Original scientific paper

Graphemic Buffer Impairment and Agraphia – a case study

Ana Leko ; Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet Sveucilišta u Zagrebu
Behlul Brestovci ; Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet Sveucilišta u Zagrebu

Abstract

This study was directed to examinate the handwriting of a person with aphasia caused by meningoencephalitis, and also to show the importance of the appropriate and continued speech and language therapy.
It is known that a comprehensive assessment of writing includes examination of spontaneous writing, written naming, writing to dictation, and copying. Some tasks (10) from writing subtest of BDAE were used in the purpose of this research.
The subject of the current study was J. K., a 26-year-old, right-handed male with a medical history of meningoencephalitis. Because of the patient’s bad general condition the first speech and language assessment were made in the fourth month of his staying in the hospital. According to BDAE he had Global Aphasia. After this he had speech therapy twice a week for two months and then he continued the therapy every day for the next four months. Diagnostic assessment was repeated after six months and he had Broca’s aphasia. In the second assessment patient achieved significantly better results on every applied variable, except variable Word recognition. In the second assessment, J. K. repeated every word for a few times during the writing and controlled himself in that way. It allowed him to notice his mistakes and try to correct them. These attempts, most often resulted with letter additions, substitutions and omissions. Based on obtained results and according to some earlier research findings from literature we can conclude that J. K. probably has graphemic buffer impairment. As a highly sophisticated skill, effective writing integrates a lot of cognitive, linguistic and perceptual-motoric processes. A good, planed therapy requires individual approach and detailed assessment of writing, which is needed to get, as much as possible, insights in processes and mechanisms of impaired writing, but insights in preserved ones also as well as insights in preserved ones.

Keywords

agraphia; aphasia; graphemic buffer; writing

Hrčak ID:

30717

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/30717

Publication date:

30.12.2008.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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