Role of Speech Therapy in Overcoming Lexical Deficit in Adult Broca’s Aphasia

This is an exploratory study and qualitative in nature. Unit of exploration is ‘Adult Broca’s Aphasic Patients.’ This paper aims to explore the function and integrity of ‘Speech Therapy’ for adult Broca’s aphasia. Aphasia is the after-effect of brain damage, commonly found in left hemisphere which disrupts language faculty. Present study focuses on ‘Lexical’ aspect of language in which an individual faces trouble in processing of words. In Broca’s aphasia affected individual suffers from diminished capability of speaking/communication. To recover such diminished capabilities, speech therapy is utilized. This study intends to investigate the effectiveness of speech therapy that how speech therapy helps to adult Broca’s aphasia to recover their speaking or conversing skills? Participants of the study are ‘Speech therapists.’ Purposeful sampling, particularly Snowball sampling has been undertaken. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted from five speech therapists, which have been analyzed through thematic analysis under the light of ‘Sketch Model’ given by De ruiter and De beer (۲۰۱۳). Findings of the study suggest that speech therapy may be proved helpful for Broca’s aphasia to recover their communicating capabilities but it requires much time (minimum ۶ months). Moreover, recovery depends upon certain factors. For instance; Age, Level of disorder and Willingness.

Keywords:

Broca’s aphasia , Lexical deficit , Speech therapy , Communication , Speaking skills