CSD 537 Acquired Cognitive Com Dis

This course is intended for graduate students in speech language pathology. It will assist students in developing basic biological, social, clinical, and theoretical understandings of acquired cognitive-communication disorders. The first half of the course will explore the neurological mechanisms of the domains of cognition including Attention, Memory, Perception, and Executive Function. The second half of the course will cover the role of the speech language pathologist in the assessment and treatment of patient populations that manifest cognitive-communication disorders. The main neuropathological groups to be studied include traumatic brain injury, right hemisphere brain injury, mild cognitive impairment and progressive neurological diseases resulting in dementia. Normal and non-normal cognitive aging will be discussed. Assessment and treatment techniques for higher-level linguistic deficits associated with non-dominant hemisphere and pragmatic communication disorders will also be addressed. The American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) patterns of practice of for assessment, treatment, and management of cognitive-communication disorders will be emphasized. Credits: 3.