Understanding Aphasia

This is a comprehensive, interpretive account of aphasia written to appeal to a broad audience. It combines historical, anatomic, and psychological approaches toward understanding the nature of aphasia. Included is a discussion of the brain-language relationship, the symptoms and syndromes common to aphasia, and alternative approaches to classification. Integrates phenomenology of aphasic symptoms with the anatomy of language and current theories of brain-language relations Traces history of aphasic theory, from pre-Broca to contemporary theory Provides detailed review of manifestations of aphasia in every language modality Contains critical analysis of neurolinguistic inter-relations

Milestones in the History of Aphasia surveys the history of aphasia from its earliest mentions in ancient times, to the turn of the new millennium in 2000. The book takes a predominantly chronological approach starting with an examination of the earliest medical documents and medieval attempts to understand aphasia, to the momentous events of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, up to the development of modern cognitive neuroscience in recent years. It traces the development of theory about and understanding of aphasia, and the role of significant individuals in this history. The result is a well illustrated introduction to the main events and personalities in the rich history of aphasia. This accessible book provides a unique insight into the fascinating development of research in aphasia. It will be of great interest to undergraduates and postgraduates, researchers, teachers and clinicians in psychology, speech and language pathology and therapy, neurology and linguistics.

Aphasia is an acquired central disorder of language that impairs a person’s ability to understand and/or produce spoken or writing language. The study of aphasia is important in different clinical and fundamental areas, including neurology, psychology, linguistics, and speech-language pathology. This book presents comprehensive information on the diagnosis and treatment of aphasias. Chapters cover such topics as linguistics and the study of aphasias, different types of aphasias, treatment approaches, imaging, and much more.

This groundbreaking work brings together leading scientist-practitioners to review what is known about aphasia and to relate current knowledge to treatment. Integrating traditional linguistic formulations with new insights derived from cognitive neuroscience, this volume explores the neuropsychological bases of both normal and pathologic language. It reflects an understanding of brain structure and function based on new developments in connectionist modeling and functional neuroimaging.

This text is the result of the author's research devoted to the understanding of the relationship between brain functions and communication, as well as years of teaching-learning and clinical experiences. It begins with a review of core concepts relating to the structures and interrelated functions of the brain. This information serves as the precursor to understanding the possible causes and nature of neurogenic communication disorders and related clinical issues. It also includes options for assessing the prevailing communication disorder and highlights the association between the etiologies and underlying neuropathology to overt communication symptoms; the rationale for their presentation is to foster essential critical thinking skills to derive at differential diagnosis and formulate a prognosis for recovery of the identified symptoms. The text selectively focuses on the description of language and cognitive-communication disorders secondary to brain lesions. It aims to guide students and professionals who diagnose, explain, and implement rehabilitation strategies for individuals with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. This objective is reflected in its elaboration of disrupted decoding and encoding of linguistic units such as symbols (words) representing semantics and morphology (meaningful units), and the rules (syntax and pragmatics) for using them during communication. The interconnectivity between language and cognition is stressed through establishing the influence of perceptual and cognitive functions on language/communication modalities of comprehension and production. Contributions from the fields of neuro- and psycholinguistics have been incorporated to help characterize and distinguish disorders such as aphasia, dementia, as well as traumatic brain injury and nondominant (right) hemisphere lesions. The text ends with the offering of diverse management and treatment options that strive to either restore or st