neurologic disorders
Aphasia
Symptoms and Signs of Aphasia
Anomia (the inability to name objects) usually occurs in all forms of aphasia. Patients with Wernicke aphasia speak normal words fluently, often including meaningless phonemes, but do not know their meaning or relationships. The result is a jumble of words or “word salad.” Patients are typically unaware that their speech is incomprehensible to others. Auditory and written comprehension is impaired. Patients make errors in reading (alexia). Writing is fluent but has many errors and tends to lack substantive words (fluent agraphia). A right visual field cut commonly accompanies Wernicke aphasia because the visual pathway is near the affected area. Patients with Broca aphasia can comprehend and conceptualize relatively well, but their ability to form words is impaired. Usually, the impairment affects speech production and writing (nonfluent agraphia, dysgraphia), greatly frustrating patients’ attempts to communicate. However, spoken and written communication makes sense to the patient. Broca aphasia may include impaired prosody and repetition, in addition to anomia. Writing is impaired. 