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,…

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…

Three modes of using the microcomputer in aphasia rehabilitation include the dependent mode (with the clinician in the clinic setting), the clinic-based independent mode, and the home-based mode. Also considered are hardware and software selection, patient selection, clinician responsibilities, and family support. A case study illustrates…

The Shock Trauma Center of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems instituted a comprehensive speech-language pathology program to provide acute intervention for communicative disorders in a critical/intensive care environment. This article provides a profile of the Center, a review of communicative impairments, and examples…

This article presents a family-centered perspective in rehabilitation of individuals with cognitive-communicative impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The approach focuses on capacity rather than dysfunction in families and includes family members as collaborators in rehabilitation. Suggestions for understanding family responses to…

Discusses how treatment of memory disorders resulting from traumatic brain injury must extend beyond intervention strategies focusing on deficit reduction to embrace models centering on disability reduction. Disability oriented approaches that emphasize rehearsal and encoding strategies and the use of memory aids are described. (Author/CR)