Children with Verbal Auditory Agnosia

1
Children with Verbal Auditory Agnosia

• Pure Word Deafness

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What is Verbal Auditory Agnosia?

• Verbal auditory agnosia which is also called pure
  word
• deafness, is an acquired communication disorder
  where
• an individual is unable to comprehend spoken
• language, or repeat words. However, such
• individuals exhibit normal hearing and have
• spontaneous speech. This disorder is unlike
• aphasia because reading and writing capabilities
  are
• not affected. In some cases, individuals are not
  able to
• comprehend nonverbal sounds as well.
• (Heron, Macfarlane, and Papathanasiou, 1998)

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What causes Verbal Auditory Agnosia?

• Verbal auditory agnosia is caused by damage to
  the left temporal lobe where the auditory
  processing of speech occurs.
• Damage can be due to a stroke (in adults),
  traumatic brain injury, or epileptic seizures in
  children. The onset of this type of seizure
  occurs between three and seven years of age after
  a period of normal cognitive and language
  development.
• (Van Slyke, 2002) (Heron et al., 1998)

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How Verbal Auditory Agnosia Affects Communication

• The child is unresponsive to speech so they
  appear to be deaf. To the
• child, speech is perceived as if someone was
  literally saying (blah blah blah)
• This deficit impairs speech and language from
  being processed. This in turn
• impairs learning because the child can not
  discriminate speech sounds. This can
• also create difficulty for the child to express
  his or her wants and needs.
• Difficulty processing language causes the child
  to have problems with word
• finding as well.

(Heron et al., 1998) (Chapman et al.,1998)
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How Verbal Auditory Agnosia Affects Communication
(cont.)
Some children have an echoing effect in their
perception of speech. This interferes with the
further speech that follows. The echo can occur
in the form of speech, sounds, words, or whole
sentences. The echo can last as long as 10
minutes. Some children may have a high-pitch
voice with abnormal inflection similar to that of
children who are deaf (Chapman, McCathren,
Stomont, 1998, p. 40). Articulation problems can
also form
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Age of Onset

• The critical time period for development of
  speech and language is from one to eight years of
  age.
• If the child develops verbal auditory agnosia
  between the ages of one and eight than speech and
  language are at risk for not developing properly.
• The age of onset is important because it
  determines both the severity and the long-term
  outcome.
• The earlier the onset the more severe the
  impairments of speech and language will be. In
  severe forms the child can become mute.
• The age when the child develops this disorder is
  critical for determining the degree of language
  that is lost. The later the onset the greater the
  outcome for speech to be restored.
• (Chapman et al., 1998) (Van Slyke, 2002)

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Role of a Speech-Language Pathologist

• A childs education is dependent on the language
  recovery, which is one reason why speech and
  language therapy is critical.
• A speech-language pathologist will help the child
  acquire an effective way to communicate, which is
  usually through the use of visual forms of
  language. This would include a combination of
  augmenting speech with
• sign language facial
  expressions
• reading
  pictures
• writing
  sound discrimination
• Training the auditory system will enhance and
  improve receptive and
• expressive forms of language.
• (Braem, Metz-Lutz, Morel, Perez, Prelaz,
  Rickli, 2001)
• (Chapman et al. 1998)

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References

• Braem, P.B., Metz-Lutz, M., Morel, B., Perez, E.
  R., Prelaz, A. et al. (2001). Sign language in
  childhood epileptic aphasia (Landau-Kleffner
  syndrome). Developmental Medicine Child
  Neurology, 43, 739-744. Retrieved February 20,
  2005, from PsycINFO database.
• Chapman, T., McCathren, K., Stomont, M. (2001).
  What every educator should know about
  Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Focus on Autism and
  Other Developmental Disabilities, 13, 39-44.
  Retrieved February 19, 2005, from ERIC database.
• Heron, C., Macfarlane, S., Papathansiou, I.
  (1998). International Journal of Language
  Communication Disorders, 33, 214-217. Retrieved
  February 13, 2005, from Academic Search Premier
  database.
• Van Slyke, P. A. (2002). Classroom instruction
  for children with Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Child
  Language Teaching Therapy, 18, 23. Retrieved
  February 19, 2005 from Communication Mass Media
  Complete database.