Senate Resolution No. 2563

BY: Senator PARKER

MEMORIALIZING Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim
June 2017, as Aphasia Awareness Month in the State
of New York

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize
official months that are set aside to increase awareness of serious
issues that affect the lives of citizens of New York State; and

WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and fully in accord with its
long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim June 2017, as Aphasia
Awareness Month in the State of New York, in conjunction with National
Aphasia Awareness Month; and

WHEREAS, Aphasia is an impairment of language affecting the
production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write;
it is always due to injury to the brain, most commonly from a stroke,
particularly in older individuals; brain injuries resulting in aphasia
may also arise from head trauma, brain tumors, or infections; and

WHEREAS, A spectrum disorder, Aphasia can be so severe as to make
communication with an individual almost impossible, or it can be very
mild; it may affect mainly a single aspect of language use, such as the
ability to retrieve the names of objects, the ability to put words
together into sentences, or the ability to read; and

WHEREAS, More commonly in Aphasia, however, multiple aspects of
communication are impaired, while some channels remain accessible for a
limited exchange of information; it is the job of the professional to
determine the amount of function available in each of the channels for
the comprehension of language, and to assess the possibility that
treatment might enhance the use of the channels that are available; and

WHEREAS, Over a century of experience with the study of Aphasia it
has become evident that particular components of language may be
particularly damaged in some individuals; we have also learned to
recognize different types or patterns of Aphasia which correspond to the
location of the brain injury in the individual case; and

WHEREAS, Global Aphasia is the most severe form of Aphasia, and is
applied to individuals who can produce few recognizable words and
understand little or no spoken language; persons with Global Aphasia can
neither read nor write, and it may often be seen immediately after
having suffered from a stroke; with greater brain damage, severe and
lasting disability may result; and

WHEREAS, Broca's Aphasia, also referred to as non-fluent Aphasia, is
a form of Aphasia in which speech output is severely reduced and limited
mainly to short utterances of less than four words; vocabulary access is
limited and the formation of sounds by persons with Broca's Aphasia is
often laborious and clumsy; Broca's Aphasia is often referred to as a
non-fluent Aphasia because of the halting and effortful quality of
speech; and


WHEREAS, Mixed non-fluent Aphasia is applied to individuals who have
sparse and effortful speech, resembling severe Broca's Aphasia; however,
unlike persons with Broca's Aphasia, they remain limited in their
comprehension of speech and do not read or write beyond an elementary
level; and

WHEREAS, In Wernicke's Aphasia, or fluent Aphasia, the ability to
grasp the meaning of spoken words is chiefly impaired, while the ease of
producing connected speech is not much affected; reading and writing are
often severely impaired; and

WHEREAS, Anomic Aphasia is applied to persons who are left with a
persistent inability to supply the words for the very things they want
to talk about, particularly the significant nouns and verbs;
subsequently, speech, while fluent in grammatical form and output, is
full of vague circumlocutions and expressions of frustration; and

WHEREAS, In addition to the foregoing syndromes that are seen
repeatedly by speech clinicians, there are many other possible
combinations of deficits that do not exactly fit into these
aforementioned categories; and

WHEREAS, Furthermore, some of the components of a Complex Aphasia
Syndrome may also occur in isolation; this may also be the case for
disorders of reading (alexia) or disorders affecting both reading and
writing (alexia and agraphia), following a stroke; severe impairments of
calculation often accompany Aphasia, yet in some instances patients
retain excellent calculation in spite of the loss of language; and

WHEREAS, It is imperative that there be greater public awareness of
this serious health issue, and more must be done to increase activity at
the local, State and National levels; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim June 2017, as Aphasia
Awareness Month in the State of New York, in conjunction with National
Aphasia Awareness Month; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of
New York.