Language and speech defects.

A review of recent research conducted at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City concerning speech and language deficits in closed head injured patients (CHI). One hundred and twenty-five consecutive admissions of 125 closed head injured post coma patients were administered standardized aphasia tests to determine the presence and nature of verbal deficits. Mean time since injury for the group was 45 weeks. All patients, without exception, evidenced linguistic impairment. The population fell into three relatively equally sized groups: classic aphasia, dysarthria accompanied by linguistic deficits, and "subclinical" aphasic deficits. The study results suggest that linguistic functions are particularly vulnerable in severe head injury. A second study compared aphasia secondary to CVA and CHI. When age and time since onset were controlled, aphasic CHI and CVA patients are more similar than different in linguistic task performance and overall functional communication effectiveness. The results suggest that the therapeutic approaches traditionally implemented with CVA aphasic patients are appropriate for the management of CHI aphasic patients as well.