Journal

The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

[Vol.21 No.2 contents]
Japanese/English

Full Text of this Article
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ArticleTitle Higher brain disfunction in children -New clinical picture in acquired aphasia in children-
Language J
AuthorList Mitsuko Shindo
Affiliation The Sophia University Research Center for Communication Disorders
Publication Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 21 (2), 110-115, 2005
Received
Accepted
Abstract Traditional description of the clinical picture of acquired childhood aphasia claims that acquired childhood aphasia is invariably nonfluent, and that recovery of language disorder is rapid and complete. In the past 20 years, however, several case studies indicate that even after recovering speech in daily communication, those children with acquired aphasia exhibit symptoms similar to their counterparts in adults. They show a great variety of aphasic symptomatologies including auditory comprehension disorders, paraphasias, neologisms, jargon, impaired repetition abilities, and a host of linguistic deficits in reading and writing.
In 2004, we have developed a new assessment tool for the syntactic development of children. This was administered to 70 normal four to six year olds and some children with acquired aphasia. The results showed that those with acquired aphasia were delayed in comprehension and production of the "reversible sentences". A nation-wide questionnaire survey was also conducted to investigate the possible problems in acquired childhood aphasia regarding language and social development. The main results are following: These children show difficulties in learning new Kanji letters, vocabulary, and "ku-ku", a Japanese multiplication table. The difficulties in learning these new subjects become more apparent as they advance in grades.
The education and training for the acquired childhood aphasia needs two-fold strategies. The first attempt is to improve disorders of language functions resulting from the cortical lesions. The second is to have a long term view in considering normal pattern of language acquisition, linguistic, cognitive, and social skills in a developing child. Moreover, it is necessary to develop effective assessment batteries for those with acquired aphasia, and to provide supportive training methods in considering psychological aspects as well as academic achievement.
Keywords acquired aphasia in children, new clinical picture, learning difficulties, a nation-wide questionnaire survey

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