Clinical Profiling of a Bilingual Client with Anomic Aphasia

BACKGROUND: Aphasia is an acquired condition affecting auditory comprehension, verbal expression, reading, writing and word-finding abilities along with sensory-motor impairments. Anomia refers to difficulty in word retrieval or naming which is seen irrespective of the type of aphasia. However, if a patient shows word-finding difficulty, in specific, a diagnosis of Anomic aphasia is made. There are variations within anomic aphasia on which the management and recovery depend. The article provides one such case report. PURPOSE: Speech and language profiling in anomic aphasia, specific treatment strategies, the effect of bilingualism on recovery. METHODS: Mr S, a 38-year-old bilingual male reported 5 months post-stroke with difficulty in expressing, difficulty in writing and weakness in the right side of the body. Medical history was checked and speech and language evaluations including both formal and informal assessments were performed. After this, a diagnosis of Anomic aphasia with mild dysarthria was made. An appropriate speech–language therapeutic plan and specific activities were formulated for Mr S in his first language (L1) and he was given a therapy for a span of 3 months. A follow-up evaluation in both first and second language of the patient yielded differential recovery patterns. RESULTS: The diagnosis was affected by different variants of anomic aphasia; treatment was specific to the clinical profiling and followed life-participation approach of aphasia. The recovery was affected by differential recovery patterns between the languages. DISCUSSION: Factors pertaining to diagnosis, recovery, bilingualism and treatment of the client with anomic aphasia are discussed.