ePrints

Aphasia rehabilitation: Does generalisation from anomia therapy occur and is it predictable? A case series study

Lookup NU author(s): Professor David Howard

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.

Abstract

Introduction: The majority of adults with acquired aphasia have anomia which can respond to rehabilitation with cues. However, the literature and clinical consensus suggest change is usually limited to treated items. We investigated the effect of an experimentally controlled intervention using progressive cues in the rehabilitation of noun retrieval/production in 16 participants with chronic aphasia.Method: Participants were sub-divided relative to the group according to performance on semantic tasks (spoken/written word to picture matching) and phonological output processing (presence/absence of word length effect and proportion of phonological errors in picture naming) in order to investigate outcome in relation to language profile. Cueing therapy took place weekly for 8 weeks.Results: Intervention resulted in significant improvement on naming treated items for 15/16 participants, with stable performance on control tasks. Change occurred at the point of intervention and not during pre-therapy assessments. We predicted particular patterns of generalisation which were upheld. Only participants classified as having relatively less of a semantic difficulty and more of a phonological output deficit demonstrated generalisation to untreated items. Outcome did not relate to traditional aphasia classification.Conclusion: A cueing hierarchy can improve word retrieval/production for adults with aphasia. In some cases generalisation to untreated items also occurs. The study demonstrates that the results of behavioural testing can be used to guide predictions of recovery with intervention. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Best W, Greenwood A, Grassly J, Herbert R, Hickin J, Howard D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Cortex

Year: 2013

Volume: 49

Issue: 9

Pages: 2345-2357

Print publication date: 01/10/2013

Online publication date: 04/02/2013

Acceptance date: 03/12/2012

ISSN (print): 0010-9452

ISSN (electronic): 1973-8102

Publisher: Elsevier

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2013.01.005

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.01.005

Altmetrics

Share