Group Activities for People with Aphasia : A comparison of interaction during the use of CIRCA and traditional activities

Afasi innebär impressiva och expressiva språkliga svårigheter, vilket kan medföra svårigheter att vara delaktig i sociala sammanhang. Det är därför viktigt att hitta sätt att stödja kommunikationen för denna patientgrupp. CIRCA är en kommunikationsfrämjande webbtjänst, framtagen för personer med demens och deras vårdgivare. Då personer med afasi uppvisar liknande språkliga och kommunikativa svårigheter som personer med demenssjukdom, bör CIRCA även kunna användas som kommunikationsstöd för personer med afasi. Föreliggande studies syfte var att undersöka CIRCA som gruppaktivitet för personer med afasi, i relation till traditionella gruppaktiviteter. Fem deltagare med afasi rekryterades. Datainsamlingen bestod av fyra samtal då CIRCA användes och fyra då traditionella aktiviteter genomfördes, där varje session pågick under ungefär 30 minuter. Samtalen videofilmades, transkriberades och analyserades utifrån en CA-inspirerad metod. I föreliggande studie valdes att analysera användningen av gester, skratt, kommunikativa hjälpbeteenden och nyttjande av materialet i aktiviteterna. Utvalda utdrag i studien bestod av vanligt förekommande samtalsfenomen som ansågs forma och karaktärisera samtalen under traditionella gruppaktiviteter och vid användning av CIRCA. Intervjuer genomfördes kring deltagarnas upplevelser av samtalen under de olika sessionerna. Utvalda samtalsfenomen i studien förekom ofta under samtliga samtal och fungerade som olika typer av interaktionella resurser. Det som framförallt utmärkte CIRCA som gruppaktivitet, i relation till de traditionella gruppaktiviteterna, var att både pekning och ikoniska gester nyttjades för att förmedla eller förtydliga ett budskap; att skratt fungerade som ett sätt att uttrycka ömsesidig förståelse kring materialet i webbtjänsten; att gissningar i samtal vid användning av CIRCA oftare lyckades som kommunikativt hjälpbeteende; samt att bilderna och musiken i CIRCA nyttjades som ett stöd för uttryck och förståelse i samtal. Samtliga deltagare var positiva till användandet av CIRCA.Typical symptoms of aphasia such as comprehension problems and expressive language difficulties may affect the ability to take part in social contexts. Therefore, it is important to find ways to facilitate communication for people with aphasia. CIRCA is a communicationpromoting web service, designed for people with dementia and healthcare providers. Since people with aphasia show similar linguistic and communicative difficulties as people with dementia, it is possible that CIRCA would work as a communication support for people with aphasia as well. The aim of the present study was to investigate CIRCA as group activity for people with aphasia, in comparison to traditional group activities. Five participants with aphasia were recruited. The data collection involved four sessions with the use of CIRCA and four sessions where traditional activities were conducted, each session lasting for about 30 minutes. The sessions were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed according to methods inspired by Conversation Analysis, CA. The authors of this study chose to analyze the use of gestures, laughter, communication supporting behaviour and utilization of the available material in the various activities. The selected sections consisted of commonly used conversational phenomena that were considered to shape and characterize the conversations during traditional group activities, and when using CIRCA. Interviews about the participants' experiences of the conversations were conducted during the various activities. The selected conversational phenomena occurred frequently during all sessions as a type of interactive resources. What primarily characterized CIRCA as a group activity, in comparison to the traditional group activities, was that both pointing and iconic gestures were used to convey or clarify a message; that laughter served as a way of expressing mutual understanding about the material in CIRCA; that guesses in conversations when using CIRCA more often succeeded as communicative help behaviour; and that the images and music in CIRCA were used as a support for expression and understanding in conversation. All participants had a positive attitude toward the use of CIRCA

Group Activities for People with Aphasia : A comparison of interaction during the use of CIRCA and traditional activities

Afasi innebär impressiva och expressiva språkliga svårigheter, vilket kan medföra svårigheter att vara delaktig i sociala sammanhang. Det är därför viktigt att hitta sätt att stödja kommunikationen för denna patientgrupp. CIRCA är en kommunikationsfrämjande webbtjänst, framtagen för personer med demens och deras vårdgivare. Då personer med afasi uppvisar liknande språkliga och kommunikativa svårigheter som personer med demenssjukdom, bör CIRCA även kunna användas som kommunikationsstöd för personer med afasi. Föreliggande studies syfte var att undersöka CIRCA som gruppaktivitet för personer med afasi, i relation till traditionella gruppaktiviteter. Fem deltagare med afasi rekryterades. Datainsamlingen bestod av fyra samtal då CIRCA användes och fyra då traditionella aktiviteter genomfördes, där varje session pågick under ungefär 30 minuter. Samtalen videofilmades, transkriberades och analyserades utifrån en CA-inspirerad metod. I föreliggande studie valdes att analysera användningen av gester, skratt, kommunikativa hjälpbeteenden och nyttjande av materialet i aktiviteterna. Utvalda utdrag i studien bestod av vanligt förekommande samtalsfenomen som ansågs forma och karaktärisera samtalen under traditionella gruppaktiviteter och vid användning av CIRCA. Intervjuer genomfördes kring deltagarnas upplevelser av samtalen under de olika sessionerna. Utvalda samtalsfenomen i studien förekom ofta under samtliga samtal och fungerade som olika typer av interaktionella resurser. Det som framförallt utmärkte CIRCA som gruppaktivitet, i relation till de traditionella gruppaktiviteterna, var att både pekning och ikoniska gester nyttjades för att förmedla eller förtydliga ett budskap; att skratt fungerade som ett sätt att uttrycka ömsesidig förståelse kring materialet i webbtjänsten; att gissningar i samtal vid användning av CIRCA oftare lyckades som kommunikativt hjälpbeteende; samt att bilderna och musiken i CIRCA nyttjades som ett stöd för uttryck och förståelse i samtal. Samtliga deltagare var positiva till användandet av CIRCA.Typical symptoms of aphasia such as comprehension problems and expressive language difficulties may affect the ability to take part in social contexts. Therefore, it is important to find ways to facilitate communication for people with aphasia. CIRCA is a communicationpromoting web service, designed for people with dementia and healthcare providers. Since people with aphasia show similar linguistic and communicative difficulties as people with dementia, it is possible that CIRCA would work as a communication support for people with aphasia as well. The aim of the present study was to investigate CIRCA as group activity for people with aphasia, in comparison to traditional group activities. Five participants with aphasia were recruited. The data collection involved four sessions with the use of CIRCA and four sessions where traditional activities were conducted, each session lasting for about 30 minutes. The sessions were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed according to methods inspired by Conversation Analysis, CA. The authors of this study chose to analyze the use of gestures, laughter, communication supporting behaviour and utilization of the available material in the various activities. The selected sections consisted of commonly used conversational phenomena that were considered to shape and characterize the conversations during traditional group activities, and when using CIRCA. Interviews about the participants' experiences of the conversations were conducted during the various activities. The selected conversational phenomena occurred frequently during all sessions as a type of interactive resources. What primarily characterized CIRCA as a group activity, in comparison to the traditional group activities, was that both pointing and iconic gestures were used to convey or clarify a message; that laughter served as a way of expressing mutual understanding about the material in CIRCA; that guesses in conversations when using CIRCA more often succeeded as communicative help behaviour; and that the images and music in CIRCA were used as a support for expression and understanding in conversation. All participants had a positive attitude toward the use of CIRCA

Gruppaktiviteter för personer med afasi : En jämförelse mellan samtal där traditionella aktiviteter genomförs och där CIRCA används

Typical symptoms of aphasia such as comprehension problems and expressive language difficulties may affect the ability to take part in social contexts. Therefore, it is important to find ways to facilitate communication for people with aphasia. CIRCA is a communicationpromoting web service, designed for people with dementia and healthcare providers. Since people with aphasia show similar linguistic and communicative difficulties as people with dementia, it is possible that CIRCA would work as a communication support for people with aphasia as well. The aim of the present study was to investigate CIRCA as group activity for people with aphasia, in comparison to traditional group activities. Five participants with aphasia were recruited. The data collection involved four sessions with the use of CIRCA and four sessions where traditional activities were conducted, each session lasting for about 30 minutes. The sessions were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed according to methods inspired by Conversation Analysis, CA. The authors of this study chose to analyze the use of gestures, laughter, communication supporting behaviour and utilization of the available material in the various activities. The selected sections consisted of commonly used conversational phenomena that were considered to shape and characterize the conversations during traditional group activities, and when using CIRCA. Interviews about the participants' experiences of the conversations were conducted during the various activities. The selected conversational phenomena occurred frequently during all sessions as a type of interactive resources. What primarily characterized CIRCA as a group activity, in comparison to the traditional group activities, was that both pointing and iconic gestures were used to convey or clarify a message; that laughter served as a way of expressing mutual understanding about the material in CIRCA; that guesses in conversations when using CIRCA more often succeeded as communicative help behaviour; and that the images and music in CIRCA were used as a support for expression and understanding in conversation. All participants had a positive attitude toward the use of CIRCA

Gruppaktiviteter för personer med afasi : En jämförelse mellan samtal där traditionella aktiviteter genomförs och där CIRCA används

Typical symptoms of aphasia such as comprehension problems and expressive language difficulties may affect the ability to take part in social contexts. Therefore, it is important to find ways to facilitate communication for people with aphasia. CIRCA is a communicationpromoting web service, designed for people with dementia and healthcare providers. Since people with aphasia show similar linguistic and communicative difficulties as people with dementia, it is possible that CIRCA would work as a communication support for people with aphasia as well. The aim of the present study was to investigate CIRCA as group activity for people with aphasia, in comparison to traditional group activities. Five participants with aphasia were recruited. The data collection involved four sessions with the use of CIRCA and four sessions where traditional activities were conducted, each session lasting for about 30 minutes. The sessions were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed according to methods inspired by Conversation Analysis, CA. The authors of this study chose to analyze the use of gestures, laughter, communication supporting behaviour and utilization of the available material in the various activities. The selected sections consisted of commonly used conversational phenomena that were considered to shape and characterize the conversations during traditional group activities, and when using CIRCA. Interviews about the participants' experiences of the conversations were conducted during the various activities. The selected conversational phenomena occurred frequently during all sessions as a type of interactive resources. What primarily characterized CIRCA as a group activity, in comparison to the traditional group activities, was that both pointing and iconic gestures were used to convey or clarify a message; that laughter served as a way of expressing mutual understanding about the material in CIRCA; that guesses in conversations when using CIRCA more often succeeded as communicative help behaviour; and that the images and music in CIRCA were used as a support for expression and understanding in conversation. All participants had a positive attitude toward the use of CIRCA

Structural Differences of the Semantic Network in Adolescents with Intellectual Disability

The semantic network structure is a core aspect of the mental lexicon and is, therefore, a key to understanding language development processes. This study investigated the structure of the semantic network of adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) and children with typical development (TD) using network analysis. The semantic networks of the participants (nID = 66; nTD = 49) were estimated from the semantic verbal fluency task with the pathfinder method. The groups were matched on the number of produced words. The average shortest path length (ASPL), the clustering coefficient (CC), and the network’s modularity (Q) of the two groups were compared. A significantly smaller ASPL and Q and a significantly higher CC were found for the adolescents with ID in comparison with the children with TD. Reasons for this might be differences in the language environment and differences in cognitive skills. The quality and quantity of the language input might differ for adolescents with ID due to differences in school curricula and because persons with ID tend to engage in different out-of-school activities compared to TD peers. Future studies should investigate the influence of different language environments on the language development of persons with IDFunding agencies: European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement FP7-607139 (iCARE) and by the Swedish Research Council (2013-01363 and 2016-04217)</p