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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Differentiate the organization of language with respect to the role of phonological, lexical, syntactic, and semantic systems.
Understand the role of the motor speech system in the speech production process.
Discuss and characterize the classic aphasic syndromes.
Identify and explain the critical factors in the evaluation of recovery and rehabilitation of aphasia.
Identify and describe general approaches to aphasia rehabilitation and some specific treatment methods.
Identify etiologies of cognitive-communication disorders.
Compare and contrast deficits in executive function, pragmatic language, and motor speech in persons with cognitive-communication disorders.
Describe the primary types of dysarthria and rationales for dysarthria treatment.
Describe apraxia of speech and its treatment.
Gain an understanding of swallowing disorders.
Describe the goals and rationales for the use of augmentative communication systems.
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Most people take the ability to produce and understand speech for granted and pay little attention to the nature and function of the processes involved in communication. To develop and engage in oral communication, humans must have a functioning auditory or hearing system. Yet speech, like toolmaking, sets us apart from animals and is one of our most human behaviors. Even in primitive societies, humans have used the oral–motor speech code to share experiences, ideas, and feelings. Not all communities have developed writing and reading systems.
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The use of speech for communication contributes to our identity as human beings and to the perception of “self.” As a result, disruptions in the ability to communicate, whether caused by structural abnormalities (e.g., cleft palate), neurological conditions (e.g., stroke, Parkinson disease), or nonorganic conditions (e.g., nonorganic articulatory disorders) may affect a person's daily life in important ways. For some, the acquisition of a communication disorder may have sufficient impact to cause an individual to leave the workforce and limit social contact. For those whose communication disorders have persisted since childhood, the disorder may represent a significant vocational handicap. In others, a disorder that does not impede the individual's vocational life may interfere with everyday socialization. Communication disorders are complex, multifaceted behavioral impairments often associated so closely with people's self-image as to threaten the quality of their lives.
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The term communication encompasses all the behaviors that human beings use to perceive and transmit information and interact with others. The term language refers to the quasi-automatic behavior of selecting vocabulary and sentence structures before communicating a message. Understanding what is said requires adequate hearing and the ability to perceive, discriminate, and conceptualize the speaker's thoughts as conveyed through spoken messages.
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Speech comprises a delicate and rapid sequence of sensory and motor events requiring the coordinated activity of several parts of the body. The use of speech for communication involves many levels of human activity, ranging from the fine motor coordination of components of the oral–motor system to the subtle shades of meaning that occur at the cognitive/semantic level. Gestures, pantomime, and ...