Abstract
Dramatic improvement of non-fluent speech by mora-by-mora finger counting method in four cases of aphasia was reported. Case1 (aphemia) : a 61-year-old right-handed male. Both spontaneous speech and repetition were severely non-fluent with much effort. Phrase length was extremely short (often only a single mora). Articulation was poor with distortion, substitution, and repetition of verbal sound. Case2 (severe Broca's aphasia) : a 67-year-old right-handed male with right hemiparesis. His verbal output was limited to “Uurr, Mamama” . Case 3 (severe Broca's aphasia) : a 51-year-old right-handed male. His verbal output was limited to “Urrnto, ehrrto” . Case 4 (severe Broca's aphasia) : a 39-year-old right-handed male with right hemiparesis. Verbal output was strictly null. Only a slight change of facial expression was noted. Results of speech therapy by mora-by-mora finger counting method are summarized as below. 1) Articulating with finger counting resulted in amelioration of effortful speech, the increase of the number of moras connected with each other, and the decrease of phonological paraphasia. 2) Even during articulation with finger counting, the speed of articulation sometimes fluctuated in words or sentences. It is concluded that somatosensory facilitation by finger counting method can ameliorate the poor articulation in non-fluent aphasics.
