What is Aphasia? Brain condition causes language impairment for 1 million Americans
http://www.medicaldaily.com/what-aphasia-brain-condition-causes-language-impairment-1-million-americans-398257
This article mentions that language sets humans apart from other species in the world. Although, the condition Aphasia directly effects a person's language ability. This is not a well-known condition, but there are about 80,000 new cases diagnosed every year.
This language impairment was even mentioned on TedEd Talk. Here, it was described as, "a brain condition that can impair all aspects of communication, from speech and language comprehension to even reading and writing". Most often, there is damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, due to stroke or injury- which causes aphasia. It depends which part of the brain is affected in order to tell exactly what impairments will follow. For example, if someone damaged their Broca's area, then that person would have problems naming objects. If someone damaged their Wernicke's area, they would have problems with language comprehension instead.
There is also a less common form of aphasia, called primary progressive aphasia, which is an early sign of dementia (not caused by an accident). It is actually more prevalent than most people realize, and the Aphasia Hope Foundation stated that over one million people in the U.S. are actually living with some sort of aphasia.
Even though language difficulties are a result of the condition aphasia, cognitive and intelligence are not. People with the condition have trouble putting their thoughts into words and comprehending the speech of others. To help with this, one can participate in speech therapy to regain some of the skills they have lost.
I found this article interesting because a lot of people who come into contact with those who have this condition might assume that person is unintelligent, when in reality it has nothing to do with their cognitive functioning. It is surprising that many people have aphasia and it is important to keep in mind that head injuries are a cause of this, so everyone should be more cautious. Personally, I do not know anyone with this condition. I may have came into contact with a few people that fit this description, and it definitely does not make them any less intelligent. This article is relevant to class because we specifically have talked about the Broca and Wernicke area's and how they are both important for speech production. We even talked about Paul Broca (the reason it is called Broca's area), who had a stroke and ended up losing his language skills.
This article mentions that language sets humans apart from other species in the world. Although, the condition Aphasia directly effects a person's language ability. This is not a well-known condition, but there are about 80,000 new cases diagnosed every year.
This language impairment was even mentioned on TedEd Talk. Here, it was described as, "a brain condition that can impair all aspects of communication, from speech and language comprehension to even reading and writing". Most often, there is damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, due to stroke or injury- which causes aphasia. It depends which part of the brain is affected in order to tell exactly what impairments will follow. For example, if someone damaged their Broca's area, then that person would have problems naming objects. If someone damaged their Wernicke's area, they would have problems with language comprehension instead.
There is also a less common form of aphasia, called primary progressive aphasia, which is an early sign of dementia (not caused by an accident). It is actually more prevalent than most people realize, and the Aphasia Hope Foundation stated that over one million people in the U.S. are actually living with some sort of aphasia.
Even though language difficulties are a result of the condition aphasia, cognitive and intelligence are not. People with the condition have trouble putting their thoughts into words and comprehending the speech of others. To help with this, one can participate in speech therapy to regain some of the skills they have lost.
I found this article interesting because a lot of people who come into contact with those who have this condition might assume that person is unintelligent, when in reality it has nothing to do with their cognitive functioning. It is surprising that many people have aphasia and it is important to keep in mind that head injuries are a cause of this, so everyone should be more cautious. Personally, I do not know anyone with this condition. I may have came into contact with a few people that fit this description, and it definitely does not make them any less intelligent. This article is relevant to class because we specifically have talked about the Broca and Wernicke area's and how they are both important for speech production. We even talked about Paul Broca (the reason it is called Broca's area), who had a stroke and ended up losing his language skills.
I thought giving examples within your entry of damaging the Broca's area and Wernicke's area were helpful to the reader to better understand different aspects. I recognize from class that most aphasia impairments come from damage to the brain from possible accidents or injury. I was not aware another type called primary aggressive aphasia can affect someone with from no injuries to the brain. As stated in this entry, aphasia affects language not someone's cognitive ability and this was also prevalent within colorblind people. Just because a person is partially colorblind does not mean their vision or sight is affected. All and all I believe I could connect past information and also learned new information from this entry!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with your input Morgan. I do remember in class how aphasia is involved in colorblind people and that is another example that would have been helpful in my blog. I thought it was very interesting to find out that partially colorblind individuals can still have normal vision or sight. Before class discussion, I thought they would have had more difficulty seeing. Thank you for your comments, I found them helpful.
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