None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The proposed research aims to investigate the effects of a self-cueing lexical retrieval therapy on seven individuals with varying language profiles, consistent with the diverse presentation of PPA. All participants will engage in an intervention designed to improve the retrieval of nouns, verbs and adjectives through the incorporation of semantic, phonological and orthographic levels of language production. Changes in accuracy of lexical retrieval of treated and control items, pre-treatment, post treatment and four weeks maintenance, will be determined for each participant. The findings will help Speech Pathologists understand the impact this type of therapy can have on the communication you need in day-to-day life. With this knowledge it is hoped that Speech Pathologists will be better equipped to help people with Primary Progressive Aphasia.
Interventions
The treatment period for each participant will span 4 weeks, in addition to two weeks of initial baseline assessment, involving two 90 minute therapy sessions per week, delivered on an individual basis. The self-cueing approach will consist of a hierarchy of semantic, phonological and orthographic cues intended to train lexical retrieval strategies and will be administered by the student researcher. 120 treatment items will be trained across the intervention period. The stimuli will consist of 1
The treatment period for each participant will span 4 weeks, in addition to two weeks of initial baseline assessment, involving two 90 minute therapy sessions per week, delivered on an individual basis. The self-cueing approach will consist of a hierarchy of semantic, phonological and orthographic cues intended to train lexical retrieval strategies and will be administered by the student researcher. 120 treatment items will be trained across the intervention period. The stimuli will consist of 10 nouns, 10 verbs and 10 adjectives. Items will be controlled across categories for frequency, length and imageability. In addition to two weekly sessions, each participant will be assigned home practice to compliment learning in therapy. This will increase the repetition of lexical retrieval, consistent with the intensity of practice principle of neural plasticity (Kleim & Jones, 2008). Homework will include picture naming of the target items in the category for that particular week. Participants will be required to complete homework for 30 minutes on the days without therapy. Each participant will be required to document on a form their completion of the homework, including details of the time, support required and number of attempts. A spouse/significant other will assist the participant during these sessions to support word retrieval and motivation.
Sponsors
Curtin University
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Individuals are required to have a working diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) or progressive language impairment, established from previous diagnostic evaluation by a neurologist. All variants of PPA and language profiles will be accepted into the study. Participants are required to have English as their first language and no significant hearing problems that may impact their participation in the intervention. Participants will be in the early to mid-stages of PPA, as determined by a mild-moderate score on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE, Folstein, Folstein, & McHugh, 1975). Participants and their spouse/carer will be required to have capacity to consent themselves to their involvement in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Unable to give informed consent to participate
Outcome results
None listed