Cognitive-Communication Disorder
A communication impairment that results from underlying cognitive deficits—such as attention, memory, or executive function—rather than from a primary language or motor speech disorder.
Full Definition
Cognitive-communication disorders are commonly observed following traumatic brain injury, right-hemisphere stroke, or dementia. Unlike aphasia, which is a linguistic disorder, cognitive-communication disorders arise when cognitive processes underpinning communication are disrupted, resulting in difficulties with topic maintenance, reasoning, pragmatics, and discourse organisation. Speech-language pathologists assess and treat these disorders in rehabilitation settings. Editors should always hyphenate 'cognitive-communication' and avoid conflating this term with aphasia or dysarthria in clinical documents.
Usage
Usage note: Always hyphenate: 'cognitive-communication disorder', not 'cognitive communication disorder'. Distinguish carefully from aphasia in documents, as the two require different therapeutic approaches.
In Context
- "The patient's cognitive-communication disorder manifested as tangential reasoning and impaired conversational turn-taking." — Speech-language pathology progress note
- "Following right-hemisphere stroke, cognitive-communication disorder may be overlooked if standardised aphasia batteries are the sole assessment tool." — Clinical review article