Effectiveness of speech and language therapy and spontaneous recovery in anomic aphasia

Introduction: Anomia is a problem with naming objects. Anomic aphasia, also called as anomia or amnesic aphasia, is characterised by word-finding difficulties in the absence of major syntactic impairment. Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of therapy techniques in recovery of language abilities in a patient with anomic aphasia. Materials and Methods: Prospective study of a patient diagnosed with anomic aphasia secondary to ischaemic stroke, whose response and progress was followed from the time of presentation, along the course of therapy with techniques including semantic feature analysis (SFA) and phonological component analysis (PCA), and scored according to the guidelines of Manual for Adult Non-Fluent Aphasia Therapy in Kannada (MANAT-K). Results: Significant improvement was noted in the patient's naming skills, with an increase in almost 20% in the score in confrontation naming, responsive naming, and word fluency, post-therapy, as compared to pre-therapy. Conclusion: Although there is contribution of spontaneous recovery in the betterment of a person with aphasia, timely planned therapy brings about a marked improvement in the patient's language abilities.