Loss of speech and language abilities resulting from brain injury?

• A. Aphasia
• B. Apraxia
• C. Dysarthria
• D. Anomia

Answer: (A)

Aphasia refers to a language impairment that follows brain injury, typically from left-hemisphere damage, and can affect speaking, understanding, reading, and writing. This makes it the best fit for “loss of speech and language abilities,” because the deficit is linguistic in nature and can involve various language modalities, not just one aspect.

Apraxia of speech presents a different issue: the idea that the person knows what to say but cannot coordinate the movements to produce speech, so language formulation may be intact even though speech sounds are distorted. Dysarthria is another distinct problem, involving weakness or discoordination of the speech muscles, leading to slurred or halting speech while language processes themselves may be preserved. Anomia is specifically difficulty retrieving words, a symptom often seen within aphasia but not a complete loss of language ability.