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Validity of an Eye-Tracking Method for Capturing Auditory-Visual Cross-Format Semantic Priming
No full textSemantic priming studies have great potential to improve understanding of lexical processing in people with aphasia. Traditional priming response tasks, such as lexical decision, cued shadowing, and naming, and techniques based on fMRI and ERPs, entail potential confounds that are especially critical in aphasia. Eye-tracking may help reduce such confounds. The validity of an eye-tracking method to capture semantic priming effects in an auditory-visual cross-format priming context was tested in adults without neurological disorders. Traditional priming responses were used for stimulus validation. Results support a pool of valid measures and protocol effectiveness. Further research including people with aphasia is warranted
Stroke and Aphasia in Canada
No full textAs is the case in many areas of the world, aphasia treatment is far from being a priority within the Canadian healthcare system. This poster represents one part of a larger initiative planned to begin addressing the challenges of aphasia intervention and developing aphasia research capacity in Canada by aligning with the stroke community. While the presentation will focus on the Canadian experience in the area of stroke and aphasia, we hope to stimulate an international exchange of views
The use of studiocode for tracking change in conversational therapy
Get PDFSpouses of people with aphasia have reported that developing an effective mode of communication with their partner is one of their most important needs ((McGurk, Kneebone, & Pit ten Café, 2011; Michallet, Le Dorze & Tétrault, 2001). There is a growing interest in a intervention focused on communication between the person with aphasia and his/her main conversation partner (e.g.,Turner & Witworth, 2006; Beeke, Maxim & Wilkinson, 2007).
In studies that aim to verify the efficacy of conversational intervention, few measures have been taken during the intervention to measure the evolution. As a result, they are conducted with less experimental control than it is desirable. These studies provide valuable information on the evolution of conversations, but quantitative research is needed to study more couples and conversations. The present pilot project was developed to verify the efficacy of a conversational intervention with a dyad of a man with aphasia and his spouse, using the powerful Studiocode program for quantitative analysis
Applying the principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: Analysis of a language therapy session
No full textProvision of language therapy to persons with aphasia is an intensive, dynamic process. Qualitative analyses of single sessions can serve as relevant data when monitoring progress in therapy, i.e. changes in performance over time. These analyses substantiate the application of the principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity and aid in specifying the parameters of ‘what makes a therapy’. In this study, analysis of a single session provided to a severely impaired person with Broca’s aphasia (♀, 36 years old) demonstrates that even within a single session performance improves and learning takes place and this improvement is maintained until the next session
Nouns and verbs in naming and storytelling tasks in aphasia: Verbs are another story
Get PDFStandardized confrontation naming tasks for objects and actions are widely understood as a measure of word retrieval impairment in persons with aphasia (PWAs). However, less is known about the interdependence between these scores and the abilities of PWAs to use nouns and verbs in discourse production tasks such as storytelling. Using the AphasiaBank database (MacWhinney et al., 2011), this study examined correlations between the use of nouns and verbs in standardized naming tests and five discourse tasks. Preliminary data suggest that nouns were strongly correlated across tasks. Verbs, as suspected, are another story
Communicative Access Measures for Stroke
No full textReducing communication barriers to ensure promotion of patients’ rights to have information presented in a way that it can be understood and the right to participate fully in decision-making is consistent with policies in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia. For example, the Joint Commission (the organization responsible for hospital accreditation in the US) now includes communicative access and health literacy within its standards
Comparing the Treatment Effectiveness of Conversational and Traditional Aphasia Treatments Based on Conversational Outcome Measures
No full textBackground: Few studies have investigated conversation therapy between a person with aphasia and a clinician. Furthermore, little information exists on traditional stimulation treatment’s effect on conversational outcomes.
Methods: Prospective single-subject (ABABA) study repeated across 4 participants, with quasi-randomized treatment order, investigated the treatment effects of conversation and traditional stimulation treatments on conversational outcomes. Primary outcomes included 6-minute conversations coded for pragmatic behaviors, percent CIUs; and auditory comprehension, lexical retrieval, and syntax probe performance.
Results: Conversational abilities were highest during conversation therapy regardless which treatment was administered first. These results provide a template for conducting and measuring conversational therapy
The Efficacy of Semantic Feature Analysis for the Treatment of Aphasia: A Systematic Review
No full textSemantic feature analysis (SFA) is a common treatment for improving naming ability in persons with aphasia (PWA). To examine the effectiveness of SFA in improving naming abilities, we conducted an evidence-based systematic review. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria, were assigned appropriate levels of evidence, and were examined for methodological quality using the Single-Case Experimental Design (SCED) scale. Inter-rater reliability was established using Cohen’s weighted kappa statistic. To determine the clinical significance of SFA, effect sizes, or percent of non-overlapping data (PND), were calculated. Results of this study indicate that SFA may be most effective for persons with fluent aphasias
Mild aphasia: Is this the place for an argument?
Get PDFMild aphasia has received sparse attention in the research literature, despite individuals with mild aphasia reporting significant communication disruption (Cruice, Worrall, & Flickson, 2006). While a small number of treatments have been proposed (e.g., Fox, Armstrong, & Boles, 2009; Graham, 2007; Murray, Holland, & Beeson, 1998), the nature of difficulties reported in everyday discourse remains poorly understood. Clinicians are often challenged when confronted with someone who reports difficulties, but scores well on tests and clinical narrative tasks.
This study explores conversations of a person with mild aphasia engaging in the complex genre of argumentation. Two related but different frameworks: Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) and Conversation Analysis (CA) (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson, 1974) were used to provide a multi-level analysis of the content and dynamics of these conversations
Effect of Feedback Frequency on Motor Learning in Individuals with Apraxia of Speech and Healthy Adults
No full textIt is well documented in limb motor learning literature that providing the optimal practice and feedback conditions is critical for the learning of new movements in healthy adults. However, it remains unclear if the conditions used for training limb movements can be directly applied to the speech motor system of healthy adults and individuals with acquired motor speech disorders. Collectively, these practice and feedback conditions are known as the Principles of Motor Learning (PML; Schmidt, 1988). These principles can be used to guide the structure of practice as well as the nature of feedback, and can have considerable implications for an individual’s ability to learn, recall, and maintain skilled movements