Conduction Aphasia: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
Language disorders are diverse, both in their symptoms and in the origin of the alteration.
In this article we will see everything related to conduction aphasia what are its main symptoms, how the diagnosis is made, its causes and the treatment for these cases.
What characterizes conduction aphasia is the inability to repeat the words that reach the ears
For example, let’s imagine that immediately after suffering some type of accident, we regain consciousness and notice that it is impossible for us to repeat the words that are said to us. Probably in this case we will be facing this type of aphasia.
Causes
This speech disorder corresponds to organic causes in the brain. Specifically originates with lesions in the arcuate fasciculus which connects Broca’s area with Wernicke’s area, and the supramarginal gyrus.
In general, The incidents that mostly cause conduction aphasia are cerebrovascular diseases (CVD), although they can originate in other ways, let’s review what they are.
1. Traumatic brain injury
After having suffered some type of accident, conduction aphasia may occur. Under normal conditions, after a while, with the necessary treatment and rest, it can be completely rehabilitated.
2. Tumors of the Central Nervous System (CNS)
One of the symptoms that the subject may be presenting a tumor in some structure of the CNS is the inability to reproduce words, which is why neurological evaluation is essential
Other possible causes are degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or brain infections among other.
What are the symptoms of this disorder?
Apart from the inability to orally repeat words, there are other characteristic symptoms of this type of aphasia. Let’s see them.
In the most severe cases of this type of aphasia, the repetition of the words can become completely null on the part of the affected subject, while in milder cases the person may be able to pronounce a word, after having made a series of approximations out loud. The latter is what is known as phonemic paraphrase disorder, which is a comorbidity with conduction aphasia.
While the person has this aphasia, they could repeat some words, as long as the extent of the lesion is not too much and the words indicated make sense. When it comes to meaningless words (pseudowords) the subject is completely unable to repeat them.
Diagnosis
Taking into consideration the multiple types of aphasia that exist, this is one of the mildest there is, and its diagnosis is very easy to make.
First of all The level of education and age of the subject before the moment of the accident must be taken into account what caused the disorder; That will be the starting point for the evaluation.
Then we review the extent of the injury, through a neuropsychological evaluation, taking into account that there are multiple degrees of affection in terms of brain structures and it is necessary to establish which one the patient presents exactly.
In addition to this assessment, the individual is given a series of prompts, primarily focused on the repetition of specific words, letters, made-up words, and random phrases. This helps the evaluator get an idea of the extent of the injury through the complications that the subject shows in decoding the auditory information that has been provided through the indications
The treatment
The test for aphasias is based mainly on language therapies with a speech therapist, in addition to a neuropsychological rehabilitation process The latter is important, taking into account that by exercising cognitive processes in general we are stimulating our speech process.
Let us remember that verbal expression is an extension of our thinking; When you work on concentration, memory, and executive functions, you are taking giant steps towards recovery from aphasia.
