Communication Commons^™

Conversational Scaffolding With Couples With An Aphasic Partner, Mary Jo Bissmeyer

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder experienced by approximately one million Americans today, many recovering from stroke or traumatic brain injury. Traditional therapy has focused solely on regaining specific linguistic skills, including auditory comprehension, speech, reading, and/or writing. Conversation partner training is a newer trend in aphasia intervention that has emerged thanks to an increasingly social model of disability and the pressure to deliver meaningful and cost effective health services. It fits nicely with the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia, which encourages clinicians to help individuals with aphasia and their families set and meet their own goals for therapy, which …