This collection of syndromes is usually associated with ischemia or other lesions in the left posterior inferior frontal cortex, in the distribution of the superior division of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA). Individuals with Broca aphasia often have difficulty understanding syntactically complex or semantically reversible sentences (e.g., "touch your nose after you touch your foot") but have little trouble understanding simple, semantically nonreversible sentences. 2010 Feb 41(2):325-30.īroca aphasia is characterized by nonfluent, poorly articulated, and agrammatic speech output (in both spontaneous speech and repetition) with relatively spared word comprehension. Ischemia in Broca area is associated with Broca aphasia more reliably in acute than in chronic stroke. Ochfeld E, Newhart M, Molitoris J, et al. The relationship between the symptoms and the vascular territory that is affected is not always consistent, but is more reliable acutely than chronically. The Boston diagnostic aphasia examination. 2007 Jul 10 69(2):200-13.įor example, the Western aphasia battery and Boston diagnostic aphasia examination were designed to distinguish vascular syndromes. Aphasia: progress in the last quarter of a century. The most common classification of aphasia divides the disorder into clinical syndromes of frequently co-occurring deficits that reflect the vascular territory affected in stroke. They can be distinguished by evaluation of language (tests of word and sentence comprehension, naming, repetition, spontaneous speech, reading, and writing), as well as tests of articulation (tests assessing the strength, coordination, rate, and range of movement of the muscles of speech articulation) and motor speech programming. These 3 disorders can coexist, but often occur separately. Individuals with dementia often have language problems, but they also have at least equally severe deficits in episodic memory, visuospatial skills, and/or executive functions (e.g., organization, planning, decision making).ĭysarthria is an acquired disorder of speech production due to weakness, slowness, reduced range of movement, or impaired timing and coordination of the muscles of the jaw, lips, tongue, palate, vocal folds, and/or respiratory muscles (the speech articulators).Īpraxia of speech is an impairment in the motor planning and programming of the speech articulators that cannot be attributed to dysarthria. It is important to distinguish aphasia from dysarthria or apraxia.Īphasia is a selective impairment of language or the cognitive processes that underlie language. Definitions: aphasia, dysarthria, and apraxia Typically, both oral and written language are affected, but occasionally only one modality of input or output is impaired.
Neologisms (a series of sounds that do not comprise a word and are not similar to the target word)Ĭircumlocutions (e.g., calling a horse an animal that you ride with a saddle). Phonemic paraphasias (substituting one or more sounds in the word, e.g., calling a horse a force or using a non-word such as porse)
Semantic paraphasias (substituting a semantically related word for a target word, e.g., calling a horse a cow) It is typically characterized by errors in word retrieval or selection, including: Aphasia is an acquired impairment of language that affects comprehension and production of words, sentences, and/or discourse.