Effects of Individual and Group Therapies on Verb Production in Aphasia

Abstract

Language interventions are frequently classified along a continuum (Paul & Cascella, 2007). At one end of the continuum are impairment-based approaches that aim to remediate a particular language skill. Successful treatments often utilize models of cognitive-linguistic processing and have been shown to improve language performance in individuals with aphasia (Thompson & Shapiro, 2005; Whitworth, Webster, & Howard, 2005, Wertz et al 1981). At the other end of the continuum is the participant-centered approach. These types of interventions place the client at the center of the intervention. Group treatment is a socially oriented intervention and an example of a participant-centered approach. Studies support the use of conversation group treatments to improve language performance in individuals with aphasia (Wertz et al., 1981, Elman & Bernstein-Ellis, 1999b). Considerable evidence exists in the literature to support both these types of interventions and both interventions seek to improve communication in the individual with aphasia (Martin, Thompson & Worrall, 2008). However, there have been no studies that compare the effects of these two approaches. This study compared the effect of these two approaches on remediation of verb production in aphasia. The goals were 1) to determine if performance on verbs trained in an impairment-based approach, a participant-centered approach, or an integrated context that used both approaches improved to a greater extent, and 2) to determine whether combining these training approaches led to improvements in related language functions and in verbal communication