Fluent aphasia, caused by brain damage, impairs reading, writing, and speaking skills. It is characterized by difficulty forming grammatical sentences and producing speech without gibberish. Treatment involves speech therapy and alternative communication techniques, but prognosis is usually worse than non-fluent aphasia.
Fluent aphasia, also called Wernicke’s aphasia, is a speech disorder caused by brain damage. Affected individuals are often severely impaired in their reading, writing, and speaking skills. Fluent aphasia is characterized by its relationship to nonfluent aphasia and usually impairs communication to a greater extent.
Aphasia of any type affects the ability to produce and understand written and verbal communication. The condition is caused by damage to the speech center of the brain, which could be the result of a stroke or other medical condition. Where the damage occurs determines the type of aphasia that might develop. People who have fluent aphasia usually have damage to the left central part of the brain, especially Wernicke’s area.
Fluent aphasics exhibit essentially the opposite symptoms of non-fluent aphasics. Typically, non-fluent aphasics may speak only in short but intelligible sentences, may understand the speech of others, have difficulty writing but may be able to read, and are often aware of their own communication difficulties. Conversely, fluent aphasics can typically produce long spoken language but tend to be incomprehensible. They often do not understand the speech of others, may not be able to read or write, and are unaware of their impairments. As with other aphasias, fluent aphasia has varying degrees of severity, so individuals may have some of these characteristics but not others, or may display some to a greater or lesser degree.
Research shows that fluent aphasia usually affects very specific communication structures. For example, fluent aphasics have no trouble articulating words, but often have difficulty forming grammatical sentences or producing speech without gibberish. If they can write, their handwriting may be normal, but their written work is modeled after their impaired speech.
Another distinguishing feature of fluent aphasia is that people do not commonly develop the disorder in conjunction with physical disability. This is because the damaged area of Wernicke’s brain does not control movement. On the other hand, those with non-fluent aphasia may experience partial paralysis because the damaged area of the brain that causes their aphasia also controls some motor functions.
Treatment for fluent aphasia is the same as for other forms: speech therapy, learning alternative communication techniques, and training friends and family to support recovery. Aphasics can recover quickly or without assistance, but most regain only some of their previous abilities and require two years of therapy. Overall, the prognosis for fluent aphasics is worse than for non-fluent aphasics. This is because their symptoms are usually more severe and their inability to recognize their communication disorder could make them resistant to treatment.
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