Differences Between Broca's and Wernicke's Aphasia

Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects many adults and families. Aphasia occurs as a result of damage to the language-specific areas of the brain (ASHA, 2014). Individuals with aphasia may experience difficulties with oral language, receptive language, memory, attention writing, and reading. There are a myriad of approaches designed for the treatment of aphasia. Two treatment approaches, Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (P.A.C.E.) and Constraint Induced Language Therapy (C.I.L.T.), and their efficacy in regard to available evidence will be discussed below.

(2) Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) is characterised by problems with speech production. Individuals may struggle to find the correct words when engaging in conversation. Often individuals will struggle to pronounce words correctly (especially if they have more than two syllables), and their speech will lack appropriate grammar. Problems understanding speech can also be present, especially if the sentence contains complex grammar.

How an injury to the head can do damage to the brain varies. Brain swelling and disruption of blood supply are some direct causes of damage (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009). However, neurological damage develops after (also known as secondary injuries) the immediate moment of impact (Ghajar, 2000). In other words even minor head injuries can lead to lasting disabilities and that the injuries are amassed. Meaning that a minor injury can result in a major impairment (Ponsford, Sloan, & Snow, 2012).

Expressive (motor) Aphasia is a neurological condition that occurs when words cannot be formed, expressed, or may be absent due to an injury to the cerebral cortex. (Brooks & Brooks, 2012).

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand oral and written language, speaking and writing. It is estimated that one third of those who survive stroke have aphasia (Department of Health, 2007). Most patients with aphasia exhibit spontaneous recovery, usually in the first 2-3 months following stroke onset (Godecke, Hird, Lalor, Rai, & Phillips, 2012). However, 30-40% of these patients may experience long-term post-stroke aphasia (Bakheit et al., 2007). Continued rehabilitative treatments with the speech and language pathologists (SLPs) are not as significantly effective due to the current high demands on limited resources (Palmer et al., 2012), which reduced the availability of face-to-face speech

The nervous system is a complex arrangement of nerves and specialized cells called the neurons carry messages to and from the brain and the spinal cord to different parts of the body. Nervous system is consisted of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system is made up of nerves that are outside the brain and spinal cord. Nervous system diseases affect the functioning of the human nervous system consisting of the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system and one such disorder is aphasia. Aphasia is a neurological disorder that is caused by damage to the portions of the brain which is responsible for communication. Aphasia damages the left part of the brain that contains language and is usually caused by stroke but at the same time can be caused by other diseases such as brain tumors, infection, head injury, or dementia that damages the brain. There are four types of aphasia and they are expressive aphasia, receptive aphasia, anomic aphasia, and global aphasia.

Aphasia is another effect concussion have on an individual. This is a language disorder that affect

Farrow (2004) explains that “A traumatic brain injury is caused by a blow to the head, face, or neck area…” (p.53). It is an injury to the brain that causes an immediate change in brain function, which includes a loss of consciousness (Levy, 1993). You do not have to be knocked unconscious in order to sustain a traumatic brain injury (The Franklin Institute, 2004). The term traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to injuries to the brain that are caused by some form of traumatic impact. A blow to the head, violent shaking or penetration of the brain tissue usually causes traumatic brain injuries. This is due to sudden, non-congenital physical damage to the brain from an external force that temporarily or permanently disrupts normal brain function. Brain characteristics and functions that can be affected include consciousness, speech and language, memory, mobility, personality and others. Depending on the cause and severity of the brain injury, brain damage can be mild, moderate or severe. In more serious cases , complications can be fatal. While the severity of traumatic brain injuries varies, the long-term affects are often devastating and life altering. Because the brain controls all bodily functions, any damage to the brain, regardless of severity, can impair physical and psychological activity (Rehberg,

Closed head injuries are caused by blunt trauma in which a concussion, contusion, and laceration to the brain may result. The most severe of the closed head injuries is anoxal injury (diffuse type). Diffuse anoxal injury is used related to high speed acceleration/deceleration as with automobile accidents. (Workman, 2006). With this type of injury there is significant damage to the axons in the white matter. Lesions may be found in the corpus callosum, midbrain, cerebellum and upper brainstem. Depending on the severity, small areas of hemorrhage followed by possible enlargement of the lateral ventricles may be detected on CT scan. For severe cases, the majority present in a coma. Survivors usually require long term care.

Nearly one million individuals within the United States experience aphasia resulting from a stroke. The website for the American Heart Association states that strokes are the third leading cause of death in the United States. They are often referred to as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). This occurs when the blood flow to the brain has been either stopped or interrupted. The deprivation of blood flow and oxygen to the brain results in a stroke. Around 41.2 percent of individuals who suffered from a stroke will have aphasia (Guyomard et al., 2009). Manasco (2014) stated that aphasia is a deficit in language abilities resulting from the brain. It is broken down into, two categories fluent and non-fluent. Individuals with aphasia typically suffer from anomia. This is a condition where word retrieval (anomia) is difficult. “Most unimpaired individuals do not need to put forth any effort to express themselves verbally. However,

disease, or head injury, it effects you and limits you depending of which area of the brain is not

•Aphasia is the failure to impart successfully. The loss of capacity to talk and compose is called expressive aphasia. An individual may overlook words he has learned, and will have expanding trouble with correspondence. With responsive aphasia, an individual may be not able comprehend

Aphasia is a language disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are parts of the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. “Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage”. (Sarno 23)

Aphasia is a language disorder that can be the result of a brain injury. An individual that is suffering from aphasia may experience difficulty speaking, writing, reading, or comprehending. There are three different types of Aphasia that differ in various ways. First, Wernicke’s Aphasia is the inability to grasp the meaning of words and sentences that have been produced by another individual. This type of aphasia is also known as “fluent aphasia” or “receptive aphasia”. Wernicke patients’ speech may come across like a jumble of words or jargon, but it is very well articulated and they have no issue producing their own connected speech. If the patient is consecutively making errors, it is common for them to be unaware of their difficulties, and not realize that their sentences don’t make sense. The severity of the disorder varies depending on the patient, and the disorder results form damage in the left posterior temporal region of the brain, which is also known as Wernicke’s area.

The purpose of this paper is to pursue one important and fundamental aim: language and the brain are purely inseparable since it allows us to perform essential tasks such as generating, comprehending and expressing speech. With damage to the brain, individuals can no longer perform such tasks which can ultimately lead to many types of language disorders. The focus of this paper is Broca’s aphasia, a language disorder characterized by the inability to produce written and spoken speech. Damage to the brain can cause many types of speech impairments as well as comprehension deficits.