Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Unidimensional view of aphasia
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Aphasia: A Language Disorder
"My most valuable tool is words, the words I can now use only with difficulty. My voice is debilitated - mute, a prisoner of a communication system damaged by a stroke that has robbed me of language," stated A. H. Raskins, one of approximately one million people in the United States who suffer from aphasia (1), a disorder which limits the comprehension and expression of language. It is an acquired impairment due to brain injury in the left cerebral hemisphere. The most common cause of aphasia is a stroke, but other causes are brain tumors, head injury, or other neuralgic illnesses. Of the estimated 400,000 strokes which occur a year, approximately 80,000 of those patients develop some form of aphasia (2). Another important observation is that within the United States, there are twice as many people with aphasia as there are individuals with Parkinson's disease (2). Yet, what is so astounding is the lack of public awareness about aphasia. Aphasia attacks an intricate part of a person's daily life - the simple act of communication and sharing. The disbursement of such a tool deprives an individual of education learned through their life, often leaving the ill fated feeling hopeless and alone. In considering the effects of aphasia, a deeper analysis of the two most common forms of aphasia will be examined: Broca's aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia. While both forms occur usually as a result of a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain, their particular site of impairment produces different side effects in an individual's comprehension and speech. These regions have been further studied through experimental researches such as positron emission tomography (PET). Moreover, although there is currently no cure for the disorder, there are treatments and certain guidelines to follow when encountering an aphasic.
In physiological terms, Broca's aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia occur in the left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for controlling the right side of the body along with speech and language abilities. Broca's aphasia affects the frontal lobe adjacent to the primary motor cortex, and Wernicke's aphasia affects the posterior portion of the first frontal lobe (3). A general distinction made between the two disorders are that Broca's aphasia limits speech, while Wernicke's aphasia limits comprehension.
Broca's aphasia characterizes patients as people who has loss the production of complete sentence structures in speech and writing. Although the individual may retain the usage of nouns and verbs, the aphasic may have lost all forms of pronouns, articles, and conjunctions (3).
Now, for a main question that crosses most people’s mind. How much money do speech-language pathology make hourly and yearly? As of 2012 the median pay was $69,870 and about $34 an hour. The reasoning upon having a median wage is when they take half of the workers of a profession earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10% have earned less than $44,000 and the top 10% made more than $105,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Even when some made the lowest they still are making pretty good money. Since a person now knows about the pay, job requirements, schooling and what speech-language pathologist is, now would be a good time to talk about the age groups that speech problems can happen in.
The question of God’s existence has been debated through the history of man, with every philosopher from Socrates to Immanuel Kant weighing in on the debate. So great has this topic become that numerous proofs have been invented and utilized to prove or disprove God’s existence. Yet no answer still has been reached, leaving me to wonder if any answer at all is possible. So I will try in this paper to see if it is possible to philosophically prove God’s existence.
According to the World Health Organization, 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year and of the survivors, twenty-five to forty percent will acquire aphasia. The National Aphasia Association defines aphasia as “an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.” Many of these people suffering from aphasia will undergo therapy at some point in time. Several approaches have been proven effective in lessening the symptoms of aphasia. A recent topic of interest over the last two decades has been the role that intensity plays in aphasia therapy. Several studies have been done to evaluate language outcomes for patients undergoing intensive versus non-intensive aphasia therapy, as well as to identify the specific intensive therapies that are effective. One such type of therapy is the Constraint-Induced Language Therapy (CILT). Another topic of interest in the aphasia community is regarding the “window of recovery” for those suffering from aphasia. It was commonly believed that language recovery from aphasia plateaus off within the first year following a stroke (Pedersen et al., 1995); however, new evidence suggests that when an intensive therapy such as CILT is implemented, results can be seen many years later. The present paper will investigate the role that intensity plays in aphasia therapy, take a closer look at CILT versus other approaches, and evaluate current research regarding the “window of recovery” in patients with aphasia.
Sloan, I. The Right to Die: Legal and Ethical Problems. London: Oceana Publications, Inc. 1988.
Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that disrupts communication and it can deteriorate a person’s coping potential and quality of life (Parr, 2001) which involve damage to the parts of brain that contain language (ASHA, 2013). Statistics from United States indicated around 25-40% of stroke survivors developed aphasia (National Association of Aphasia, NAA, 2013). Aphasia will affect both the ability to produce or comprehend spoken language and written language while intelligence is left intact (NAA, 2013). In US, it is found that the most common cause of aphasia is stroke (85%) and others including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), brain tumor or other degenerative diseases (NAA, 2013).
Aphasia can be defined as a disorder that is caused by damage to parts of the brain that are responsible for language (“Aphasia” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia is a type of fluent aphasia (with the other type being nonfluent). It is named after Carl Wernicke who described the disorder as “an amnesiac disorder characterized by fluent but disordered speech, with a similar disorder in writing, and impaired understanding of oral speech and reading” (“Wernicke’s” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia can also be known as sensory aphasia, fluent aphasia, or receptive aphasia. It is a type of aphasia that is caused by damage to Wernicke’s area in the brain, in the posterior part of the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere. This area of the brain contains motor neurons responsible for the understanding of spoken language and is believed to be the receptive language center (“Rogers” n.p.). Wernicke’s aphasia can be most efficiently defined as a fluent language disorder commonly caused by strokes and characterized by difficulty comprehending spoken language and producing meaningful speech and writing which is both assessable by an SLP and treatable by a variety of methods.
Fletcher, Joseph. "The Case for Euthanasia." Problems of Death. Ed. David L. Bender. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1981. 37-45.
Cavan, S. . Euthanasia: The debate over the right to die. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., print.
Keown, John. "1- 'Voluntary Euthanasia'" Euthanasia, Ethics, and Public Policy: An Argument against Legalisation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2002. 10. Print.
Through out history there have been questions of where we come from and how we got here. It all comes down to the question of God’s existence. God’s existence has never been questioned during the times of when Christianity, Judaism and Islam were born. The question of God’s existence comes from our new way of thinking after these religions. Science has made us think of how things work in our world and brings Gods existence into question. There were no scientific studies done during the days of Jesus to prove that God exists, so where did the people in history get this idea of God from? Many philosophers have been questioning and giving their ideas of God and his existence. The ideas that we may have of God is usually connected with religion and our beliefs. One philosopher that touches on this topic is Descartes. Descartes gives his ideas on God’s existence and his out look on our selves compared to God. Most religions believe that there is a God and that he has created everything around us. Everyone has a different answer to this question that they think is the right one. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing God’s existence, while looking at Descartes ideas and through different perspectives of whether or not God exist as well.
Salonen, L. (2013). L. S. Vygotsky 's psychology and theory of learning applied to the rehabilitation of aphasia: A developmental and systemic view. Aphasiology, 27(5), 615-635. doi:10.
Otremba, Ronald. “Euthanasia Is Unethical.” Euthanasia. Ed. Carol Wekesser. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995. 21-23. Print. Opposing Viewpoints.
People across the world, including the Americans, view the theme of active euthanasia differently. Some oppose while others propose depending on the issue at hand. Basing on the arguments, it mostly depends on the effects that come out from it. I argue that the justification of the issue of active euthanasia should depend on whether we decline in legalizing it or not (Keown 114).
Communication is very crucial in life, especially in education. Whether it be delivering a message or receiving information, without the ability to communicate learning can be extremely difficult. Students with speech and language disorders may have “trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say” (Turkington, p10, 2003) Each of these problems can create major setbacks in the classroom. Articulation, expression and reception are all essential components for communication. If a student has an issue with articulation, they most likely then have difficulty speaking clearly and at a normal rate (Turkington, 2003). When they produce words, they may omit, substitute, or even distort sounds, hindering their ability to talk. Students who lack in ways of expression have problems explaining what they are thinking and feeling because they do not understand certain parts of language. As with all types of learning disabilities, the severity can range. Two extreme cases of expression disorders are dysphasia and aphasia, in which there is partial to no communication at all (Greene, 435, 2002). Individuals can also have a receptive disorder, in which they do not fully comprehend and understand information that is being given to them. They can experience problems making sense of things. “Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning” (National Institutes of Health, 1993, p1). Whether children have difficulty articulating speech, expressing words, receiving information, or a combination of the three, there is no doubt that the tasks given to them in school cause frustration. These children experience anxiety when...
debates in the present day. Since God is a notion about an entity that was never seen or heard from by anyone, it has been a strenuous struggle to substantiate his existence. Yet, great philosophers have always found a way to validate the idea of God through their own way of reasoning. The philosophical discussions about God’s existence began with pre-modern philosophers such as Plato, Saint Augustine, and it was further examined by modern philosophers such as Descartes etc. In this essay I will present St. Augustine and Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God and offer my criticism based upon my own set of reasoning.