The Interpretation of Some Disorders of Speech

Abstract

These notes are divided into three sections. In the first, consideration is given to cases of aphasia occurring in childhood. In addition, the handedness of defectives is touched on, and there is a note on the influence of heredity. The section as a whole owes its existence to ideas set in motion by Brain's “Speech and Handedness” (Lancet, 2, 839, 1945). For that reason somewhat disparate elements are dealt with together. Section two is concerned with stammering; an endeavour is made to apply to this condition propositions put forward in the first section. Brief attention is given to bad spelling—or rather to that group of bad spellers in whom there is consistent discrepancy between their intellectual capacity and attainments, and their performance in oral and written spelling. The last section deals with “motor” or executive aphasia. A plea is put forward for the recognition of a dysarthric component in this condition. An anatomical configuration is suggested by which unilateral cortical dysarthria would become a possibility.