What Is Aphasia In Children? ? An Overview | Speech Therapy

Any injury to the head is considered as a serious matter and the person is kept under observation for the first 24 hours to see if he or she develops any signs and symptoms of any condition that might result in complications. Aphasia In Children and in adults is also a result of damage, injury to the head, or could be due to some brain disease, infection, dementia, or tumor etc.

It is a language disorder and it reduces the ability to read, write, speak, understand, or use words to communicate effectively. In some cases aphasia in children also results in complete lack of the above mentioned communication skills. Let us learn more about this condition in general and its symptoms in children and adults.

What Is It?
Aphasia is a language disorder that adversely affects an individual?s ability to communicate his feelings, ideas, or thoughts either verbally or in written form. Any person with this condition finds it very difficult to understand what is being said, finds it hard to spell, write, or speak, and express his or her needs.

This condition results when that part of the brain is damaged or negatively affected which controls and manages the language and communication abilities.

What Are The Causes Of This Condition?
A few of the reasons that could lead to this problem are:

• Stroke
• Injury or damage due to accident or any other reason
• Lack of blood supply and oxygen to the brain cells
• Dementia
• Trauma
• Infection
• Seizures
• Brain tumor
• Disease
• Alzheimer?s
• Parkinson?s
• Lesions on brain
• Delay in acquiring language skills
• Other language disorders like verbal apraxia, dysarthria etc.

Symptoms:
The signs of this condition are:

• These individuals find it very difficult to understand language.
• They have a very hard time speaking and it is very hard to reply instantly.
• Forming words, simple phrases, and small sentences that can make sense or convey the message properly.
• Their verbal ability is very limited and is restricted to a very few words.
• Their pronunciation is very poor and others can hardly comprehend.
• It is very bothering and troubling for them to name objects, people, and places.
• Repeating a phrase or a simple sentence is also difficult.
• They speak grammatically incorrect phrases.
• Their ability to read is also vastly affected in a bad way.
• Writing and spelling is also difficult and is adversely affected.
• Long and odd pauses can be seen when these sufferers try to speak.
• Processing language is difficult.
• Difficulty in understanding what others are talking to them is witnessed etc.

Types Of Aphasia:
This disorder can be divided into the following types:

1. Receptive:
   Any damage or trauma or injury to the Wernicke?s part of the brain results in the symptoms. It is further divided into three subtypes.
   • Pure Word Deafness:
     Injury, damage or lesions to the posterior superior temporal lobes of the brain result in this condition.
   • Alexia:
     Damage to the left hemisphere of the brain affects the ability to understand the text and this condition is also called as Text Blindness.
   • Visual Asymbolia:
     This condition happens when the words are hard for the sufferer to recognize.
2. Intermediate:
   Intermediate aphasia results in a condition where the sufferer finds it difficult to remember names of object, people, and places. These individuals also find it hard to find words to express themselves clearly.
3. Expressive:
   In this condition the patient finds it hard to initiate a conversation, it is a full of grammatical mistakes, is full of awkward pauses, and is very slow. Lack of oxygen to the brain cells is the main reason for this type of aphasia.
   • Fluent:
     This type of aphasia does not affect the speech but hinders the process of comprehending the information. It could be due to auditory problem, or due to some injury to the brain.
   • Non-fluent:
     The audibility is good, comprehension is fine, but the speech is affected in this subtype of aphasia.
   • Pure:
     Recognizing words, reading, and writing is hindered in this type of aphasia. In some cases only reading could be affected while in others only writing, etc.
4. Primary:
   Primary aphasia is related to the mechanics of processing the language.
5. Secondary:
   This type of aphasia occurs because of deficit in attention span, reduced memory, problems with perception and understanding.

Treatment Options:
Depending upon the cause different treatments are designed for each patient to aid in reducing the severity of the symptoms and correct the problem to a major extent. Neuropsychologists, physicians, speech language therapists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists are a few of the specialists that can help a child or an adult with this problem.

• There are some cases the blocked supply of blood and oxygen to the brain cells was restored on its own and the problem was effectively cured, but it is not so in every case.
• In other cases the condition is not cured completely and hence a speech and language therapist?s assistance is required.
• Substitute Skill Model (SSM) helps speech and writing skills.
• (DTM) Direct Treatment Model aims at addressing the core issues and problems with certain exercises.
• (VCT) Visual Communication Therapy targets improvement in speech with the help of symbols and index cards.
• (VAT) Visual Action Therapy aids patients in using gestures for specific objects and help communicate.
• (FCT) Functional Communication Treatment helps individuals improve their conversational, expressional, functional, and social activities.
• PACE (Promoting Aphasic?s Communicative Effectiveness) encourages and assists the patient in having a normal communication between them and the therapists.
• Alternative Methods use different methods like drawing, gesturing, and using symbols to communicate and express.

These are some of the types, symptoms, causes, and treatment options available for aphasia in children and adults. If you notice some of the signs in any child or an adult it is better to consult a psychologist for further diagnosis and eventual treatment.

Source: http://speechtherapy.ygoy.com/2012/10/26/what-is-aphasia-in-children-an-overview/

mary kay ash tiny houses bon iver joan of arc tony robbins abraham lincoln vampire hunter their eyes were watching god