well and be able
to read, but be limited in
writing.
Broca's aphasia is often
referred to as a 'non fluent
aphasia' because of the
halting and effortful quality
of speech.
Non fluent, effortful, slow,
labored, and a grammatical
speech, which means words like a,
an, or the and verb tense is left
out of their speech…incomplete
speech

8. M I X E D N O N - F L U E N T A P H A S I A
This term is applied to patients
who have sparse and
effortful speech, resembling
severe Broca's aphasia. They
remain limited in their
comprehension of speech
and do not read or write
beyond an elementary level.

9. WERNICKE'S APHASIA (FLUENT APHASIA)
• In this form of aphasia
the ability to grasp the
meaning of spoken words
is chiefly impaired, while
the ease of producing
connected speech is not
much affected.
• Sentences do not hang
together and irrelevant
words intrude.
• Reading and writing are
often severely impaired.

10. A N O M I C A P H A S I A
This term is applied to persons
who are left with a persistent
inability to supply the words
for the very things they want
to talk about-particularly the
significant nouns and verbs.
As a result their speech,
while fluent in grammatical
form and output is full of
vague circumlocutions and
expressions of frustration.

11. OTHER VARIETIES OF APHASIA
This may be the case for
disorders of reading (alexia) or
disorders affecting both
reading and writing (alexia and
agraphia), following a stroke.
Severe impairments of
calculation often accompany
aphasia, yet in some instances
patients retain excellent
calculation in spite of the loss of
language.

12. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT APHASIA
The handwriting of a person with an aphasia
reflects their speech impediment.
There was an experiment done where people with
Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasias were presented
with a picture and then asked to write down a
description of what they say in the picture.

13. THIS IS THE PICTURE

14. A patient
with
Broca’s
aphasia
wrote this
Notice the use of very few words, but the
words do make some sense.

15. A patient
with
Wernicke’s
aphasia
wrote this
Notice here that there are many, less forced, words, but
they don’t make much sense. Also because they’re not
struggling to find their words, the handwriting is better.

16. OTHER
RELATED
DISORDERS

17. DISORDERS THAT MAY ACCOMPANY OR BE
CONFUSED WITH APHASIA
Apraxia
Apraxia of Speech
Dysarthria
Dysphagia
Dimentia

18. A P R A X I A
A collective term used to describe impairment in
carrying out purposeful movements. People with
severe aphasia are usually extremely limited in
explaining themselves by pantomime or gesture,
except for expressions of emotion. Specific
examination usually shows that they are unable to
perform common expressive gestures on
request, such as waving good-bye, beckoning, or
saluting, or to pantomime drinking, brushing
teeth, etc. (limb apraxia). Apraxia may also
primarily affect oral, non-speech movements,
like pretending to cough or blow out a candle
(facial apraxia).

19. A P R A X I A O F S P E E C H
Frequently used by speech
pathologists to designate
an impairment in the
voluntary production of
articulation and prosody (the
rhythm and timing) of speech.
It is characterized by highly
inconsistent errors.

20. D Y S A R T H R I A
Dysarthria is a disorder of
speech production not
language (e.g., use of
vocabulary and/or grammar).
Refers to a group of speech
disorders resulting from
weakness, slowness, or
incoordination of the
speech mechanism due to
damage to any of a variety
of points in the nervous
system.

21. D Y S P H A G I A
Refers to those who
have difficulty swallowing
and may experience pain
while swallowing. Some
people may be completely
unable to swallow or may
have trouble swallowing
liquids, foods, or saliva.
(Definition from National Institute of Deafness & Other
Communication Disorders - www.nidcd.nih.gov)

22. D I M E N T I A
A condition of impairment of memory,
intellect, personality, and insight
resulting from brain injury or
disease. Some forms of dementia are
progressive, such as Alzheimer's
disease, Picks disease, or some forms
of Parkinson's disease. Language
impairments are more or less prominent
in different forms of dementia, but these
are usually overshadowed by more
widespread intellectual loss.

23. Communication Strategies: Some Dos and Don'ts
1) Make sure you have the person's
attention before you start.
2) Minimize or eliminate background
noise (TV, radio, other people).
3) Keep your own voice at a normal
level, unless the person has indicated
otherwise.
4) Keep communication simple, but
adult. Simplify your own sentence
structure and reduce your rate of
speech. Emphasize key words. Don't
"talk down" to the person with aphasia.
5) Give them time to speak. Resist the
urge to finish sentences or offer words.
6) Communicate with drawings, gestures,
writing and facial expressions in addition to
speech.
7) Confirm that you are communicating
successfully with "yes" and "no" questions.
8) Praise all attempts to speak and downplay
any errors. Avoid insisting that that each
word be produced perfectly.
9) Engage in normal activities whenever
possible. Do not shield people with aphasia
from family or ignore them in a group
conversation. Rather, try to involve them in
family decision-making as much as
possible. Keep them informed of events but
avoid burdening them with day to day details.
10) Encourage independence and avoid being
overprotective.

25. R E F E R E N C E S
David A. (2012). Speech Disorders. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/AbinoDavid/speech-
disorders-13966727
National Aphasia Association
http://www.aphasia.org/content/aphasia-definitions
http://www.aphasia.org/content/related-disorders
http://www.aphasia.org/content/communication-tips