The Preventive Method of Speech Rehabilitation in Aphasia

Abstract

Making use of our knowledge of systematic relationships between the various aspects of aphasic syndromes, we have raised the possibilities of applying a preventive (prophylactic) method to direct the rehabilitation process along definite paths. An effort was made to correct telegraphic style in patients with motor aphasia by means of training at an early stage when expressive speech was fully absent. The words introduced into the patients' speech were strictly chosen according to their grammatical categories. At the beginning the communication of substantive words from outside was excluded and words bearing a predicative , verbal character and expressing complete ideas were introduced with the aid of various methods which are outlined. This early and purposeful development of expressive speech through the introduction of a limited and definite vocabulary served as a basis for reconstructing the inner speech of patients with motor aphasia. The results of our extensive rehabilitative experiment corroborate the hypothesis that if efforts are exerted early on the primary defective function, this may prevent the emergence of some of the symptoms of speech disturbance in the course of rehabilitation. Thus 25 patients with cortical motor aphasia, who had been subjected to observation from the stage of total aphasia, did not exhibit any “telegraphic style.” The rehabilitation of their expressive speech was governed by quite different laws from those which regulate recovery with conventional methods of retraining. This investigation has demonstrated the value of elaborating methods of prevention as the most active means of overcoming aphasic disorders.