I few weeks ago i noticed this sweet old woman going about her daily occupational treatments, she was taking by herself and folding the sheets. I tried to conversant with her but she wouldn't make sense, puzzled, I asked the COTA what was wrong with her. He smirked and said, "what did she tell you"? I said well, "Nothing really, she kept repeating what she was doing". He told me she had Wernicke's Aphasia, he even offered to show me how this disorder took place in a her life. He politely asked Mrs. Gomez what was she holding, she kept repeating the same thing. He asked again, "What do you use this for?" And she just kept on saying," Yes, Yes, thats right". The COTA assured me that she can't describe objects and she likes to divert from the subject to hide her disorder.
WERNICKE'S APHASIA:
Wernickes aphasia is a language disorder that impacts language comprehension and the production of meaningful language. The disorder is related to damage to the Wernicke's area. Individuals with Wernicke's aphasia have difficulty understanding spoken language, but are able to produce sounds, phrases, and word sequences. While these utterances have the same rhythm as normal speech. They are not language because no information is conveyed.
The main cause of aphasia must be stabilized or treated. To regain the normal language function, speech therapy must begin right after the injury. Even though there are no surgical or medical procedures available currently to treat this disorder, aphasia resulting from head injury or stroke can improve by implementing speech therapy. However, for most patients, the primary aim is focused on making use of the retained language abilities. Being aware on how to go about this disorder is extremely important because it is then, where we can see the most positive changes. Although, for late adult hood it become a bit more difficult because their capability to retain information and process it diminishes over time.
Wernicke's aphasia is a very interesting topic about language deficit in my opinion. What is really odd is that they can talk fluently but what their saying sort of doesn’t make any sense. Also known as fluent aphasia makes the concept of Wernicke’s aphasia easier to understand since the word clearly defines that they can talk 'fluently'. Surprisingly enough they have a really hard time finding the right word to describe what they are talking about. As I saw in this video, it was pretty clear to me that yes she talks fast but she repeats everything that her speech therapist was telling her. Oddly enough she had a hard time understanding what the therapist wanted her to do. People with Wernicke’s aphasia have anomia which is the term for having difficulty remembering the names of objects therefore they have a tendency to make up names. This gets my attention because I have gone through something as similar as this. When I am talking to my friends sometimes I have trouble remembering the word for what I am describing and I tend to make up words as well. It is just a custom that I have to make it up so I can continue with what I was saying. I’m not saying that I have Wernicke’s aphasia of course, but I just wanted to comment on that particular issue that has happened to me and I know to other people too because even my friends have done that.
ReplyDeleteI used to want to be a speech therapist which makes all these topics really fascinating for me, so I am glad that someone as a speech therapist is the chosen one to help with this particular language disorder.
wow, that must be tough to be dealing with this type of disorder. I read about this disorder a couple years ago and never really understood it until now. I wonder if the person themselves know that they cant pronounce very well. and like from your video do they always repeat what the other person is saying, even if they are just asking them to do something not repeat it?
ReplyDeletePhysical therapy is probably the best choice. This helps train the brain to be as close to normal as it can be. I hope they find an alternative option. Like surgery or medications.