Question:
A student in my Biology of Consciousness class asked if personswith Broca's Aphasia would suffer similar communication difficulties ifthey used hand sign language instead of speech.

Does anyone know the answer to this student's question? can anyone help us or show us how to find out useful information???

Answer: Language and speech are not necessarily the same thing. When strictlydefined, Broca's aphasia is a *language* disorder, so sign language andwritten communication should be affected in a Broca's aphasic person aswell as spoken language. If someone could not speak but could stillperform good written language it would be diagnosed as a "speechapraxia". This means that the motor systems involved in speech aredisrupted, but language is still intact.

Of course, in the real world Broca's aphasia tends to be messier than thetextbook definition. Broca's aphasia and speech apraxia often occurtogether and are not easily separable. So the real world presentation ofnonspoken language in someone diagnosed with Broca's aphasia might varyquite a bit.

If you are looking for a nice refence for this issue that you have raised,just sign out a copy of Oliverm Sak's book "Seeing Voices". In it heexplores the nature of sign language and its neurologic and culturalunderpinnings and some of the related issues. He addresses the very issueof the damage to Broca's speech centre and its adverse impact on discoursein the Deaf individual who converses with American Sign Language.