Dysnomia (disorder)

For other uses, see Dysnomia (disambiguation).

Dysnomia
Classification and external resources
ICD-9	784.3

Dysnomia is a difficulty retrieving the correct words, names, or numbers from memory. Dysnomia is a learning disability present from childhood which can affect speech, writing, and/or math.^[1]

Normal individuals will occasionally suffer problems recalling words, names, and numbers. This normal condition is not a learning disability.

Word recall problems are classified as dysnomia when they are severe enough to interfere with learning or with daily life. Doctors use neuropsychological and speech-language pathology tests to diagnose the condition.

Dysnomia cannot be cured, but patients can improve their life skills by using coping strategies.

Overview

Dysnomia is a marked difficulty or impairment in object naming, word retrieval, and short-term auditory memory. It is a learning disability present from birth.

All children and adults have occasional trouble recalling words, names, or numbers. This tip-of-the-tongue situation is normal and increases as people age.

Word-recall problems become a medical condition when severe enough to interfere with a person's daily life. Neuropsychological tests of dysnomic individuals show a significant difficulty recalling words or names.

Symptoms

Dysnomia impairs an individual's ability to succeed in speech and writing tasks.

• People who have dysnomia may replace a word with a synonym in an attempt to express their thoughts without using the word they are having difficulty retrieving. Word substitutions may be a word similar in meaning or in sound, or in severe cases, jargon (a nonsense word).
• Dysnomics will take longer to complete tests or leave timed tests incomplete.
• Dysnomics may pause or appear to struggle when trying to recall words or names.

Dysnomia definition development: dysnomia vs. anomia

Doctors and researchers are still clarifiying the definition of dysnomia.^[1] These definition problems cover both the nature of the disorder and confusion between dysnomia and anomia.

More recent research shows a trend toward clarifying dysnomia as a congenital learning deficit^[1] with a genetic element. Anomia's definition is clarified as an acquired recall problem, most frequently caused by a head injury or stroke.

A review of older research literature shows a substantial mixing of terms dysnomia and anomia. A review of available literature shows:

• Dysnomia appears more common in reference to a learning disability
• In cases where the two terms are used in the same materials, dysnomia is sometimes mentioned as the primary [1], other references place anomia first [2], and other references list both and treat them as synonyms [3].

Dysnomia and other disorders

Some researchers treat dysnomia as a symptom of other disorders rather than as a disorder of its own. Since dysnomia frequently occurs with other disorders, it is often difficult to separate the symptoms.

Dysnomia and dyslexia

Dyslexia, in particular, overlaps with dysnomia, with some research pointing to word-recall problems as a key element of dyslexia. ^[1] This model, "proposes that the deficit in verbal label retrieval creates a short-term memory deficit resulting in difficulty recalling word labels in reading." ^[2]

Dysnomia and AD/HD

Children with attention deficits have problems with rapid naming tests. These difficulties seem to diminish as the children grow older. Dysnomics do better than AD/HD students on reading-related tasks, but do worse with visual sequential memory.^[1]

Dysnomia vs Expressive Language Disorder

Dysnomia has many similar attributes to expressive language disorder, but dysnomics have normal verbal skills.

Dysnomia and expressive aphasia

Dysnomia is a type of expressive aphasia [4] [5]

Testing methods

Doctors use neuropsychological tests to diagnose dysnomia and anomia. The tests can measure the condition's severity and identify/eliminate other neuropsychological conditions with similar symptoms.

Rapid Automatized Naming is a good example of these tests. Rapid Automatized Naming times how quickly the patient can name common objects or colors. A typical test would have the patient rapidly name five pictures of common objects or colors appearing repeatedly on a computer screen. The doctor compares the completion time against average times for the patient's age group. [6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Howarth, Robyn Ann. "Examining the neurocognitive profile of dysnomia: a comparison of school-aged children with and without dyslexia across the domains of expressive language, attention/memory, and academic achievement". University of Iowa. http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/817/. Retrieved 2011-05-23. "Dysnomia is the inability to retrieve the correct word from memory when it is" 
2. ^ Richman LC, Ryan SM (March 2003). "Do the reading disabilities of children with cleft fit into current models of developmental dyslexia?". Cleft Palate Craniofac. J. 40 (2): 154–7. doi:10.1597/1545-1569(2003)040<0154:DTRDOC>2.0.CO;2. PMID 12605520. http://www.cpcjournal.org/doi/full/10.1597/1545-1569%282003%29040%3C0154%3ADTRDOC%3E2.0.CO%3B2. 

Additional information

• [7] An Assessment of a Controlled Association Task to Identify Word-Finding Problems in Children
• [8] A website for people with learning differences
• [9]
• [10] Communication Disorders in Childhood