Clinical Approach to Language Disorders
Andrew Kertesz, MD FRCPC
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences
University of Western Ontario
St. Joseph’s Hospital
268 Grosvenor St., London, ONN6A 4V2CANADA


These are approximately 1 hour seminars to be given, 2 in 2 ½ hour sessions per day

  1. The biology of language - The principles of sensory motor organization and lateralization of brain function are introduced. The ontogeny and phylogeny of cerebral lateralization and specialization are presented.
  2. Language Localization – The anatomy and physiology of language areas are described: From the lesion method to functional activation with PET scanning and functional magnetic resonance.
  3. Motor aphasia, the articulatory network, agrammatism, Broca’s aphasia, transcortical motor aphasia and pure motor aphasia (aphemia) are detailed. The specific disturbances of articulation, phonology, and syntax as well as word access are discussed in the context of verbal apraxia, Broca’s aphasia and transcortical motor aphasia. 
  4. Sensory aphasia or Wernicke’s aphasia is described from pure word deafness to neologistic jargon, the differences between aphemic, semantic, and neologistic jargon, word deafness, amusia, and cortical deafness. 
  5. Conduction aphasia, auditory short-term memory, the phonological buffer system, the auditory verbal network, the interaction of phonology and semantics from comprehension to language output, and transcortical sensory aphasia are described.
  6. Anomia, word access, and semantic representation, the concept of supramodel semantic field vs. modality-specific semantic domains is explored. Naming and its disturbances, as well as category-specific and modality-specific naming disorders will be discussed.
  7. Alexia and agraphia will be described from pure, visual alexia through spelling dyslexia, alexia with agraphia, phonological deep and surface dyslexia, as well as developmental dyslexia will be discussed. The cognitive analysis of writing, reading, and symbolic communication is explored.
  8. Language testing, the rationale of various aphasia batteries and their standardization, the importance of content validity, reproducibility, and the goals of language testing in the context of neuropsychological and clinical bedside methodology are systematically presented.
  9. The recovery and treatment of language disorders will be discussed, as reflected by the experience from stroke and posttraumatic aphasia.
  10. Primary progressive aphasia, the dominant temporal variety of FTD, and the language impairment in degenerative disorders such as in AD and semantic dementia will be described.
Recommended reading:
  1. Aphasia and Associated Disorders. Kertesz, A. New York: (Grune & Stratton) Psychological Corporation Inc., 1979.
  2. Localization and Neuroimaging in Neuropsychology. Kertesz, A. (ed.). San Diego: Academic Press, 1994.
  3. Pick’s Disease and Pick Complex. Kertesz A, Munoz DG (eds.). New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998.