Wernicke's Aphasia Research Paper

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Wernicke's Aphasia
Rebecca C. Martinez
Texas A & M International University

Abstract
Wernicke's aphasia is a disorder that affects a person's language and their ability to communicate meaningful messages. There are three types of aphasias: fluent aphasia, non-fluent aphasia, and global aphasia. Wernicke's aphasia is considered a fluent aphasia, in which the person affected is capable of speaking in long sentences but the words spoken do not make any sense. These individuals do not realize that their words do not make sense when communicating and others are unable to understand what they are saying. Wernicke's aphasia occurs when there is damage to the language network in the brain which is located in the middle portion …show more content…

The most common cause of the Wernicke's aphasia is stroke, which is when the blood flow in a certain area of the brain is cut off. This can happen when there is a blockage of blood running through the blood vessels or when a blood vessels ruptures, causing loss of blood flow to the brain. This then causes brain cells to die, which can cause damage to the language areas in our brain, in this case, damage to wernicke's area. The two different types of strokes are ischemic stroke, which is when there is a blockage of blood in a blood vessel due to a blood clot, and hemorrhagic stroke, which is when a blood vessel ruptures and there is blood leaking into the brain. Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke and hemorrhagic strokes result in death. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when there is damage to the brain usually caused by a blow to the head. TBI can be mild or severe, depending on how intense the blow to the head is. The common causes of traumatic brain injury include falls, whether it be falling off the bed, falling from a ladder, or falling down a flight of stairs; vehicle accidents; violence; high impact sports, including boxing, skateboarding, soccer, or football; and other combat injuries, for example, explosive blasts. Tumors occur when there is an overgrowth of …show more content…

Treatment includes the patient meeting with an SLP for therapy several times a week, depending on the condition of the patient, and will consist of increasing the ability to speak and communicate, restoring and compensating for language loss as much as possible, and learning to communicate using different methods of communication. Like treatment for all types of disorders, there are treatment options for wernicke's aphasic patients, which include individual and group therapy. Individual therapy focuses on the persons specific needs while group therapy will provide the patient the opportunity to communicate with others in a small group setting. Again, treatment depends on how severe the aphasia, therefore all patients will have different treatment plans in order to have a successful

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