Case Study
Severe Broca’s Aphasia with severe apraxia
Age: 59
Time since stroke: 9 months
Problems
George was a retired Legislative Councilman, and worked part time at a sporting goods store in the fishing department. He had complications from a craniotomy, which led to five more surgeries.He was very active in the lives of his family — a wife and two young children. They enjoyed camping, volunteering, circus training and homeschooling together. His apraxia limited his speech to “duh duh duh” or “well”. While he may have understood, he could not speak independently or notice that his speech was incorrect.
Assessment
Using The Aphasia Center's testing protocols
- Poor auditory comprehension
- Read single functional words
- Copied single 3-4 letter words
- Severe apraxia
- Speech consisted of “duh duh duh duh” or “well, ok”
- Some useful gesturing
- No strategies during communication breakdowns
Treatment
He completed a 6-week program
Results
Before
After
Open ended questions
16%
58%
Repetition
3%
26%
Naming
35%
55%
Writing dictated words
0%
40%
Speech
0%
50 2-4 word sentences
Outcome
- Communicated better with his family
- Said his wife and kids’ names
- Began speaking in 2-4 word sentences
- Said 50 2-4 word sentences independently
- Improved ability to write single words
- Learned how to write, draw, and use his phone as communication strategies