Conduction aphasia: symptoms, causes and treatment

Language disorders are diverse, both in their symptoms and in the origin of the alteration.

In this article we will see everything related to conduction aphasia, what are its main symptoms, how the diagnosis is made, its causes and the treatment for these cases.

• Related article: "The 6 types of aphasia (causes, symptoms and characteristics)"

What is conduction aphasia?

What characterizes conduction aphasia is the inability to repeat the words that reach the ears.

For example, let's imagine that immediately after suffering some kind of accident, we regain consciousness and notice that it is impossible for us to repeat the words that are said to us. Probably in this case we will be facing this type of aphasia.

Causes

This speech disorder corresponds to organic causes in the brain. Specifically originates with lesions in the arcuate fasciculus, which connects Broca's area with Wernicke's area, and the supramarginal gyrus.

In general, the incidents that mostly cause conduction aphasia are cerebrovascular diseases (CVD), although they can originate in other ways, let's review what they are.

1. head injury

After having suffered some type of accident, driving aphasia may occur. Under normal conditions, after a while, with the necessary treatment and rest, it can be completely rehabilitated.

2. Central Nervous System (CNS) Tumors

One of the symptoms that the subject may be presenting a tumor in some CNS structure is the inability to reproduce words, which is why neurological evaluation is essential.

3. other

Other possible causes are degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or brain infections, among other.

• You may be interested in: "Broca's area (part of the brain): functions and their relationship with language"

What are the symptoms of this disorder?

Apart from the inability to repeat words orally, there are other characteristic symptoms of this type of aphasia. Let's go see them.

• Difficulty finding words (phonemic paraphasias).
• alterations in reading (when it is aloud).
• handwriting alterations.

In the most severe cases of this type of aphasia, the repetition of the words can become completely null on the part of the affected subject, while in the mildest cases the person can manage to pronounce a word, after having made a series of approximations out loud. The latter is what is known as phonemic paraphrase disorder, which is a comorbidity with conduction aphasia.

While the person presents this aphasia, he could repeat some words, as long as the extent of the injury is not too great and the words that are indicated make sense. When it comes to nonsense words (pseudowords) the subject is completely incapable of repeating them.

Diagnosis

Considering the multiple types of aphasia that exist, this is one of the mildest there is, and its diagnosis is very easy to make.

First of all it is necessary to take into account the degree of education and the age of the subject before the moment of the accident that caused the disorder; that will be the starting point for the evaluation.

Then it goes on to review the extent of the injury, through a neuropsychological evaluation, taking into account that there is multiple degrees of affection in terms of brain structures and it is necessary to establish which is exactly the one that presents the patient.

In addition to this assessment, the individual is given a series of prompts, primarily focused on the repetition of specific words, letters, made-up words, and random phrases. This serves to give the evaluator an idea of ​​the extent of the injury. through the complications that the subject shows for the decoding of the auditory information that has been provided through the indications

The treatment

The stretching for aphasias is based mainly on language therapies with a speech therapist, as well as a neuropsychological rehabilitation process. The latter is important, taking into account that by exercising cognitive processes in general we are stimulating our speech process.

Let us remember that verbal expression is an extension of our thought; when working on concentration, memory, and executive functions, leaps and bounds are being made toward aphasia recovery.

Bibliographic references:

• Ardilla, A. (2010). A proposed reinterpretation and reclassification of aphasic syndromes. Aphasiology 24(3): 363-394.
• Damasio, H.; Damasio, A. R. (1980). The Anatomical Basis of Conduction Aphasia. Brain, 103(2): 337-350.