alalia
Noun: A medical condition characterized by the loss or impairment of the ability to speak, specifically due to paralysis of the vocal cords or a severe speech disorder present from infancy. It is a type of aphasia or speech disorder affecting the motor production of speech.
The term "alalia" is used in clinical and medical contexts to describe a specific speech pathology. It is a technical term. - The neurologist diagnosed the child's profound speech delay as a form of alalia. - Damage to the relevant brain areas can result in alalia, leaving the patient unable to articulate words.
- Developmental Alalia: Refers to a severe speech output disorder in children where language comprehension may be relatively intact, but the ability to produce speech is significantly impaired or absent.
- The speech therapist specializes in interventions for children with developmental alalia.
- Organic Alalia: Implies the speech loss has a clear physiological cause, such as brain injury or vocal cord paralysis.
- The accident caused organic alalia, requiring both neurological and speech therapy.
- Aphasia (n): A broader term for language impairment, often acquired from brain injury, affecting the ability to comprehend or produce speech and language.
- Dysarthria (n): A motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury, characterized by poor articulation, but not a complete inability to speak.
- Mutism (n): The condition of being unable or unwilling to speak, which can have psychological or physical causes.
- Speechlessness (in a medical context)
- Verbal apraxia (in some specific contexts, though not identical)
- Anarthria (severe dysarthria resulting in a complete loss of articulate speech)
- Suffering from alalia: The standard phrase to indicate someone has this condition.
- The patient is suffering from alalia following the stroke.
- Overcome alalia: Used in the context of therapy and recovery.
- Intensive therapy helped him overcome the worst effects of his alalia.
"Alalia" is a specialized term not commonly used in everyday conversation. It is primarily found in medical reports, academic papers on neurology or speech pathology, and clinical diagnoses. It should not be confused with selective mutism, which is often psychologically based.
-
paralysis of the vocal cords resulting in an inability to speak
