Differentiate Broca's aphasia from Wernicke's aphasia, and provide one communication strategy for patients with Broca's aphasia?

• A. Wernicke's aphasia is receptive with fluent but nonsensical speech; strategy: speak rapidly
• B. Broca's aphasia (expressive) has nonfluent speech; strategy: use short, simple sentences and gestures
• C. Broca's aphasia is receptive with fluent speech; strategy: speak slowly
• D. Wernicke's aphasia is expressive with nonfluent speech; strategy: avoid gestures

Answer: (B)

Broca's aphasia is characterized by nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively good understanding. Wernicke's aphasia, on the other hand, produces fluent speech that often lacks meaning and is accompanied by impaired comprehension. Because the main hurdle in Broca's aphasia is speech production, the best communication approach is to use short, simple sentences and incorporate gestures or other nonverbal cues. This supports the person’s ability to express ideas without the pressure of forming complex sentences, while the use of gestures helps convey meaning when speech is slow or halting. The other descriptions either misstate the language profiles or propose strategies that don’t align with the production difficulty.