Language and Attention Networks Have Distinct Roles in Language Improvement Following an Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program.

Background: Attention is known to play an important role in language, and attentional deficits have been associated with language impairments in people with aphasia (PWA). A prior study by our laboratory indicated that behavioral measures for PWA participating in an intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP) clustered into 1 language and 1 attention-related factor, with each factor correlated with independent resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) networks. The present study includes additional attention measures and participants to better assess the relationship between attention, language, and rsFC.

Statistical evaluation of tongue capability with visual feedback.

Background: Analysis of tongue movement would benefit from a reference showcasing healthy tongue capability. We aimed to develop a reference of tongue capability and evaluated the role of visual feedback on the expression of movement.

Methods: Using a wireless tracking intraoral wearable device, we composed probability distributions of the tongue tip as subjects were asked to explore the entire sensing surface area.

The case for health professional student communication skills training for persons with aphasia.

Communication challenges in persons with aphasia may negatively affect their health care. Building effective communication skills is critical for health professional student education, yet communication skills for interacting with persons with aphasia are often not taught or practiced within health care education. A review of the literature found that research is limited but does demonstrate evidence-based training can improve skills for health professional students.

Fatigue Influences Social Participation in Aphasia: A Cross-sectional and Retrospective Study Using Patient-Reported Measures.

Objective: To examine associations between social participation, fatigue, and aphasia severity using patient-reported outcome measures and to examine associations between demographic/diagnostic variables and fatigue in people with aphasia.

Design: Retrospective analysis of patient-reported outcome measures using a Bayesian framework.

Setting: Urban rehabilitation research hospital.

Measuring communication as a core outcome in aphasia trials: Results of the ROMA-2 international core outcome set development meeting.

Background: Evidence-based recommendations for a core outcome set (COS; minimum set of outcomes) for aphasia treatment research have been developed (the Research Outcome Measurement in Aphasia-ROMA, COS). Five recommended core outcome constructs: communication, language, quality of life, emotional well-being and patient-reported satisfaction/impact of treatment, were identified through three international consensus studies. Constructs were paired with outcome measurement instruments (OMIs) during an international consensus meeting (ROMA-1).

Classifying Interpreter Behaviors During Aphasia Assessments: Survey Results and Checklist Development.

Purpose: It is known that interpreter-mediated aphasia assessments may not provide the linguistic information that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) need to provide accurate diagnoses and determine treatment goals. The purpose of our study was to understand the perceptions of SLPs and interpreters who collaborate in a medical setting and to develop a checklist to categorize and quantify the errors interpreters make. Interpreter training may lead to unintentional errors that impact the information the SLP gains from the assessment session.

Developments in the application of Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs: an international survey of practice.

Purpose: Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs (ICAPs) were first described in 2013 with an international survey documenting 12 unique programs. ICAPs involve high dose intervention delivered in both group and individual settings, targeting communication across impairment, functioning, participation, and contextual domains. In this study, we aimed to investigate international growth in ICAPs.

Extended fMRI-Guided Anodal and Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Targeting Perilesional Areas in Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance speech and language treatment (SLT) for stroke survivors with aphasia; however, to date, there is no standard protocol for the application of tDCS in post-stroke aphasia. We explored the safety and efficacy of fMRI-guided tDCS on functional language and cortical activity when delivered to the lesioned left hemisphere concurrently with SLT across an extended, six-week treatment period. Twelve persons with chronic, nonfluent aphasia following a single left-hemisphere stroke participated in the three-arm (anodal vs.

"It's like a lifeboat": stakeholder perspectives of an intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP)".

Background: Intensive comprehensive aphasia programs (ICAPs) have gained popularity in recent years. Outcomes from ICAPs have demonstrated measurable improvements for most who take part, but how do people with aphasia and their family members experience an ICAP?

Aim: The aim of this paper was to explore, through qualitative interviews, the experiences of persons with aphasia and their family members who took part in an ICAP.

Methods & Procedures: Twelve interviews were conducted with persons with aphasia and family members regarding their experiences with the ICAP that they had just completed.

Treatment Fidelity Procedures for an Aphasia Intervention Within a Randomized Controlled Trial: Design, Feasibility, and Results.

Purpose This study reports on the treatment fidelity procedures implemented during a 5-year randomized controlled trial comparing intensive and distributed comprehensive aphasia therapy. Specifically, the results of 1 treatment, verb network strengthening treatment (VNeST), are examined. Method Eight participants were recruited for each of 7 consecutive cohorts for a total of 56 participants.

A core outcome set for aphasia treatment research: The ROMA consensus statement.

Background: A core outcome set (COS; an agreed, minimum set of outcomes) was needed to address the heterogeneous measurement of outcomes in aphasia treatment research and to facilitate the production of transparent, meaningful, and efficient outcome data.

Objective: The Research Outcome Measurement in Aphasia (ROMA) consensus statement provides evidence-based recommendations for the measurement of outcomes for adults with post-stroke aphasia within phases I-IV aphasia treatment studies.

Methods: This statement was informed by a four-year program of research, which comprised investigation of stakeholder-important outcomes using consensus processes, a scoping review of aphasia outcome measurement instruments, and an international consensus meeting.

Brain network topology influences response to intensive comprehensive aphasia treatment.

Background: Recent imaging studies indicate that aphasia is associated with large-scale reorganization of brain networks. Today, neuroimaging studies show that various brain connectivity properties, as measured by resting state fMRI, can partially explain different behavioral symptoms in and across various patient groups. Despite these observations, the neural networks underlying the progress and recovery of aphasia following intensive treatment remains relatively obscure.

Structure, Processes, and Retrospective Outcomes From an Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program.

Purpose: This study describes the structure, processes, and outcomes of an intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP). The aim was to identify treatment gains and determine if outcomes were significantly different between participants grouped according to severity and type of aphasia, and time postonset.

Method: Data from 74 first-time ICAP participants were analyzed.

Clinician perspectives of an intensive comprehensive aphasia program.

Background: Intensive comprehensive aphasia programs (ICAPs) have increased in number in recent years in the United States and abroad.

Objective: To describe the experiences of clinicians working in an ICAP.

Methods: A phenomenological approach was taken.

Epidural cortical stimulation and aphasia therapy.

Background: There are several methods of delivering cortical brain stimulation to modulate cortical excitability and interest in their application as an adjuvant strategy in aphasia rehabilitation after stroke is growing. Epidural cortical stimulation, although more invasive than other methods, permits high frequency stimulation of high spatial specificity to targeted neuronal populations.

Aims: First, we review evidence supporting the use of epidural cortical stimulation for upper limb recovery after focal cortical injury in both animal models and human stroke survivors.

Transcranial direct current stimulation and aphasia: the case of mr. C.

Purpose: To illustrate the ethical challenges that arose from investigating a novel treatment procedure, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in a research participant with aphasia.

Method: We review the current evidence supporting the use of tDCS in aphasia research, highlighting methodological gaps in our knowledge of tDCS. Then, we examine the case of Mr.

Psychometric properties of the communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA): phase 1.

Confidence is a construct that has not been explored previously in aphasia research. We developed the Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA) to assess confidence in communicating in a variety of activities and evaluated its psychometric properties using rating scale (Rasch) analysis. The CCRSA was administered to 21 individuals with aphasia before and after participation in a computer-based language therapy study.

Communication confidence in persons with aphasia.

Communication confidence is a construct that has not been explored in the aphasia literature. Recently, national and international organizations have endorsed broader assessment methods that address quality of life and include participation, activity, and impairment domains as well as psychosocial areas. Individuals with aphasia encounter difficulties in all these areas on a daily basis in living with a communication disorder.