Aphasia
Conditions
Keywords
Aphasia, Bilingualism, Language therapy, Rehabilitation of speech and language disorders, Speech-language pathology
Brief summary
The purpose of this investigation is to implement a computational model that can predict and optimize training and cross-language generalization patterns for bilingual persons with aphasia (BPA). The proposed work will determine the best possible treatment program for each individual patient even before they are rehabilitated. In addition, the computational model allows specification of variables such as age of acquisition, language exposure/proficiency, impairment and their systematic influence on a range of language rehabilitation outcomes.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSemantic Feature Analysis (SFA)
SFA training entails having the speech-language pathologist (SLP) guide the participant through generation of pertinent semantic features for pictured treatment items (e.g., category membership, physical description, location of item in context, action associated with item). Treatment is applied to a set of items in the context of single-subject, multiple baseline designs so that replication of treatment effects could be evaluated within and across participants. Treatment will be administered two times per week until prescribed accuracy levels were met during treatment probes or a maximum number of treatment sessions was completed.
Sponsors
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Boston University Charles River Campus
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Any number of years of education * Bilingual: speaking both Spanish and English (or Chinese and English) with any degree of language proficiency prior to stroke * Aphasia secondary to a left-hemisphere stroke (diagnosed by a neurologist on the basis of clinical CT/MRI imaging or medical reports) * Aphasia resulting from stroke or dementia * Naming deficits must be present with concurrent lexical/semantic impairment * Visual and auditory acuity sufficient for all assessment and treatment procedures * Ability to understand study and follow study procedures for the entire length of the study
Exclusion criteria
* Premorbid history of speech/language disorder * Proficient in more than just Spanish and English (or Chinese and English) * Overt, behaviorally noticeable, attentional limitations that interfere with completing the experimental tasks * Active medical disease that may compromise participation (e.g., cancer undergoing acute treatment, unstable diabetes, renal or hepatic insufficiency, fluctuating systemic immunological disease such as systemic lupus erythematosis, etc.) * Currently taking medications that are known to exert significant effects on cognitive processes, such as neuroleptics, steroids, anticholinesterase inhibitors, etc. * Current drug or alcohol use or dependence that would interfere with adherence to study requirements, in the opinion of the principal investigator * Inability or unwillingness of individual to give written informed consent * Diagnosed with mental illness other than active depression * Neurological condition other than that which resulted in aphasia
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Word Retrieval Accuracy in both languages | Through study completion, an average of 10 weeks | Accuracy of naming of pictured treated and untreated items in both languages will be assessed in probes conducted separate from treatment. Probes were conducted repeatedly throughout the study, from baseline (prior to treatment) to the end of treatment. All naming responses were scored using as correct or incorrect. A percentage accuracy was calculated for each set of items for every probe session. Baseline probe scores were compared to end of treatment probe scores to obtain individual effect sizes for each sets of items for each participant (i.e., several effect sizes were calculated for each participant). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Category fluency task in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses category fluency |
| Communication Effectiveness Index (CETI) for both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Determines communication effectiveness by proxy |
| Pyramids and Palm Trees Test (PAPT) 3 pictures version | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses semantic processing ability |
| Aphasia Bank | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses discourse |
| Verbal fluency task (COWAT) in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses general fluency |
| Boston Naming Test (BNT) in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Naming pictured items |
| Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) B and C in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses each of the languages of a bilingual or multilingual individual with aphasia |
| Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses the levels of impairment of aphasia |
| Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT) in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Assesses the contribution of cognitive deficits to language dysfunction |
| Psycholinguistic assessments of language processing in aphasia (PALPA) in both languages | Week 1 and up to 10 weeks | Reading single words and understanding spoken words |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactNishaat Mukadam, MA
Outcome results
None listed