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APPENDIX F
THE EDUCATION AND TREATMENT OF THE APHASIC CHILD
Shirley M. Wickerson, L.C.S.T., Senior Speech Therapist
Aphasia is an inability to express and/or to understand language
symbols. It is the result of some defect in the central nervous system,
rather than in the peripheral speech mechanism, the ear or the auditory
nerves; neither is it caused by a defect in general intelligence nor
severe emotional disturbance. One or more of these defects may also
exist to a minor degree in an aphasic child. Further, it is also possible
that the neurological damage is not as immediately obvious as it is in
the case of a cerebral palsied child.
Aphasia is a language disorder and can take the following forms:—
(1) Expressive or motor aphasia - the child is unable to relate the words
he hears to that part of the nervous system which is used in speaking.
Thus he hears and understands the word "ball" but is unable to recall
and formulate this word when shown the actual object.
(2) Receptive or sensory aphasia - the child is unable to understand
spoken language; he hears the word "ball" but cannot associate it with
an actual ball; he is able, however, to associate familiar sounds with
their point of origin and will recognise for instance a dog barking. In
severe cases though, even this ability is absent, and the child is unable
to understand or relate meaning to any sound.
(3) In some cases the child has a mixed receptive and executive aphasia,
with perhaps one of the two dominating.
(4) A child may also suffer from secondary Dysarthria - a severe articulator
disorder following an early aphasia. In such cases the child
experiences an abnormal delay in acquiring language. When a language
pattern is finally established his resulting speech is virtually unintelligible.
Aphasia which commences after the formation of an established
speech pattern is termed acquired aphasia, and is more commonly found
in adults. Developmental aphasia occurs prior to the inception of speech.
It is this latter condition which is: dealt with in this article.
Developmental aphasia is not a common condition and so far there
is little known of the actual incidence of this disorder. This may partly
be due to the difficulty of diagnosis. In Croydon we have some 26 recognised
and assessed cases amongst a population of 73,600 (i.e. 3.7 per
10,000 children). In common with most speech and language disorders,
however, there is a higher incidence of aphasic boys than girls.