Understanding Aphasia
explanatory Essay
1063 words
Aphasia is an acquired language communication disorder which is a result of localised damage to a part of the brain that is responsible for language. It usually occurs suddenly due to a stroke or head injury, but it can also develop slowly due to brain tumours, infection or dementia. Aphasia is an impairment of any language modality, for example, processing language by reading, writing, comprehension or expression. This may include difficulty in producing or understanding spoken or written language. This disorder does not affect general intellectual functioning; a person with aphasia can still carry out non-linguistic tasks. Aphasia can also occur with other speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which is also a result from brain damage. This disorder affects about one million people or 1 in 250 people in America. It is more common than Parkinson’s disease or cerebral palsy however it is still not very well known. Most people that have aphasia have largely problems with receptive language. Language is not just orally impaired, but also skills such as reading and writing are as well. Normally, reading and writing are more affected than oral communication. But obviously everyone is different, so the severity of this disorder can differ too. This all depends on many factors, but most importantly the amount and location of damage to the brain.
Aphasia is usually recognized by the physician who treats the person for their brain injury. The physician performs tests that involve the patient to follow commands, answer questions, name objects, and carry on a conversation. If the physician suspects aphasia, the patient is then referred to a speech-language pathologist, who performs a comprehensive examination of the per...
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... month after the brain injury, some amount of aphasia usually remains. In these cases, speech-language therapy is very helpful. Recovery usually continues over a two-year period. It is believed by many health professionals that the most effective treatment begins early in the recovery process. Some of the factors that influence the amount of improvement include the cause of the brain damage, the area of the brain that was damaged, the extent of the brain injury, and the age and health of the individual.
Works Cited
Fromkin, V., R. Rodman & N. Hyams (2007) An Introduction to Language (International Edition, 9th Edition) Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
(7/6/2009) ‘Aphasia’ Retrieved 07/04/2011 from:
http://www.medicinenet.com/aphasia/article.htm#tocb
(23/02/2011) ‘Aphasia’ Retrieved 07/04/2011 from:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/aphasia/Pages/Introduction.aspx
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aphasia is an acquired language communication disorder that affects about one million people or 1 in 250 people in america.
- Explains that wernicke's aphasia is related to anomia, which is an impairment of word retrieval from the lexicon.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia has damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, which is important for motor movements.
- Describes the contents of fromkin, rodman, and hyams' an introduction to language, wadsworth cengage learning.
- Explains that aphasia is usually recognized by the physician who treats the person for their brain injury.
- Explains that aphasia recovers completely without treatment following stroke, but language retrieval is not as quick or complete.
Related
- explanatory
- analytical
- argumentative
- Stroke Leads To Aphasiaexplanatory essayImagine being unable to produce fluent language and coherent sentences all the while you believe you’re speaking words of eloquence and consistency. Patients with aphasia often experience these effects as results of a stroke. Aphasia is a disorder in the ability to communicate, use, and comprehend language. Each year, approximately 80,000 individuals suffer from stroke -based aphasia. However, what if there were treatments or perhaps a way to reduce the chance of someone acquiring this disorder? Many doctors have looked into strokes leading to aphasia and the results remain mixed and entirely unsure but there have been some experiments conducted to further this field of research.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that patients with aphasia often experience these effects as the result of strokes.
- Explains that a stroke occurs when blood is not capable of reaching certain areas of the brain. a transient ischemic attack occurs if blood flow is interrupted temporally and is then quickly restored.
- Explains that strokes that damage the frontal and parietal lobes in the right hemisphere of the brain lead to aphasia.
- Explains that recovery from aphasia is possible if symptoms persist for more than six months. there are non-invasive techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, which involves depolarizing the neurons of that brain region with magnets.
- Describes the physical and rehabilitation medicine institute's study with eleven chronic stroke patients with aphasia.
- Explains that blood clotting in the heart leads to what is known as a cardioembolic stroke. an irregular heartbeat is the biggest risk factor in having cardiembol strokes.
- Explains that scientists are attempting to reveal any possible underlying problems that have been found as leading symptoms of aphasia.
- Opines that research could be conducted using mri scans to locate which regions of the brain give rise to certain activity in language processing.
- Explains that davis, g. albyin, "effects of stroke: aphasia" and lee, cheon, and yoon.
845 wordsRead More - Essay On Aphasiaexplanatory essayThe two most common types of aphasia is Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia. Broca's aphasia is known as non-fluent because a patient has difficulty retrieving and producing fluent speech. Instead a Broca's aphasia patient produces slow speech and "telegraphic" skipping function words and grammatical morphemes. Wernicke's aphasia is known as fluent aphasia because the patients have no idea producing speech it just does not make sense and even made up words.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aphasia can occur when there is damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, which is the language center.
- Explains that broca's aphasia is non-fluent, meaning that when someone asks someone with it, they respond with random words that don't make sense to the question being asked, while wernicke’s is fluent.
- Explains that broca's aphasia is characterized by grammatical morphemes and function words, while wernicke’s is fluent.
- Explains the two types of aphasia discussed in class: non-fluent and fluent.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia is where the person has trouble with grammatical morphemes and function words. fluent
- Explains that brocas and wernicks aphasia affect the left hemisphere of the brain, making it hard to develop sentences and uderstand sentences.
- Explains the two types of aphasia discussed in class: non-fluent and fluent.
- Explains the two types of aphasia for spoken language: non-fluent and fluent.
- Explains the two types of aphasia described in class: non-fluent or broca's, and fluent/wernicke’s.
- Explains that the two types of aphasia discussed in class are fluent and non-fluent. broca's is characterized by telegraphic slow speech that lacks function words and grammatical morphemes.
- Explains the two types of aphasia that were discussed in class: broca's and wernicke'
- Explains that there were two types of aphasia discussed in class, non-fluent and fluent. fluent is when there is impaired language comprehension and production.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia is slow effortful speech like "telegraphic speech." fluent is fluent articulated speech, but jargon speech.
- Explains the two types of aphasia that were talked about in class: non-fluent and fluent.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia, also known as broca's aphasia, and fluent
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia is slow, effortful, or "telegraphic" speech with phonological errors and fluently articulated speech that contains word choice errors.
- Explains the two types of aphasia: non-fluent and fluent. broca's is slow speech that takes effort and is made of nouns without connections or flow between them.
- Explains that the two most common types of aphasia are broca's and wernicke'
- Explains that broca's aphasia affects speech production, which is why it is referred to as non-fluent. wernicke patients produce nonsensical speech but have trouble understanding what is being told to them.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia is when a victim effortfully tries to speak. speaking is slow and minimal in word choice.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia is slower speech that takes more effort, whereas fluent one produces sentences that make more sense, but often have one or two words that don't belong.
- Compares the two types of aphasias discussed in class: wernicke's aphasia and broca'
- Explains that fluent aphasia produces grammatical morphemes, but with errors and often makes phonological errors, word choice errors or invent words.
- Explains that nonfluent aphasia is characterized by deficit in language production while language comprehension is spared slow and effort when speaking/signing and they usually omit function words or other grammatical morphemes.
- Explains that non-fluent aphasia (broca's) shows symptoms of slow, effortful speech, and "telegraphic" speech.
2141 wordsRead More - ataxic dysarthriaexplanatory essayAtaxic dysarthria is one of several types of dysarthria. “Dysarthria is a group of motor speech disorders resulting from disturbed muscular control of the speech mechanism due to damage of the peripheral or central nervous system” (Hedge, 2001, p. 198). In specific, ataxic dysarthria is a disorder that affects the control of speech production due to damage to the cerebellum or the neural pathways that connect the cerebellum to other parts of the central nervous system.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that ataxic dysarthria affects the control of speech production due to damage to the cerebellum.
- Explains that the cerebellum is responsible for coordination of movement and the process of sensory information.
- Explains that head trauma, aneurysm, arterial venous malformation, or hemorrhage in the brainstem or midbrain can cause ataxic dysarthria.
- Explains that an individual with ataxic dysarthria will have speech and voice problems, as well as motor movement dysfunctions.
- Explains that a speech-language pathologist will first assess the client before treating ataxic dysarthria.
- Explains that after assessing the client with ataxic dysarthria, the slp will focus on treating their respiration, articulation and prosody.
- Explains that ataxic dysarthria is caused by damage to the cerebellum or its input and output pathways. the majority of an individual's speech musculature becomes hypotonic and in-coordinate in timing, range, speed and force of movements.
- Cites hegde, m. n., singular thomson learning, and knierim, j.
791 wordsRead More - Loss of Consciousness from Brain Injury Versus Amnesiaexplanatory essayBrain injuries have been traditionally classified as mild, moderate and severe based upon the duration of loss of consciousness and memory. More recently these classifications have been reconsidered based upon the length and severity of amnesia (4).. How can you measure loss of consciousness and memory? How does the length of amnesia better predict the severity of a brain injury versus the traditional method of classifying brain injury based upon the length of loss consciousness? Head trauma is by far the most common cause of amnesia, but the condition often goes unrecognized as patients more serious medical problems become the foremost concern (3).. Traumatic amnesia is brain damage caused by a severe non-penetrative blow to the head, such as in a road accident. It can lead to anything from a loss of consciousness for a few seconds to coma. During post-traumatic amnesia, a patient usually fails to remember not only the accident, but also all information learned for several years before the brain injury. A severe blow to the head is likely to cause loss of consciousness lasting seconds up to months. This state of puzzlement and confusion can pass with time for many cases (1)..
In this essay, the author
- Compares the length and severity of amnesia and the duration of loss of consciousness from brain injury.
- Explains that brain injury can be classified as a state resulting in coma or not. the patient is typically the primary source who is asked the most significant question.
- Explains that brain swelling occurs when there is an increase in the amount of blood to the brain caused by leakage from blood vessels.
- Explains the development of retrograde and anterior grade amnesia in people with brain injuries.
- Explains that amnesia can arise from damage to either of two distinct brain regions: the medial temporal lobes or the midline diencephalic nuclei.
- Explains the wernicker-korsakoff syndrome, which is memory loss caused by alcohol abuse, and the psychogenic amnesia.
- Explains that rehabilitation for victims with brain injuries involves learning new ways to compensate for abilities that may have permanently changed due to brain injury.
- Explains that the rehabilitation of memory or loss of consciousness is one of the greatest challenges for clinical neuroscience. while animal research has provided evidence for extensive brain studies, the relevance of this knowledge to human amnesia and its recovery remains unclear.
- Explains the anatomy of a head injury, traumatic brain injury, loss of consciousness, and amnesia.
1327 wordsRead More - Dyslexiaexplanatory essayDyslexia Imagine your childhood. Now imagine sitting in school and dreading that one moment when your elementary school teacher is going to call on you to read aloud to the class. Imagine that you dread this moment so dearly because you constantly trip over simple words and are made to feel stupid because of it. Or worse, imagine knowing that you do try your hardest but still have report cards that say that you are not living up to your full potential and need to start making an effort in school. These are just some of the thoughts and emotions that a child with dyslexia faces everyday.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how dyslexia is diagnosed in early school years and how intelligence isn't a factor in it.
- Opines that dyslexia is not a death sentence, but an early diagnosis and intervention can help the child learn to cope with his/her disability.
- Explains that dyslexia is a term used to describe the symptoms of the disorder.
- Explains that dyslexia is a part of the web site internacional de la asociación.
- Explains that dyslexia is a web-site related to the diagnosis.
- Describes the fundamentos de dyslexia, in el web site internacional de la asociación de
- Describes dyslexia and áreas of the cerebro de la lengua on the web site.
- Describes selikowitz's dyslexia and otras dificultades el aprender: los hechos.
- Explains that dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder grounded in the neurobiology of the brain and affects all socio-economic classes and races equally.
1290 wordsRead More - Dyslexiaexplanatory essay"Dyslexia" DYSLEXIA General information Imagine if my report was written like this: Dyslexia is wehn yuor midn gets wodrs mixde pu. If you were dyslexic, that's how you might read my report. The word dyslexia is derived from the Greek "dys" (meaning poor or inadequate) and "lexis" (word or language). Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language. It is characterized by extreme difficulty learning and remembering letters, written or spoken words, and individual letter sounds.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language.
- Describes the causes of difficulty in expressing thought in written form, delayed spoken language, imprecise or incomplete interpretation of language that is heard, and similar problems among relatives.
- Explains that 15% of the u.s. population is affected by learning disabilities.
- Explains how a person with dyslexia learns to read, write, and spell. it is easier to prevent than to cure. societies can provide referrals for testers and tutors.
1077 wordsRead More - Dyslexiaexplanatory essayThe intended purpose of the application paper is to introduce dyslexia, a neurologically based learning disability. The paper identifies the etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of dyslexia as a learning disability and provides a neurological basis for the disorder. Dyslexia is defined as a reading and writing disorder, unexplained by any deficits in learning motivation, intelligence or sensitivity. Dyslexia is a disorder that is found to have changes in parts of the brain as well as significant differences in DNA. With treatment and management dyslexia has the potential to be improved and allow the individual normal functioning reading and writing skills. Dyslexia is a learning disability with many complicated factors and symptoms that can cause an individual problems in their educational career.
In this essay, the author
- Explains the purpose of the application paper, which is to introduce dyslexia, a neurologically based learning disability.
- Explains that dyslexia is an impairment in learning to read and write, and is one of the most common learning disabilities among children.
- Explains that dyslexia is a learning disability that affects both boys and girls. the most common symptom is flip flopping, which follows individuals throughout their lives unless early treatment is received.
- Explains that dyslexia is unexplained by problems in intelligence, learning opportunities, motivation, or sensory refinement.
- Explains that genetic testing and twin research has shown several specifics to dyslexia in the genes and dna.
- Explains that hormonal factors prenatally may also be a cause for dyslexia. immune diseases can account for some dyslexic individuals at birth, as can left-handedness, sex hormone dysfunction and other immune diseases.
- Explains that dyslexic patients may have reading problems, motor coordination, writing, oral language, attentional abilities, and visuospatial ability. dyslexia is more common in boys due to high levels in fetal testosterone levels.
- Explains that before most medical brain imaging is done patients experiencing the symptoms of dyslexia are most often given a reading test.
- Explains that dyslexic patients' brains show abnormal collections of neurons, called "warts" around the brain areas that control and learn language.
- Explains that remedial treatment is the best treatment available for children with dyslexia. remediating treatment allows an individual to learn using a type of scaffolding learning type to grow and facilitate further learning.
- Explains that the prognosis for dyslexia has a very large range. it can be severe and not allow individuals to read or write at all or they may be minor and the individual can function in society normally.
- Opines that managing dyslexia is the most important factor in a positive prognosis.
- Explains that dyslexia causes individuals to fall behind in their learning due to their troubles perceiving and processing words, letters and sounds.
- Describes the common dyslexia signs in children pre-k to grade 2 from the national center for learning disabilities.
- Explains habib, m., the neurological basis of developmental dyslexia. brain, 123, 2373-2399.
- Opines that kolb, b., and whishaw, i. q. (2014), an introduction to brain and behavior, new york, ny: worth publishers.
- Cites synder, r. d., and mortimer, j. diagnosis and treatment: dyslexia, pediatrics, 44, 601-606.
1966 wordsRead More - Alzheimer’s Diseaseexplanatory essayAlzheimer’s disease defined: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, terminal, degenerative brain disease. It is the fourth leading cause of death in adults and currently affects over four million people in the United States. This number is expected to increase over the next several years as the baby boomers age, until it reaches fourteen million by the year 2025. Alzheimer disease generally occurs in people over seventy five years of age; however it does strike people in their forties, fifties, and sixties, but this is rare. When Alzheimer’s disease occurs prior to the age of sixty five, it is referred to as early onset Alzheimer’s.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that several medications are available that may, in some individuals, improve symptoms or temporarily slow the disease progress. other drugs are being tested and could be marketed in the near future.
- Explains that there is no quick and easy way to diagnose alzheimer's disease. a diagnosis can only be conclusively arrived at following autopsy of the brain.
- Explains that delirium produces confusion and disorientation, but in contrast to the dementia seen in alzheimer’s disease, it produces a clouding of consciousness.
- Explains that depression can produce symptoms common to alzheimer's disease such as: forgetfulness, difficulty making decisions, withdrawal, poor judgment, and irritable mood.
- Explains how alzheimer's disease can be divided into seven stages using the reisberg scale. these stages are helpful for understanding the progression of the disease and planning environments, programs, and interventions.
- Explains that alzheimer's disease sufferers and their family and friends are unaware that anything is wrong. during this stage, changes take place in the brain, much like cancer silently works.
- Explains that alzheimer's is a mild form of forgetfulness, which increases in frequency and intensity.
- Explains the denial or cover up stage, which is referred to as the early confusional stage. mild cognitive decline is evident to close family and friends.
- Explains that stage 4 is the late confusional stage. deficits are obvious and denial is intense. the person at this stage is confused about current events and unable to balance a checkbook.
- Explains that alzheimer's disease is a progressive, terminal, degenerative brain disease that affects over four million people in the united states.
- Explains that alzheimer disease is characterized by a gradual spread of sticky plaques and clumps of tangled fibers that disrupt the organization of nerve cells in the brain.
- Explains that alzheimer's disease is often used interchangeably with the term dementia, but these terms are not interchangeable. dementia is only a symptom of the disease, and it occurs only in the mid to late stages.
- Explains that dementia is the major symptom as alzheimer’s disease progresses through stages 5-7. dementia involves multiple cognitive thinking impairement.
- Explains that executive functioning impairments must be severe enough to significantly impact the individuals’ social or occupational functioning and must represent a decline from previous levels of functioning.
- Explains the cognitive decline and early dementia stages of alzheimer's patients. they can still make their needs known, though some may have expressive aphasia.
- Explains that the person in this stage is progressing backward and not forward as they progress through the disease. disciplinary action from the caregiver is not appropriate.
- Describes the end stage of alzheimer's disease, the failure to strive stage, which can last 5-7 years. the person in this stage is aware of only the immediate present, cannot make their needs known, and cannot recognize familiar people.
- Explains that people with alzheimer's disease become confused, restless, upset, and disoriented during the evening.
- Explains that communication is a major concern in living with or caring for indivudals with alzheimer's disease.
2552 wordsRead More - Language Acquisition in Childrenanalytical essayFromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2003). An introduction to language (7th ed.). Boston: Heinle.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the study of language development has a long and rich history, extending over thousands of years. the behaviorist and the nativist positions are the most prominent and influential.
- Explains that behaviorism focuses on people's behaviors, which are directly observable, rather than on the mental systems underlying them. language is viewed as a kind of verbal behavior and it is proposed that children learn language through imitation, reinforcement, analogy, and structured input.
- Explains that children's complex and creative utterances cannot be explained by a passive response to the language of the environment.
- Argues that children learn language through reinforcement, and that attempts to correct a child's language are doomed to fail.
- Opines that children learn language through analogy by putting words together to form phrases and sentences. however, problem arises constantly as children never move the first auxiliary of a relative clause.
- Argues that children learn language through structured input, while adults speak to them in a special "simplified" language called motherese.
- Analyzes how the behaviorist minimized comprehension and underlying cognitive process by emphasizing production. owens' failure to account for verbal behavior is a measure of the importance of factors omitted from consideration.
- Explains that the nativists claim that individuals are genetically endowed with a specific facility for language that is realized with minimal assistance from the environment.
- Argues that language is essentially the same experience for all human beings, no matter what language they speak, where they are or how they interact with their models.
- Explains that the nativists liken the child to a lad. it receives primary linguistic input and produces grammatical sentences of the language.
- Explains that the grammar a person ends up with is vastly underdetermined by linguistic experiences. the ug helps children extract the rules of their language and avoid many grammatical errors.
- Concludes that the behaviorist view that children become language users is psychologically active and linguistically creative in successfully making up the inadequacies of behaviorism. further research is needed to determine which part of the language is innate and universal.
- Cites ayoun, d., cattell, r. and chhomsky, n. in perspectives in the philosophy of language: a concise anthology.
- Explains garton, pratt, and howard, m. r. (2002). born to talk: an introduction to speech and language development.
1619 wordsRead More - Wernicke's Aphasia Disorderargumentative essayJasmin, Luc. "Communicating with Someone with Aphasia." nlm.nih.gov. Ed. David Zieve. Medline Plus, 22 May 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aphasia is caused by damage to parts of the brain that are responsible for language.
- Explains that wernicke's aphasia is caused by damage to the brain which can result from head injury, brain tumors, infections, dementia, or the most common cause, stroke.
- Explains that wernicke's aphasia results not in speech loss, but in loss of speech content.
- Analyzes how the mother is working her work out o'here to get her better, but when she's looking, the two boys look in other part. one their tile into her time here.
- Describes wernicke's aphasia as hyperfluency, the production of rapid-fire strings of sentences with little pause for acknowledgement or turn-taking.
- Explains the purpose of a screening, which is not to diagnose the severity and characteristics of the disorder, but to identify the need for further assessment.
- Explains that the primary concern in treatment of wernicke's aphasia is the patient. there are many ways to help them and make treatment more manageable and enjoyable.
- Explains the primary goal in the treatment of wernicke's aphasia is to aid the recovery of the client’s language and to compensate for deficits in understanding spoken language, speaking, and writing.
- Explains that wernicke's aphasia can be found in children and adolescents, but the vast majority of people suffering with this disorder are elderly. it is important to limit or refrain from the use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol.
- Explains that wernicke's aphasics often receive treatment from professionals, such as neurologists, physical therapists, occupational therapy, nutritionists and speech-language pathologists.
- Explains that intervention and treatment can begin as soon as the client is physically able. research and trends have shown that the earlier clients begin to receive treatment, the higher their rate of recovery will be.
- Concludes that wernicke's aphasia can be defined as fluent language disorder caused by strokes and is treatable by various methods.
- Explains jasmin, luc, and david zieve's "communicating with someone with aphasia."
- Explains owens, robert e., dale e metz, and kimberly a. farinella's introduction to communication disorders: a lifespan evidence-based perspective.
- Opines that wernicke's aphasia is the site of the aphasia center.
1881 wordsRead More