[Non-verbal communication and executive function impairment after traumatic brain injury: a case report].

UNLABELLED

Following post-traumatic impairment in executive function, failure to adjust to communication situations often creates major obstacles to social and professional reintegration. The analysis of pathological verbal communication has been based on clinical scales since the 1980s, but that of nonverbal elements has been neglected, although their importance should be acknowledged.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this research was to study non-verbal aspects of communication in a case of executive-function impairment after traumatic brain injury.

METHODS

During the patient's conversation with an interlocutor, all nonverbal parameters - coverbal gestures, gaze, posture, proxemics and facial expressions - were studied in as much an ecological way as possible, to closely approximate natural conversation conditions. Such an approach highlights the difficulties such patients experience in communicating, difficulties of a pragmatic kind, that have so far been overlooked by traditional investigations, which mainly take into account the formal linguistic aspects of language.

RESULTS

The analysis of the patient's conversation revealed non-verbal dysfunctions, not only on a pragmatic and interactional level but also in terms of enunciation. Moreover, interactional adjustment phenomena were noted in the interlocutor's behaviour.

CONCLUSION

The two inseparable aspects of communication - verbal and nonverbal - should be equally assessed in patients with communication difficulties; highlighting distortions in each area might bring about an improvement in the rehabilitation of such people.