Case Study
Severe Broca's Aphasia
Age: 53
Time since stroke: 8 months
Problems
Warren had a stroke while skydiving, then a TBI from failure to land on target. His wife took care of him full-time and just wanted to be able to have a conversation with him. A practical joker before his injury, she missed his sense of humor.Warren’s comprehension did not allow for joking at this point, as he was distrustful due to not understanding others. Additionally, his accident caused moderate visual and hearing loss.
Assessment
Using WAB-R
- Very guarded, did not trust anyone secondary to poor comprehension
- Relatively preserved cognitive abilities
- Long processing time to understand and answer questions
- Could not initiate or participate in conversation
- Did not initiate speech other than “yeah”
- Frequently refused to participate in some therapy tasks, wanted his therapy materials put into his bag immediately after each use
Treatment
He completed a 8-week program
Results
Before
After
Writing words
10%
65%
Reading sentences
25%
40%
Speech Content
30%
40%
Naming
20%
32%
Outcome
- Got up in the middle of the night to do his homework by himself
- He began to allow help, work with his wife, use his Ipad, and ask for help when needed
- His joking sense of humor came back --he began to be sarcastic and prank people
- Consistently spoke in 3+ word sentences
- Delivered a menu to another client and initiated “order lunch?”
- Improved writing practiced words/sentences independently