engleski

Aphasia and dementia

Underlying causes of aphasia and dementia are distinctly different, but the two conditions have a number of similarities. The root deficit of aphasia is a problem with access to the language system. Rather than having trouble with words, patients with dementia may primarily have difficulty understanding and defining concepts. Primarily an intellectual disorder, dementia is rooted in cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to examine speech-language functioning on persons with aphasia, persons with dementia and on persons with standard speech-language functioning. In this study Everyday Life Activities, Object Photo Series (Stark, 2003.) manual was used with which we tried to provide insight in characteristics of speech-language functioning in above mentioned groups and wanted to see are there any differences between them. Study material consists of four groups of tasks. Two of them are verbal and the other two are non-verbal. Verbal tasks examine comprehension and usage of prepositions and vocabulary, and non-verbal tasks examine the memory abilities and structure of words. Subjects with aphasia had most difficulties in tasks which were more linguistically demanding, while the subjects with dementia had difficulties also in cognitive task that examined memorizing. Clinicians may use the same therapy techniques for both patient populations, but the treatment goals will vary.

aphasia; dementia; speech-language functioning

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