Analysis of Discourse Production to Assess Cognitive Communication Deficits Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury With and Without Posttraumatic Stress.

Purpose: Cognitive communication deficits can be difficult to assess in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). However, the use of discourse analysis as a direct and sensitive metric of cognitive communication skills has shown promising clinical utility for other TBI severity levels. This exploratory study investigated discourse production in service members and veterans (SMVs) with uncomplicated mTBI with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and SMVs with neither mTBI or PTSD.

Conversational Coordination of Articulation Responds to Context: A Clinical Test Case With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Purpose Coordination of communicative behavior supports shared understanding in conversation. The current study brings together analysis of two speech coordination strategies, entrainment and compensation of articulation, in a preliminary investigation into whether strategy organization is shaped by a challenging communicative context-conversing with a person who has a communication disorder. Method As an initial clinical test case, an automated measure of articulatory precision was analyzed in a corpus of spoken dialogue, where a confederate conversed with participants with traumatic brain injury ( = 28) and participants with no brain injury ( = 48).

Treatment Response to a Double Administration of Constraint-Induced Language Therapy in Chronic Aphasia.

Purpose: This study investigated changes in oral-verbal expressive language associated with improvements following 2 treatment periods of constraint-induced language therapy in 4 participants with stroke-induced chronic aphasia. Generalization of treatment to untrained materials and to discourse production was also analyzed, as was the durability of the treatment effect.

Method: Participants with aphasia were assessed using standardized measures and discourse tasks at 3 to 4 time points to document behavioral changes throughout each of two 30-hr treatment periods of constraint-induced language therapy.

Linking inter- and intra-sentential processes for narrative production following traumatic brain injury: Implications for a model of discourse processing.

Some suggest that traumatic brain injury (TBI) produces dissociation between the macrolinguistic and microlinguistic levels of discourse production. This assumption is based primarily on studies that have found preserved intersentential cohesion and/or intra-sentential processing in narratives produced by these individuals. However, few studies exist, if any, that have investigated the relationship between these processes in TBI speakers who do demonstrate such microlinguistic impairments.

Analysis of narrative discourse structure as an ecologically relevant measure of executive function in adults.

This study examined the narrative discourse production and executive function (EF) abilities of 46 neuro-typical adults (18-98 years old). Two questions were addressed: Is the analysis of narrative structure sensitive to changes associated with aging? & What is the relationship between measures of narrative structure and EF? Narratives were elicited under two conditions and narrative structure was analyzed for the presence of organizing story grammar elements. Narrative structure was significantly correlated with age as well as linguistic and non-linguistic measures of EF.

Treating underlying attention deficits as a means for improving conversational discourse in individuals with closed head injury: a preliminary study.

Background: It is documented that individuals with closed head injury (CHI) demonstrate difficulty with narrative and conversational discourse. Effective conversational discourse requires a complex interaction of linguistic, cognitive, and social abilities [6]. Reduced attention and concentration are among the most common cognitive sequela following CHI [39].

Attention training for reading impairment in mild aphasia: a follow-up study.

Non-linguistic cognitive skills have recently become an area of focus in aphasia research. One skill that has received in-depth investigation is the role of attention in language tasks. In applying the resource allocation theory to aphasic language deficits, researchers have described performance variablity in language tasks that may result from insufficient capacity, inefficient allocation, or inappropriate allocation of attentional resources [16].

Management of discourse deficits following traumatic brain injury: progress, caveats, and needs.

Currently, there is substantial evidence to support the assessment of communication, following traumatic brain injury (TBI), beyond what is included in standardized aphasia or child language batteries. The sensitivity of discourse analyses for delineating subtle cognitive-communicative deficits is well established in the research literature. A variety of useful monologic and conversational discourse measures have been identified including productivity, efficiency, content accuracy and organization, story grammar and coherence, and topic management.

Auditory-visual speech perception in an adult with aphasia.

The evaluation of auditory-visual speech perception is not typically undertaken in the assessment of aphasia; however, treatment approaches utilise bimodal presentations. Research demonstrates that auditory and visual information are integrated for speech perception. The strongest evidence of this cross-modal integration is the McGurk effect.

Referential cohesion and logical coherence of narration after closed head injury.

A group with closed head injury was compared to neurologically intact controls regarding the referential cohesion and logical coherence of narrative production. A sample of six stories was obtained with tasks of cartoon-elicited story-telling and auditory-oral retelling. We found deficits in the clinical group with respect to referential cohesion, logical coherence, and accuracy of narration.

Story narratives of adults with closed head injury and non-brain-injured adults: influence of socioeconomic status, elicitation task, and executive functioning.

Narratives were elicited in two story tasks, retelling and generation, from two groups of adults, 55 with closed head injury (CHI) and 47 non-brain-injured (NBI), recruited from rehabilitation facilities in three northeastern states. Participants were classified, on the basis of their socioeconomic status (SES), as professional, skilled worker, or unskilled worker. Narratives were analyzed using five discourse measures at the levels of sentence production, intersentential cohesion, and story grammar.

Treatment of story grammar following traumatic brain injury: a pilot study.

Recent investigations have documented a variety of discourse deficits following traumatic brain injuries (TBI). However, there is a paucity of information relating to the treatment of such deficits. The present study investigated the treatment of discourse production deficits, specifically story grammar ability, in an individual with TBI.