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Benefits and Limitations of Computer Gesture Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Severe Aphasia.

ABSTRACT: Aphasia intervention has made increasing use of technology in recent years. The evidence base, which is largely limited to the investigation of spoken language outcomes, indicates positive treatment effects for people with mild to moderate levels of aphasia. Outcomes for those with severe aphasia, however, are less well documented and - where reported - present less consistent gains for measures of spoken output. This study investigates the effects of a purpose-built gesture therapy technology for people with severe aphasia: GeST+. Study outcomes show significant improvement in gesture production abilities for adults with severe aphasia following computer intervention. They indicate no transfer of effects into naming gains or interactive gesture. Outcomes offer encouraging results for computer therapy methods within this hitherto under-researched population but indicate a need for further refinement of interventions in order to maximize persistence of effects and generalization into everyday communication.

SUBMITTER: Roper A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5126070 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Benefits and Limitations of Computer Gesture Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Severe Aphasia.

Roper Abi A Marshall Jane J Wilson Stephanie S

Frontiers in human neuroscience 20161129

Aphasia intervention has made increasing use of technology in recent years. The evidence base, which is largely limited to the investigation of spoken language outcomes, indicates positive treatment effects for people with mild to moderate levels of aphasia. Outcomes for those with severe aphasia, however, are less well documented and - where reported - present less consistent gains for measures of spoken output. This study investigates the effects of a purpose-built gesture therapy technology f ...[more]

PMID: 27965554

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Project description:BackgroundAphasia therapy is an effective approach to improve language function in chronic aphasia. However, it remains unclear what prognostic factors facilitate therapy response at the individual level. Here, we utilized data from the POLAR (Predicting Outcomes of Language Rehabilitation in Aphasia) trial to (a) determine therapy-induced change in confrontation naming and long-term maintenance of naming gains and (b) examine the extent to which aphasia severity, age, education, time postonset, and cognitive reserve predict naming gains at 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months posttherapy.MethodA total of 107 participants with chronic (≥ 12 months poststroke) aphasia underwent extensive case history, cognitive-linguistic testing, and a neuroimaging workup prior to receiving 6 weeks of impairment-based language therapy. Therapy-induced change in naming performance (measured as raw change on the 175-item Philadelphia Naming Test [PNT]) was assessed 1 week after therapy and at follow-up time points 1 month and 6 months after therapy completion. Change in naming performance over time was evaluated using paired t tests, and linear mixed-effects models were constructed to examine the association between prognostic factors and therapy outcomes.ResultsNaming performance was improved by 5.9 PNT items (Cohen's d = 0.56, p < .001) 1 week after therapy and by 6.4 (d = 0.66, p < .001) and 7.5 (d = 0.65, p < .001) PNT items at 1 month and 6 months after therapy completion, respectively. Aphasia severity emerged as the strongest predictor of naming improvement recovery across time points; mild (ß = 5.85-9.02) and moderate (ß = 9.65-11.54) impairment predicted better recovery than severe (ß = 1.31-3.37) and very severe (ß = 0.20-0.32) aphasia. Age was an emergent prognostic factor for recovery 1 month (ß = -0.14) and 6 months (ß = -0.20) after therapy, and time postonset (ß = -0.05) was associated with retention of naming gains at 6 months posttherapy.ConclusionsThese results suggest that therapy-induced naming improvement is predictable based on several easily measurable prognostic factors. Broadly speaking, these results suggest that prognostication procedures in aphasia therapy can be improved and indicate that personalization of therapy is a realistic goal in the near future.Supplemental materialhttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22141829.

Project description:Purpose Individuals with primary progressive apraxia of speech (AOS) have AOS in which disruptions in articulation and prosody predominate the speech pattern. Many develop aphasia and/or dysarthria later in the disease course. The aim of this study was to describe the communication limitations in these patients, as measured by (a) the patient via the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) and (b) the speech-language pathologist via the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) and an adapted motor speech disorder (MSD) severity rating. Method Speech and language evaluations were completed for 24 patients with progressive AOS (n = 7 with isolated AOS; n = 17 with a combination of AOS and aphasia). Descriptive comparisons were utilized to evaluate differences in communication measures among patients with various combinations of MSDs and aphasia. Differences associated with phonetic predominant or prosodic predominant AOS were also examined. Across the entire cohort, correlations were calculated between the participation ratings and other clinical assessment measures. Results The CPIB reflected greater limitations for those with aphasia and AOS compared to isolated AOS, but was not notably different when dysarthria occurred with AOS (n = 9/24). Across the cohort, there were statistically significant correlations between the CPIB and ASHA FCM-Motor Speech and Language Expression ratings and the MSD severity rating. The CPIB did not correlate with the ASHA FCM-Language Comprehension or other speech-language measures. Conclusions Patients with neurodegenerative AOS experience reduced participation in communication that is further exacerbated by co-occurring language deficits. The study suggests measures of severity cannot be assumed to correlate with measures of participation restrictions and offers a foundation for further research examining the day-to-day sequela of progressive speech and language disorders. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12743252.

Dataset Information

Benefits and Limitations of Computer Gesture Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Severe Aphasia.

Publications

Benefits and Limitations of Computer Gesture Therapy for the Rehabilitation of Severe Aphasia.

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