Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

Aphasia Couples Therapy: A Case Study Of Conversational Coaching For A Man With Conduction Aphasia, Adriana Joma

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the understanding of the effects of aphasia couples therapy (ACT) in a person with conduction aphasia. ACT is a social therapeutic approach that involves facilitating conversations between the person with aphasia (PWA) and their spouse, or caregiver. The participants in this study involved one pair. The dependent variables included conveyance of main concepts, use of intentional gestures, reflections and summary statements per conversation. Miscellaneous measures were also counted and analyzed including the PWA’s frequency of paraphasias, fillers (e.g. um, uh), and disfluencies. Baseline sessions involved the PWA watching a video clip, …

The Effects Of Enactment On Communicative Competence In Aphasic Casual Conversation: A Functional Linguistic Perspective, Rimke Groenewold, Elizabeth Armstrong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Previous research has shown that speakers with aphasia rely on enactment more often than non-brain-damaged language users. Several studies have been conducted to explain this observed increase, demonstrating that spoken language containing enactment is easier to produce and is more engaging to the conversation partner. This paper describes the effects of the occurrence of enactment in casual conversation involving individuals with aphasia on its level of conversational assertiveness. Aims: To evaluate whether and to what extent the occurrence of enactment in speech of individuals with aphasia contributes to its conversational assertiveness. Methods & Procedures: Conversations between a speaker with …

Estimating The Impact Of Assessment And Treatment Fidelity On Aphasia Treatment Outcomes, Trisha L. Tanaka

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Purpose: Calls for treatment and assessment fidelity strongly suggest the need to reduce treatment provider and assessor variance surrounding intervention research. The extent to which these sources of variance influence treatment outcomes in aphasia treatment research has yet to be examined. This simulation study sought to explore the relationships between quality of fidelity methods, sample size, power to detect treatment effects, and aphasia treatment effect sizes.

Methods: Individual participant outcomes collected from previous aphasia treatment research studies were used to simulate 200,000 participant outcomes, from which 8,000 sample treatment trials were simulated. Effect sizes were calculated for treatment outcomes related …

The Psychosocial Effects Of Aphasia On The Caregiver, Lauren A. Ferrara

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Studies have investigated the physical and emotional wellbeing of family members and spouses who care for persons with stroke (Bakas, et al. 2006). Literature shows burden of care is high in role reversal and depression is frequent. Variables that affect the caregiver burden with persons with aphasia (PWA) have not been identified prior to this study. Results from caregiver interviews found six themes, some which have not been identified prior, such as feelings of optimism.

Language-Mixing In Discourse In Bilingual Individuals With Non-Fluent Aphasia, Avanthi Paplikar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Language-mixing (LM) as defined by Chengappa (2009, p. 417) is an “intra-sentential phenomenon referred to as the mixing of various linguistic units (morphemes, words, modifiers, phrases, etc.), primarily from two participating grammatical systems”. LM is influenced by grammatical, environmental, and social constraints (e.g., Milroy & Wei, 1995; Bhat & Chengappa, 2005). Researchers have suggested that LM in patients with aphasia is a communicative strategy used to achieve successful exchanges between speakers; the effectiveness of this mixing, however, had yet to be demonstrated quantitatively.

In the current study we investigated whether LM is present in bilingual speakers with aphasia, and if …

The Effect Of Aphasia On Quality Of Life, Coping Style, And Resilience, Nelson J. Hernandez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Approximately one million people in the United States suffer from aphasia. There are multiple types of aphasia, however they are usually placed into two categories: non-fluent or fluent. The psychosocial factors that are impacted due to the type of aphasia has not been systematically investigated. The purpose of this study is to examine how non-fluent and fluent Individuals With Aphasia (IWA) compare or contrast across three psychosocial factors, Quality of Life (QoL), coping style, and resilience. The World Health Quality of Life- BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), Assimilative-Accommodative Coping Scale (AACS), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 item version (CD-RISC-10), were administered once to …

Effects Of Familiarity And Presentation Mode On Auditory-Visual Speech Recognition In Adults With Aphasia, Rachel Hahn

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Aphasia is a language disorder that has been acquired by about 2 million Americans, most commonly from stroke or traumatic brain injury. Research demonstrates that adults with aphasia can continue improving their speech and language for years after their stroke with therapy, which is contrary to traditional thought. Therefore, people with aphasia and their loved ones are searching for ways to continue speech and language improvements even after insurance runs out, and many are turning to technological therapy programs. However, there is little research on the skills people with aphasia need to benefit from these technological therapy programs. The current …

The Use Of Gesture In Self-Initiated Self-Repair Sequences By Persons With Non-Fluent Aphasia, Eleanor M. Feltner

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This study examines the relationship between types of gestures and instances of self-initiated self-repair (SISR) used by persons with non-fluent aphasia (NFA), which is a type of aphasia characterized by stilted speech or signing (Papathanasiou et al., 2013), in interactions with clinicians. Conversation repairs in this study are assessed using the framework of Conversation Analysis (CA), which is an approach for describing, analyzing, and understanding social interaction (Sidnell, 2010). Previous linguistic studies have demonstrated a distinct preference for the use of gesture during a repair by persons with aphasia (Goodwin, 1995; Klippi, 2015; Wilkinson, 2013). This study draws more conclusive …

Processing Of Language Switches In Bilingual Individuals With Aphasia: An Event-Related Potential Comparison, Lizette Rodarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Switching between languages, or code-switching, is a common phenomenon in bilingual individuals. In proficient bilinguals, these switches are done with ease and are used for many purposes. Contrary to popular belief, these switches are rule-governed and follow grammatical structure. Bilingual individuals diagnosed with aphasia present with difficulty processing languages and these language switches. With the increase in bilingual individuals, it is likely that the speech-language pathology community will see an increase of bilingual individuals with aphasia on their caseload. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the neural processes involved in processing of …

A Combination Of Therapeutic Techniques: Severe Broca's Aphasia, Kimberly Ann Homan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The effects of Modified Melodic Intonation Therapy for a fifty-nine year old adult with severe Broca's aphasia were examined. Intervention included inner rehearsal and first sound practice to potentially increase initiation abilities. Pre and post self-assessments were used to evaluate self-awareness. Six target phrases (four three-syllable phrases and two two-syllable phrases) were treated over the course of fifteen weeks with two one-hour sessions per week. Results showed an increase in the participant's ability to produce the target phrase. Inner rehearsal proved to be an initiation strategy that met functional needs of the participant in a timelier manner; on the other …

Using Visual Scene Displays As Communication Support Options For People With Chronic, Severe Aphasia: A Summary Of Aac Research And Future Research Directions, David R. Beukelman, Karen Hux, Aimee R. Dietz, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research about the effectiveness of communicative supports and advances in photographic technology has prompted changes in the way speech-language pathologists design and implement interventions for people with aphasia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of photographic images as a basis for developing communication supports for people with chronic aphasia secondary to sudden-onset events due to cerebrovascular accidents (strokes). Topics include the evolution of AAC-based supports as they relate to people with aphasia, the development and key features of visual scene displays (VSDs), and future directions concerning the incorporation of photographs into communication supports for people with …

Script Training: The Role Of Written Cues, Hallie Cohen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Script training is a technique that allows persons with acquired speech and language disorders, such as nonfluent aphasia, to have islands of fluent speech during which they can speak about a topic without pausing or having word-finding errors. Scripts relevant to specific functional situations are written and practiced until memorized. Script training delivered verbally has been effective with clients with aphasia but the role of written cues in the training has not been explored. Therefore the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of script training taught verbally, or verbally with a written script, in persons with aphasia. …

Supporting Narrative Retells For People With Aphasia Using Augmentative And Alternative Communication: Photographs Or Line Drawings? Text Or No Text?, Julie Griffith, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how the interface design of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device influences the communication behaviors of people with aphasia during a narrative retell task.

Method: A case-series design was used. Four narratives were created on an AAC device with combinations of personally relevant (PR) photographs, line drawings (LDs), and text for each participant. The narrative retells were analyzed to describe the expressive modality units (EMUs) used, trouble sources experienced, and whether trouble sources were repaired. The researchers also explored the participants’ perceived helpfulness of the interface features.

Results: The participants …

Anomia Treatment Platform As Behavioral Engine For Use In Research On Physiological Adjuvants To Neurorehabilitation, Diane Kendall, Anastasia Raymer, Miranda Rose, Joellen Gilbert, Leslie J. Gonzalez Rothi

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to create a "behavioral treatment engine" for future use in research on physiological adjuvants in aphasia rehabilitation. We chose the behavioral target anomia, which is a feature displayed by many persons who have aphasia. Further, we wished to saturate the treatment approach with many strategies and cues that have been empirically reported to have a positive influence on aphasia outcome, with the goal being to optimize the potential for positive response in most participants. A single-subject multiple baseline design with replication across eight participants was employed. Four men and four women, with an average …

The Impact Of Interface Design During An Initial High-Technology Aac Experience: A Collective Case Study Of People With Aphasia, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling, Julie Griffith, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Devan Macke

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this collective case study was to describe the communication behaviors of five people with chronic aphasia when they retold personal narratives to an unfamiliar communication partner using four variants of a visual scene display (VSD) interface. The results revealed that spoken language comprised roughly 70% of expressive modality units; variable patterns of use for other modalities emerged. Although inconsistent across participants, several people with aphasia experienced no trouble sources during the retells using VSDs with personally relevant photographs and text boxes. Overall, participants perceived the personally relevant photographs and the text as helpful during the retells. These …

Does The Use Of Personally Relevant Stimuli In Semantic Complexity Training Facilitate Improved Functional Communication Performance Compared To Non-Personally Relevant Stimulus Items Among Adults With Chronic Aphasia?, Stephanie Karidas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of semantic complexity treatment in individuals with fluent aphasia on discourse performance. Semantic treatment is an effective way to improve semantically based word retrieval problems in aphasia. Treatment focused on the semantic application of the Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy (CATE) (Thompson, Shapiro, Kiran, & Sobecks, 2003) promotes training of complex items resulting in generalization to less complex, untrained items. In addition, research has shown that the personal relevance of treatment material can increase treatment efficacy. This study investigated the effect of semantic treatment of atypical personally relevant items among individuals with aphasia on discourse …

Augmented Input: The Effect Of Visuographic Supports On The Auditory Comprehension Of People With Chronic Aphasia, Sarah E. Wallace, Aimee R. Dietz, Karen Hux, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Background: Augmented input (AI), or the use of visuographic images and linguistic supports, is a strategy for facilitating the auditory comprehension of people with chronic aphasia. To date, researchers have not systematically evaluated the effects of various types of AI strategies on auditory comprehension.

Aims: The purpose of the study was to perform an initial evaluation of the changes in auditory comprehension accuracy experienced by people with aphasia when they received one type of AI. Specifically, the authors examined the effect four types of non-personalized visuographic image conditions on the comprehension of people with aphasia when listening to narratives.

Methods …

Assessing Cortical Electrophysiologic And Behavioral Activity In Individuals With Aphasia And Participants With No Brain Damage Responding To Spoken Sentence Length Messages, Patricia Lara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study, six individuals with aphasia and twelve participants with no brain damage responded to spoken sentence length messages using a modified version of the Revised Token Test (McNeil & Prescott, 1978) while cortical activation was recorded using event related potentials (ERP). ERP is a non-invasive imaging procedure that measures cortical activation reflected in the electrical activity that is produced at the level of the cortex in response to internal or external stimulus.

Participants were presented with a visual display that provided eight different token arrangements per trial that were displayed on the computer screen. Spoken messages that increased …

Communicative Competence In Persons With Aphasia: The Impact Of Executive Function, Judy Marie Mikola

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between executive function and performance on selected linguistic tasks in persons with aphasia secondary to left frontal lesions.

A group of 15 persons with aphasia (PWA) completed three communication board tasks of varying levels of complexity and structure. The subject's functional use of the picture/word communication board was tested during a Story Retelling task. In addition, the PWA's executive function skills were examined using six nonverbal tests. The PWA group performance scores were compared to that of the neurologically healthy control group.

Results demonstrated that the control group performed significantly …

Repetition Priming And Anomia: An Investigation Of Stimulus Dosage, Catherine A. Off

Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences Faculty Publications

In a recent review of anomia management, Maher & Raymer reported that 30% of aphasia intervention research from 1946 to 2001 focused on naming; however, "despite this proliferation of case reports and small group studies, there is still no clear agreement on how best to manage these deficits" (Maher & Raymer, 2004, p. 13). The inconsistency of acquisition, maintenance, and generalization effects observed across participants and types of treatment protocols is likely to stem from an inadequate knowledge base about how subject and treatment variables influence learning.

One treatment variable that has received increasing attention over the past two or …

Effects Of Gesture+Verbal Treatment For Noun And Verb Retrieval In Aphasia, Anastasia M. Raymer, Floris Singletary, Amy Rodriguez, Maribel Ciampitti, Kenneth M. Heilman, Leslie J. Gonzalez Rothi

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Links between verbs and gesture knowledge suggest that verb retrieval may be particularly amenable to gesture+verbal training (GVT) in aphasia compared to noun retrieval. This study examines effects of GVT for noun and verb retrieval in nine individuals with aphasia subsequent to left hemisphere stroke. Participants presented an array of noun and verb retrieval deficits, including impairments of semantic and/or phonologic processing. In a single-participant experimental design, we investigated effects of GVT for noun and verb retrieval in two counterbalanced treatment phases. Effects were evaluated in spoken naming and gesture production to pictured objects and actions. Spoken naming improvements associated …

Word-Retrieval Treatment In Aphasia: Effects Of Sentence Context, Anastasia Raymer, Francine Kohen

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Word-retrieval treatment studies in aphasia have reported the greatest influences on picture naming for trained words. To increase treatment effects to untrained words and sentence contexts, we investigated a sentence-reading treatment hierarchy that moves from errorless to generative production of sentences incorporating target nouns and verbs. In an individual with nonfluent aphasia, treatment resulted in improved picture naming for nouns and verbs and generalized increases in numbers of grammatical sentences and content words following noun therapy. A second individual with fluent aphasia improved little in picture-naming and sentence-generation tasks for both nouns and verbs. This sentence-based word-retrieval training, in which …

The Effects Of A Multimodality Approach On Sentence Production Using Response Elaboration Training With A Reading Component On Aphasic Patients., Sara E. Mccarthy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effects of a multimodality treatment were investigated using a single subject experimental design across behaviors in two patients with different severity levels of Broca's aphasia. We hypothesized that Response Elaboration Training and an oral reading task would improve accuracy of sentence production, information content, and mean length of utterance. Results indicated that this treatment approach elicited significant improvement in the accuracy of sentence production and information content in the participant with very mild Broca's aphasia. Furthermore, the participant with severe Broca's aphasia demonstrated a very significant improvement in information content and mean length of utterance. The improvements support the …

Word Retrieval Behaviors Of Aphasic Adults In Conversational Speech : A Preliminary Study, Priscilla Jane Blake

Dissertations and Theses

Word retrieval difficulties are experienced by almost all aphasic adults. Consequently, these problems receive a substantial amount of attention in aphasia treatment. Because of the methodological difficulties, few studies have examined WRBs in conversational speech, focusing instead on confrontational naming tasks in which the client is asked to retrieve a specific word. These studies have left unanswered questions about the WRB processes.

The purposes of this study were to: (1) develop profiles of WRB for moderately impaired aphasic adult clients and examine these profiles for evidence that reflects the level of breakdown in the word retrieval process, and (2) determine …

Reading Comprehension Of Literal, Translational, And High Inference Level Questions In Aphasic And Right Hemisphere Damaged Adults, Ute Kongsbak

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare inferential abilities on a reading comprehension task in two groups of adults who had suffered cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). Sixteen subjects with a CVA to the right hemisphere of the brain were compared to an equal number of left hemisphere damaged subjects. Subjects were selected after they had demonstrated an adequate level of functioning on the Short Porch Index of Communicative Ability (SPICA), a test which measures communicative efficiency, to perform the tasks required in this study. All subjects were administered the revised version of the Nelson Reading Skills Test (NRST). …

Coverbal Behavior Of Aphasic And Right Hemisphere Damaged Subjects In Conversation, Jill Duvall

Dissertations and Theses

The frequency and duration of six coverbal behaviors were examined in two experimental groups and one control group. Conversational samples of ten aphasic subjects, ten right hemisphere damaged (RHD) subjects, and ten matched, non-brain damaged (NBD) control subjects were scored for frequency and duration of eye contact, head nod, head shake, head tilt, smile and eyebrow raise. Only the frequency of smile was found to differ significantly; the RHD subjects smiled less often than either of the other two groups.

The Effect Of A Small-Stepped Computer-Based Program On The Graphic Output Of Chronically Asphasic Adults, Cynthia Rubin

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an especially designed small-stepped treatment program utilizing the Apple II microcomputer on the graphic output of eight chronically aphasic adults. The subjects manifested moderate/ severe to severe communicative impairment as determined by performance on the Aphasic Language Performance Scales (ALPS) (Keenan and Brassell, 1974) and were receiving management at the Communicative disorders Clinic at the University of Central Florida. Pretreatment status of each subject was measured via a visual and hearing screening. In addition, the Aphasia Language Performance Scales were administered as an indicant of overall communicative ability. Spelling …

The Use Of Telegraphic Reading Material By Aphasic Patients, Sylvia Diane Tovey

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if aphasic patients have significantly more correct answers for telegraphically written material when compared to normally written material.

Twenty subjects from the greater Portland metropolitan area were selected to be included in this study. The ages or the subjects ranged from forty-two through sixty-five years with a mean of fifty-four years.

The test material consisted of two paragraphs controlled for fourth grade grammar and vocabulary and two paragraphs controlled for sixth grade grammar and vocabulary. A normally written and a telegraphically written paragraph were used for each of the four paragraphs for …

Childhood Aphasia, Beatrice O. L. Williams

Graduate Student Research Papers

Childhood Aphasia is not to be confused with mental retardation, deafness, hard of hearing nor the socially and emotionally disturbed, although the symptomology is comparative in nature. Only through differential diagnosis, involving the services and cooperation of specialists in these various fields is it properly diagnosed.