Eighteen Cases of Aphasia Studied from the Viewpoint of a Speech Pathologist

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Abstract
18 cases of aphasia, varying in age from 4 to 59 yrs., are presented with diagnosis, type of linguistic handicap, and discussion of the type of speech correction where this was given. The cases varied so greatly that no common conclusions could be drawn. However, the author states that the observations made concerning the group will probably hold true for aphasics or groups of aphasics of which these may be representative. In the 5 cases of disorders interfering with the development of speech, the same therapeutic measures were found effective in each of the cases, but these must be adapted to each individual if they are to be efficacious. Such cases need individual rather than group training because: 1) their peculiar rates of learning, 2) their varying mental levels are in constant progress and 3) dissimilar emotional patterns. In 13 cases of adults with linguistic regression a number of inferences are drawn, some of which are as follows: Retraining of speech may be started successfully after the acute stages of the illness have passed; retraining in speech seems to be useful in securing increased emotional stability for aphasics; an individual who has been familiar with linguistic symbols seems to be stimulated to produce oral language more rapidly and more accurately by written or printed symbols than by objects or pictures; a knowledge of ontogenetic development of speech is useful in retraining aphasics; nonsense syllables and phonics seem valuable only as they are fitted into this pattern; intensive retraining in speech for a short" period of time is beneficial for aphasic individuals; further training seems to lead to further improvement; the term "receptive" used in combination with aphasia needs explanation and specification before its application is either clear or useful in retraining procedures; speech retraining may be started successfully only after there is some spontaneous attempt at communication through overt expression, oral or otherwise; in retraining procedures the use of numerical symbols in conjunction with actual objects seems to facilitate counting, addition and subtraction; re-learning of speech seems to follow the pattern of speech development ordinarily followed by children in learning speech; re-training in speech seems to aid patients in achieving greater emotional stability; printed and written symbols elicit more accurate and rapid oral responses than do corresponding objects and pictures; former levels of linguistic excellence apparently cannot be reached, although the patient can to some degree be re-educated through activities to which he was accustomed prior to aphasia; results of re-training in speech up to this attainable level seem in proportion to the patient''s active cooperation and interest and to hia original training; with even a supposedly circumscribed lesion of traumatic origin there may be diffuse impairment of the cerebral mechanism for language. Other more specific inferences are drawn in discussion of the individual eases.

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