Rehabilitation of a patient with aphasia due to severe traumatic brain injury

There has been little attention given to traumatic aphasia in recent neuropsychological literature. It is difficult to justify this relative neglect, however, since speech and language disturbances subsequent to traumatic brain injury (TBI) causa serious therapeutic difficulties. Hence the problems encountered by our patient, K.P., who had a severe TBI, are described in the present study.

K.P. suffered from traumatic aphasia and executive dysfunction. These difficulties made her dependent upon others and unable to function by herself in many situations of everyday living. Very little progress was made in ordinary rehabilitation. Improvements in cognitive functioning were observed only after a novel staged program of rehabilitation, based on the microgenetic theory of brain function, had been implemented.

After the last phase of rehabilitation K.P. became more self-dependent in social situations. The need for a deeper analysis of the patient's problems in both a personal and social context is stressed in order to adapt therapeutic procedures heuristically, consistent with a process-based approach.