Progressive language and speech disturbances in two different types of dementia
Journal Title: Acta Neuropsychologica - Year 2011, Vol 9, Issue 2
Abstract
The specific course of aphasia and other language-related disturbances in dementia depends not only on the nature and course of the specific disease, but also on the patient’s cognitive reserves and premorbid linguistic competence, and it may be also overshadowed by other cognitive and behavioral problems. The picture is further complicated by the fact that different neuropathological etiologies can give identical clinical symptoms, and conversely: one and the same disease acting on the cellular level can give diverse clinical manifestations, both between patients and over time in a single patient. In any case, however, the endpoint is invariably the loss of speech and language functions, followed by organic mutism.This article presents two clinical profiles from the most common forms: fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) and dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). A general description of the speech and language disturbances most often encountered in each of these illnesses is followed by a brief case study from the authors’ own clinical material.The present paper suggests that in different types of dementia the profiles of aphasia and language related disorders are very specific, but in the course of the disease they increasingly overlap. The complex relation between cognition and language is among the foremost theoretical problems raised by speech and language disturbances in different type of dementia. Microgenetic theory can be used to explain why neither separating thought from language nor reducing the one to the other is an adequate solution.
Authors and Affiliations
Maria Pąchalska, Beata Łukaszewska
Keywords
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