Two contrasting cases of fluent aphasia in children

Abstract

Two children showing distinct clinical pictures of fluent aphasia are described in the acute stage and in a 2-year follow-up. Case 1 showed global aspontaneity with fluent outbursts, severe—and lasting—oral comprehension defects, severely disturbed repetition of spoken language, and severe—and lasting—word-finding difficulties without conduites d'approche and without benefit from prompting. In contrast, case 2 showed continuous and logorrhoeic fluent utterances, mild oral comprehension problems only in the initial stage, mild repetition difficulties in the initial stage, and mild—but lasting—word-finding difficulties with conduites d'approche and with benefit from prompting. Our observations challenge the traditional description of acquired childhood aphasia, and demonstrate the diversity of clinical features existing within fluent childhood aphasia.