Purpose: Motivation is a complex phenomenon that can influence a person's ability to make progress in treatment. We sought to understand how motivation is currently measured and utilized in aphasia rehabilitation by identifying treatment studies that (1) include measurement of motivation and (2) use motivation to predict treatment response.…

People with disabilities are more likely to be hospitalized and use health care services than people without disabilities. They also report negative experiences interacting with health care providers during these encounters, placing them at risk for preventable adverse medical events, poor quality of life, and dependence on others. Fortunately,…

Studies have identified deficits in attention in individuals with aphasia in language and nonlanguage tasks. Attention may play a role in the construction and use of language, as well as in learning and the process of rehabilitation, yet the role of attention on rehabilitation is not fully understood. To improve the understanding of attention and…

More than 50 years of research has demonstrated the profound effect that aphasia has on people with the condition and their family members. In the International Classifcation of Functioning, Disability and Health, the World Health Organization described the impact of an individual's health condition on a signifcant other as "third-party…

The sudden loss of intimacy can have a dramatic effect on satisfaction in a relationship. As many caregivers shift roles and try to personally adjust to their new reality, a steep drop in intimacy can often simultaneously occurs. Aphasia presents a significant barrier to opening discussions about intimacy and sexual contact. The purpose of this…

When people with aphasia have difculty communicating, there is a risk for miscommunication and negative outcomes related to medical care and safety (Blacksone, Beukelman, & Yorkson, 2015). This risk can be reduced by ensuring that each person with aphasia can communicate efectively when using diferent types of discourse and at diferent points…

Purpose: This retrospective case series utilized clinical data mining (CDM) to understand the potential key components in an integrated treatment approach delivered by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) treating adolescents experiencing persistent cognitive effects postconcussion. The first purpose was to describe the profiles of students treated…

Communication supports for people with motor speech disorders can include strategies and technologies to supplement natural speech efforts, resolve communication breakdowns, and replace natural speech when necessary to enhance participation in all communicative contexts. This article emphasizes communication supports that can enhance…

Survivors of brain injury from trauma and stroke often lose their sense of identity and face a series of lifelong obstacles that challenge their ability to integrate back into their communities and live meaningful and productive lives. Their stories provide powerful accounts of these challenges, which can inform clinical decision-making. Arguably,…

This article describes intervention techniques for facilitating adolescent expository text comprehension that uses a blended approach, combining content instructional techniques with the use of facilitative strategies. The suggestions in this article are based on informal review of the literature and the author's clinical experience. An adolescent…

The Pediatric Test of Brain Injury (PTBI) is designed to assess neurocognitive, language, and literacy abilities that are relevant to the school curriculum of children and adolescents recovering from brain injury. The PTBI is intended to help clinicians establish baseline levels of cognitive-linguistic abilities in the acute stages of recovery,…

A mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) constitutes the overwhelming majority of brain injury cases in children and adolescents. This article focuses on cerebral concussion, which can be viewed as a subset of mild TBI, which, until recently, has received limited attention in the pediatric assessment literature. Few extant measures appropriate to this…