Background: Discourse analysis is an important component of aphasia assessment because it can provide an insight into functional communication abilities. However, there are many unknowns regarding the levels of discourse breakdowns that occur across aphasia types. The purpose of the current study is to explore the possible differences in…

Background: Communication disabilities, such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), impact family members as well as the individuals with the condition. To provide adequate communication care to people with PPA (PwPPA) and their family members, it is crucial to understand the communication needs from the family members' perspectives. To date,…

Background: Communication is at the heart of relationships, especially for couples. When language is altered, as it is in aphasia, communication in couples can be affected. Aims: To explore how members of a couple perceive the impact of aphasia on their communication. Methods & Procedures: Nine French-speaking couples participated in the…

Background & aims: Echolalia, the repetition of one's or others' utterances, is a behavior present in typical development, autism spectrum disorder, aphasias, Tourette's, and other clinical groups. Despite the broad range of conditions in which echolalia can occur, it is considered primarily through a disorder-specific lens, which limits a…

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…

Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI), such as Parkinson's disease, dementia or stroke, can result in communication difficulties that lead to an impoverished ability to connect meaningfully with others. Choral singing is a complex task that uses multiple brain regions which are also responsible for language and communication skills. The…

Background: Interest in how stroke survivors might be better supported to manage life after stroke has grown rapidly in recent years, with a particular emphasis on enabling 'self-management'. Post-stroke communication difficulties may pose a unique barrier to longer term adaptation and adjustment. It is important to understand how stroke survivors…

People with aphasia can be marginalized by a communicatively inaccessible society. Compounding this problem, routinized exclusion from stroke research leads to bias in the evidence base and subsequent inequalities in service provision. Within the United Kingdom, the Clinical Research Network of the National Institute of Health identified this…

Background: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that occurs secondary to brain injury, such as stroke. It causes communication difficulties that have a significant impact on quality of life and social relationships. Although the efficacy of speech-language therapy has been clearly demonstrated in this population, long-term services are…

Purpose: A primary goal of aphasia intervention is to improve everyday communication. Although a large body of research focuses on treatment generalization, transfer of learning to real-world interactions involving discourse does not always occur. The goal of an integrated discourse treatment for aphasia (IDTA) approach is to facilitate such…

Purpose: Individuals with mild aphasia often report significant disruption to their communication despite seemingly minor impairment. This study explored this phenomenon through examining conversations of a person with mild aphasia engaging in argumentation--a skill she felt had significantly deteriorated after her stroke. Method: A person with…

Background: Aphasiologists often research, assess and treat linguistic impairment and its consequences for daily life separately. Studies that link the language used by people with aphasia to routine communicative activities may expand the linguistic forms treated as relevant for successful communication by people with aphasia. Previous research…

Clinical Question: For people with aphasia following a stroke, is group therapy shown to be more effective on communication outcome measures reflecting impairment, activity, and/or participation than individual therapy or no therapy? Method: Review of treatment efficacy research for group intervention in aphasia Study Sources: Cochrane Database of…

This study investigates how aphasic impairment impinges on syntactic and/or semantic recursivity of human language. A series of tests has been conducted with the participation of five Hungarian speaking aphasic subjects and 10 control subjects. Photographs representing simple situations were presented to subjects and questions were asked about…

During clinical interactions between speech-language pathologists and adults with aphasia, a variety of emotional issues arise. The literature suggests that while counseling is within the scope of practice, SLPs tend to avoid emotional issues in therapy (A. Holland, 2007a). The precise mechanisms employed for circumventing emotional issues in…