The Acceptability of Relationship-Centered Communication Partner Training for Couples Impacted by Aphasia: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Investigation.

Purpose: This study explored the acceptability and impact of relationship-centered communication partner training (RC-CPT) in couples impacted by aphasia. In particular, couples considered whether discussing their relationship roles and responsibilities was important and relevant to the changes they desire. Preliminary quasi-experimental data regarding perceived communication confidence and the marriage relationship were also obtained.

Understanding and Addressing the Individualized Emotional Impact of Aphasia: A Framework for Speech-Language Pathologists.

Emotion plays an integral role in communication and has long been considered relevant to aphasia rehabilitation. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs), however, may sometimes wonder how or whether to address emotional responses. The purpose of this article was to (1) present a framework that clinicians can use to understand individualized emotional responses in aphasia and (2) discuss examples of how the framework informs practical strategies that SLPs can use to provide emotional support to people with aphasia (PWA).

Telling Stories in Noise: The Impact of Background Noises on Spoken Language for People With Aphasia.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine how different background noise conditions affect the spoken language of participants with aphasia during a story retell task.

Method: Participants included 11 adults with mild to moderate aphasia and 11 age- and gender-matched controls. Participants retold stories in a silent baseline and five background noise conditions (conversation, monologue, phone call, cocktail, and pink noise).

Physiological Arousal, Attentiveness, Emotion, and Word Retrieval in Aphasia: Effects and Relationships.

Purpose: This study aimed to (a) compare physiological arousal and attentiveness during a confrontational naming task between participants with aphasia and a control group across four conditions that varied according to emotionality of presented stimuli and (b) explore relationships among physiological arousal, attentiveness, perceived arousal, and naming performance. We hypothesized that participants with aphasia would show lower levels of arousal and attentiveness than control participants and that emotional conditions would lead to increased physiological arousal and attentiveness.

Method: Eight participants with aphasia and 15 control participants completed a confrontational naming task under positive, negative, and neutral conditions and rated their perceived arousal after each.

Do People With Apraxia of Speech and Aphasia Improve or Worsen Across Repeated Sequential Word Trials?

Purpose: During motor speech examinations for suspected apraxia of speech (AOS), clients are routinely asked to repeat words several times sequentially. The purpose of this study was to understand the task in terms of the relationship among consecutive attempts. We asked to what extent phonemic accuracy changes across trials and whether the change is predicted by AOS diagnosis and sound production severity.

Effects of an Interdisciplinary Communication Partner Training Program on Student Learning.

Background: Communication partner training (CPT) involves educating conversation partners to implement communication strategies that facilitate improved interactions with people with aphasia (PWA). This study aimed to investigate (1) whether a CPT program increased the knowledge and confidence of students with and without a communication disorders background and (2) the differential effects of this training on students from different allied health disciplines.

Methods: Quasi-experimental design study with 6 adult volunteers with aphasia and 36 students (18 speech-language pathology [SLP] students and 18 physical therapy/occupational therapy [PT/OT] students).

Effects of Positive and Negative Emotions on Picture Naming for People With Mild-to-Moderate Aphasia: A Preliminary Investigation.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how emotional arousal and valence affect confrontational naming accuracy and response time (RT) in people with mild-to-moderate aphasia compared with adults without aphasia. We hypothesized that negative and positive emotions would facilitate naming for people with aphasia (PWA) but lead to slower responses for adults with no aphasia.

Method: Eight participants with mild-to-moderate aphasia, 15 older adults (OAs), and 17 young adults (YAs) completed a confrontational naming task across three conditions (positive, negative, and neutral) in an ABA (where A = neutral and B = negative) case series design.

Repeated word production is inconsistent in both aphasia and apraxia of speech.

Purpose: There is persistent uncertainty about whether sound error consistency is a valid criterion for differentiating between apraxia of speech (AOS) and aphasia with phonemic paraphasia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether speakers with a profile of aphasia and AOS differ in error consistency from speakers with aphasia who do not have AOS. By accounting for differences in overall severity and using a sample size well over three times that of the largest study on the topic to date, our ambition was to resolve the existing controversy.

Spoken Discourse Assessment and Analysis in Aphasia: An International Survey of Current Practices.

Purpose Spoken discourse analysis is commonly employed in the assessment and treatment of people living with aphasia, yet there is no standardization in assessment, analysis, or reporting procedures, thereby precluding comparison/meta-analyses of data and hindering replication of findings. An important first step is to identify current practices in collecting and analyzing spoken discourse in aphasia. Thus, this study surveyed current practices, with the goal of working toward standardizing spoken discourse assessment first in research settings with subsequent implementation into clinical settings.

Effects of Background Noise on Speech and Language in Young Adults.

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate how different types of background noise that differ in their level of linguistic content affect speech acoustics, speech fluency, and language production for young adult speakers when performing a monologue discourse task. Method Forty young adults monologued by responding to open-ended questions in a silent baseline and five background noise conditions (debate, movie dialogue, contemporary music, classical music, and pink noise). Measures related to speech acoustics (intensity and frequency), speech fluency (speech rate, pausing, and disfluencies), and language production (lexical, morphosyntactic, and macrolinguistic structure) were analyzed and compared across conditions.

Standardizing Assessment of Spoken Discourse in Aphasia: A Working Group With Deliverables.

Purpose The heterogeneous nature of measures, methods, and analyses reported in the aphasia spoken discourse literature precludes comparison of outcomes across studies (e.g., meta-analyses) and inhibits replication.

How Responsiveness From a Communication Partner Affects Story Retell in Aphasia: Quantitative and Qualitative Findings.

Purpose Because people with aphasia (PWA) frequently interact with partners who are unresponsive to their communicative attempts, we investigated how partner responsiveness affects quantitative measures of spoken language and subjective reactions during story retell. Method A quantitative study and a qualitative study were conducted. In Study 1, participants with aphasia and controls retold short stories to a communication partner who indicated interest through supportive backchannel responses (responsive) and another who indicated disinterest through unsupportive backchannel responses (unresponsive).

Supporting Confidence and Participation for People with Aphasia Through Student Interaction: A Descriptive Study on the Effects of an Interdisciplinary Campus Program.

Purpose: Decreased social participation is one consequence of aphasia that can lead to poor psychological health and reduced quality of life. Involving people with aphasia in advocacy efforts may be one solution for increasing their social participation. The present study investigated the benefits of a campus program for three people with mild aphasia who were involved in educating allied health students about aphasia and training them to communicate with those who have aphasia.

Speech Fluency in Acquired Apraxia of Speech During Narrative Discourse: Group Comparisons and Dual-Task Effects.

Purpose Slowed speech and interruptions to the flow of connected speech are common in aphasia. These features are also observed during dual-task performance for neurotypical adults. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) whether indices of fluency related to cognitive-linguistic versus motor processing would differ between speakers with aphasia plus apraxia of speech (AOS) and speakers with aphasia only and (b) whether cognitive load reduces fluency in speakers with aphasia with and without AOS.

Dual-Task Effects on Story Retell for Participants With Moderate, Mild, or No Aphasia: Quantitative and Qualitative Findings.

Purpose The aims of the study were to determine dual-task effects on content accuracy, delivery speed, and perceived effort during narrative discourse in people with moderate, mild, or no aphasia and to explore subjective reactions to retelling a story with a concurrent task. Method Two studies (1 quantitative and 1 qualitative) were conducted. In Study 1, participants with mild or moderate aphasia and neurotypical controls retold short stories in isolation and while simultaneously distinguishing between high and low tones.

Automated Speech Recognition in Adult Stroke Survivors: Comparing Human and Computer Transcriptions.

Objective: Speech sound errors are common in people with a variety of communication disorders and can result in impaired message transmission to listeners. Valid and reliable metrics exist to quantify this problem, but they are rarely used in clinical settings due to the time-intensive nature of speech transcription by humans. Automated speech recognition (ASR) technologies have advanced substantially in recent years, enabling them to serve as realistic proxies for human listeners.

Recovering With Acquired Apraxia of Speech: The First 2 Years.

Purpose: This study was intended to document speech recovery for 1 person with acquired apraxia of speech quantitatively and on the basis of her lived experience.

Method: The second author sustained a traumatic brain injury that resulted in acquired apraxia of speech. Over a 2-year period, she documented her recovery through 22 video-recorded monologues.

Listener Perceptions of Simulated Fluent Speech in Nonfluent Aphasia Aphasiology.

Background: People with aphasia (PWA) are frequently perceived less favorably by listeners than their peers. These perceptions include incorrect assumptions that can prevent successful social interactions. While communication partner training has been shown to improve social outcomes related to the listener (see e.

Visual analog rating of mood by people with aphasia.

Background: Considerable attention has been given to the identification of depression in stroke survivors with aphasia, but there is more limited information about other mood states. Visual analog scales are often used to collect subjective information from people with aphasia. However, the validity of these methods for communicating about mood has not been established in people with moderately to severely impaired language.