With a brain injury to the left side of the brain, what deficits would you expect to see in your patient? What potential communication problems may be encountered and why?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested response: Deficits as a result of damage to the left side of the brain will depend on which lobe has been affected and by how much. As the left frontal lobe of the brain controls the motor function of the right side of the body, damage to this side of the brain may result in right sided upper or lower limb weakness or paralysis. If the left parietal lobe is affected, the sensory cortex contained within may be unable to analyse the sensation input of touch, position, pressure and vibration transmitted from the skin on the right side of the body. The occipital lobes contain the visual cortex and visual association areas, which if damaged may result in blindness or an inability to understand the images seen. The two speech centres are located in the non-dominant hemisphere, which for the majority of people is the left-hand side of the brain: the Broca's area, which is responsible for the motor control of speech, and the Wernicke's area, which is the auditory association area. Damage to the Broca's area results in the person having difficulties in speaking (dysphasia/aphasia). Comprehension of speech is not affected and so the person understands what is being said to them but they are unable to respond appropriately. This is known as expressive dysphasia/aphasia. On the other hand, the outcome of damage to the Wernicke's area means that a person cannot comprehend speech by others or themselves. The sounds they hear do not resemble language in any way, but rather a series of meaningless sounds. This is known as receptive dysphasia. In order to determine if the person can obey commands according to the GCS, visual clues, such as the clinician wriggling their fingers and pointing at the person's hand, may be needed.