Rehabilitation In Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence For Within- And Between-Language Generalization

Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine if there was a principled way to understand the nature of rehabilitation in bilingual aphasia such that patterns of acquisition and generalization are predictable and logical. Method: Seventeen Spanish-English bilingual individuals with aphasia participated in the experiment. For each participant, three sets of stimuli were developed for each language: (a) English Set 1, (b) English Set 2 (semantically related to each item in English Set 1), (c) English Set 3 (unrelated control items), (d) Spanish Set 1 (translations of English Set 1), (e) Spanish Set 2 (translations of English Set 2; semantically related to each item in Spanish Set 1), and (f) Spanish Set 3 (translations of English Set 3; unrelated control items). A single-subject experimental multiple baseline design across participants was implemented. Treatment was conducted in 1 language, but generalization to within- and between-language untrained items was examined. Results: Treatment for naming on Set 1 items resulted in significant improvement (i.e., effect size >4.0) on the trained items in 14/17 participants. Of the 14 participants who showed improvement, within-language generalization to semantically related items was observed in 10 participants. Between-language generalization to the translations of trained items was observed in 5 participants, and between-language generalization to the translations of the untrained semantically related items was observed in 6 participants. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated within- and between-language patterns that were variable across participants. These differences are indicative of the interplay between facilitation (generalization) and inhibition.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Validation of an iPAD based therapy for language and cognitive rehabilitation in individuals with brain damage

About 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke (NIDCD.gov). Also, about 1.7 million individuals suffer from traumatic brain injury each year (CDC.gov). Individuals with language and cognitive deficits following brain damage likely require long-term rehabilitation. Consequently, it is a huge practical problem to provide the continued communication therapy that these individuals require. The present project examines the validity of an iPAD based continuous rehabilitation language and cognitive program. Patients were evaluated and initiated with a treatment plan in the clinic and then required to practice the therapy tasks at home on a daily basis but at individualized times/durations. The treatment plan in the clinic and at home was delivered to the patient via the Constant Therapy Software (www.constanttherapy.com) platform. The level of patient compliance (did they practice the therapy tasks), patient engagement (how long did they practice the therapy tasks) and amount of improvement on each task (percent change over time) was measured. Results from the patients using iPAD Constant Therapy are compared to patients who practice therapy on the iPAD with the clinician but do not take the iPAD home. These data are further compared to patients who receive traditional flashcard based therapy

Effectiveness of an impairment-based individualized rehabilitation program using an iPad-based software platform

The delivery of tablet-based rehabilitation for individuals with post-stroke aphasia is relatively new, therefore, this study examined the effectiveness of an iPad-based therapy to demonstrate improvement in specific therapy tasks and how the tasks affect overall language and cognitive skills. Fifty-one individuals with aphasia due to a stroke or traumatic brain injury were recruited to use an iPad-based software platform, Constant Therapy, for a 10 week therapy program. Participants were split into an experimental (N=42) and control (N=9) group. Both experimental and control participants received a one hour clinic session with a clinician once a week, the experimental participants additionally practiced the therapy at home. Participants did not differ in the duration of the therapy and both groups of participants showed improvement over time in the tasks used for the therapy. However, experimental participants used the application more often and showed greater changes in accuracy and latency on the tasks than the control participants; experimental participants’ severity level at baseline as measured by standardized tests of language and cognitive skills were a factor in improvement on the tasks. Subgroups of task co-improvement appear to occur between different language tasks, between different cognitive tasks, and across both domains. Finally, experimental participants showed more significant and positive changes due to therapy in their standardized tests than control participants. These results provide preliminary evidence for the usefulness of a tablet-based platform to deliver tailored language and cognitive therapy to individuals with aphasia

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved