The Brain, Language, and Aphasia:

1
The Brain, Language, and Aphasia

• How do these correlate?

2
The Brain The Right Hemisphere

• Responsible for attention
• Functions are not as focal and isolated
• Cognitive Style Holistic-gestalt-Responsible
  for getting the whole picture.
• Non Linear Processing, such as music and art.
• (Ferrand Bloom,1997)

3
The Brain The Left Hemisphere

• Functions are more focal
• Cognitive Style Analytical thinking, linear
  processing (examples Math, Language), Rule-based
  thinking (Ferrand Bloom, 1997)

4
The Brain Lobes

• Four Lobes
• Frontal lobe-responsible for executive functions
  problem-solving, logical thinking, personality.
• Parietal lobe-primarily responsible for sensory
  information
• Temporal lobe-Left House for Language
• Occipital lobe-primarily responsible for visual
  information
• (Fucci Lass,1999)

5
The House for Language Wernickes Area
6
The House for SpeechBrocas area
7
What goes on in Wernickes Area?

• Wernickes area is primarily responsible for
  relating auditory experiences to present
  situations, and is often called the auditory
  association area.
• Wernickes area is also primarily responsible for
  speech recognition and linguistic expression.
• Wernickes area is also responsible for
  comprehension of not only spoken language, but
  written language.
• Wernickes area is also partly responsible for
  visual recognition.
• (Ferrand Bloom, 1997)

8
How Does Language Function Get Disrupted?

• Language Function can be disrupted when there is
  damage to the part of the brain that controls
  language. Damage to the brain can occur from a
  tumor, stroke, injury or illness. This damage is
  called Wernickes Aphasia.
• (Ferrand Bloom, 1997)

9
What is Aphasia?

• aphasia (uh-fay'-zhuh) According to the
  National Aphasia Association, Aphasia is an
  impairment of the ability to use or comprehend
  words, usually acquired as a result of a stroke
  or other brain injury (http//www.aphasia.org).
  There are different types of Aphasia depending on
  the site of damage.

10
Wernickes Aphasia

• When there is damage, such as a stroke, to
  Wernickes Area, the result is Wernickes
  Aphasia.

11
Characteristics of Wernickes Aphasia

• Fluent-speech flows effortlessly (Nadeau Rothi
  Crosson, 2000)
• Impaired auditory reading comprehension
• Excessive talking (Nadeau Rothi Crosson,
  2000)
• Empty Speech-Jargon Speech (Nadeau Rothi
  Crosson, 2000)
• Writing is resembles speech--messy, fast, jargon
  (Ferrand Bloom, 1997)
• Little frustration because the patient is unaware
  of the problem
• Jargonpatient uses made up words or incorrectly
  used words (Ferrand Bloom, 1997)

12
Treatment of Aphasia

• Usually a speech-language pathologist works with
  other rehabilitation and medical professionals,
  such as physicians, nurses, neurologists,
  occupational therapists, physical therapists, and
  social workers, as well as families, to provide a
  comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan for
  the person with aphasia.

13

• For more information on Aphasia, please visit the
  following sites
• Visit the National Aphasia Association.  This
  page is a great resource page to learn more about
  Aphasia.  The NAA also strives to help families
  that are watching a loved one suffer with
  Aphasia.  This site allows you to get in touch
  with someone who has Aphasia or a loved one of
  someone who has Aphasia.  www.aphasia.org
• The Aphasia Hope Foundation works to to promote
  research into the prevention and cure of
  aphasia.  This is a great place to start research
  on Aphasia. This site offers research articles,
  online forums and chat rooms. www.aphasiahope.org