Wernicke’s aphasia is characterized by a deficit in comprehension and fluent speech that is completely devoid of meaning.
In this article we will review rehabilitation tips and therapies to help our family member make positive progress with Wernicke’s aphasia by understanding its causes, effects, and characteristics.
Before everything, it is important to remember that Wernicke’s aphasia is characterized by a deficit in comprehension and fluent speech that is completely devoid of meaning.
Characteristics of Wernicke’s Aphasia
Oral Expression
- Fluent language, although it conveys an empty sentence meaning, resulting in incoherent speech.
- Good articulation
- Logorrhea, sometimes requiring interruption
- Semantic paraphasias, phonological paraphasias, and neologisms
- Reduced use of open-class words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
- Paragrammatism
- Preserved prosody
- Impaired naming, which may include circumlocution
- Impaired repetition, often accompanied by a lack of understanding of the repetition task
Auditory Comprehension
- It is absent. The patient feels as if they are being spoken to in a language they do not understand.
Reading and Writing
- Reading aloud shows semantic paraphasias, phonological paraphasias, and neologisms.
- Reading comprehension is poor, but better than oral comprehension, as the patient can read and reread the text, allowing for improved understanding.
- Writing shows the same errors as oral language, resulting in unintelligible language.
Rehabilitation Exercises for Wernicke’s Aphasia
Affected Area
Brain lesion in the left (dominant) hemisphere, affecting Wernicke’s area, specifically the middle and posterior thirds of the left superior temporal gyrus, extending into the marginal and supramarginal gyri. It involves Brodmann areas 41 and 42 (primary auditory cortex) and area 22 (secondary auditory cortex).
Communication
Fluent speech with correct articulation, normal sentence length, structure, and prosody. However, the language content is incomprehensible due to multiple distortions, leading to jargon aphasia. Neologisms, pseudowords, and numerous verbal paraphasias are also observed.
Therapeutic Period
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Educational Psychology
- Other disciplines as needed
Treatment Objectives
- Stimulate communication skills that have not been preserved
- Adapt communication skill changes to the patient’s new routine
- Improve auditory comprehension
- Propose situations in which the patient can feel safe. To achieve this, the new communication skills developed during speech therapy will be applied
- Intervene in the environment by explaining and providing guidance on new communication habits. This will be done by assisting the people closest to the person with aphasia, including friends and family members
Treatment Exercises for Wernicke’s Aphasia
- Pictorial representation of a word displayed among a group of six different images. The speaker will pronounce the chosen word so that the patient can associate the word with the auditory stimulus. For example, if the selected word is “dog,” six different drawings depicting a dog in various situations will be prepared. These six images are then shown to the patient after the word is pronounced
- Next, the speaker will say the chosen word again, and the patient must select the drawing that represents that word from among six images (one correct image representing the word and five different ones used as distractors)
- For reading comprehension, write different words in lowercase for the patient to read, and have them match each word with its correct illustration (always presenting six images per word—one correct and five distractors)
- Proceed with reading aloud all the previously read words
- Repetition of the words after they are read aloud by the speaker
- The speaker will pronounce each word aloud, and the patient must choose the correct drawing from among six different images
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