Assessment and Treatment of Aphasia in Czech

Intervention approaches to aphasia differ in different countries. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the situation in the Czech Republic. The following topics are summarized: (1) Czech logopedics in aphasiology; (2) the assessment of aphasia; (3) the treatment of aphasia; (4) Czech aphasiologic material; (5) the qualification of clinical logopedists, and (6) regulations of aphasiologic care. Czech is a very intricate language, both phonetically and grammatically. The prevalence of consonants appearing in long sequences (a whole sentence can be constructed purely of consonants) makes it difficult to pronounce. The strong inflecting character with hundreds of grammatical forms for each inflected word makes it difficult to use correct morphology and syntax. These facts make Czech a real challenge both for aphasics and logopedists. An overview of aphasia tests and treatment methods used in the Czech Republic, as well as conditions of logopedic care are given. The paper will allow comparison with the situation in other countries. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel