Development of Functional Communication in Adult Aphasia Patients

This diploma thesis focuses on the development of functional communication in adult patients with aphasia. Aphasia is an acquired disorder of speech production and comprehension caused by focal brain damage. It is a non-progressive condition with a highly variable clinical presentation. Accurate diagnosis and an appropriately chosen clinical and speech-therapy approach are essential for restoring functional communication. The thesis is divided into two main parts: theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part comprises three principal chapters introducing aphasia from the perspectives of aphasiology, terminology, symptomatology, and classification. It further addresses speech-therapy intervention, including diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis, and concludes with the topic of functional communication, which forms a bridge to the empirical section. The empirical part adopts a qualitative research design and is presented through four case studies describing the onset of aphasia, diagnostic assessment within clinical speech-therapy care, and therapeutic intervention. The case studies illustrate the specifics of speech-therapy intervention in global aphasia and mixed aphasia with expressive predominance in adult patients aged 41 to 83 years. The findings highlight the importance of selecting appropriate...