Proposal for the classification of oral language disorders in the adult and elderly

Abstract

Introduction: Adult and elderly individuals that were affected by lesion or dysfunction of the Central Nervous System may present language disorders as consequence. The definition of the language disorder type is of relevance to the clinical and scientific practices. The literature reports a variety of types of language disorders but does not present a classification system with as many types of language disorders as possible. Objective: To propose a comprehensive presentation of the classification of oral language disorders that can affect adults and elderly. Methods: Non-systematic literature review. The presentation of language disorders was made by grouping the different types of language disorders already described in the literature, but with an organized taxonomy that considered criteria such as linguistic manifestation and etiology Results: The types of oral language disorders that can occur in this population were classified into three categories: the aphasic language disorders, non-aphasic language disorders and cognitive-communication disorders. The category aphasic language disorder received its own subclassification. Conclusion: This classification might help the communication among professionals, might allow the characterization of patients, and might facilitate the clinical reasoning. It is expected that the scientific advance in this field leads to changes in the classification systems, and also in the paradigm of establishing medical and speech-language diagnoses.