The Cultural Experience of Living with Aphasia

Culture can be defined as the values, norms, and traditions expressed through language that affect our behavior and interaction with the environment and society (Agar, 1994). It is important to view the individual’s behavior from his/her own cultural context. When aphasics from multi-cultural and linguistic backgrounds refer to the health care services, they confront a set of issues related to their backgrounds that can be considered as challenges in aphasia therapy (Penn, 1993). The aim of this study is to explore what culture can contribute to the aphasic’s and the family’s understandings of aphasia and their dealings with it

Communicative Competence in Aphasia: Evidence from Compensatory Strategies

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Addressing the Third Law of Gardening: Methodological Alternatives in Aphasiology

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The Modification of Spousal Interaction After Aphasia

Researchers have investigated the ways spouses collaboratively overcome the communication barriers they face subsequent to aphasia in one of the partners (e.g., Oelschlaeger & Damico, 2003). These studies have demonstrated ways that the interactional dynamic is employed to re-establish social action after aphasia. However, little has been done to determine how spousal dyads created these modifications. This study was undertaken to investigate how the evolution of the described adaptations to conversation within spousal dyads was accomplished

The Impact of Spontaneous Recovery in Clinical Aphasiology

In clinical aphasiology, there are a number of well-accepted concepts that are considered organizing constructs in the discipline. One such construct is the concept of spontaneous recovery (SR). This construct influences the expectations that we hold regarding the time frame for greatest recovery and for best clinical response, and a host of theoretical and organizing principles that determine much of our planning and research design and that guide our expectations with respect to treatment, recovery, reimbursement, and explanatory mechanisms for recovery. However, the construct itself has been little studied

Interpreting problematic behavior: Systematic compensatory adaptations as emergent phenomena in autism

Based upon an emergent account of pragmatic ability and disability, this article provides theoretical and empirical support for a conceptually deeper understanding of some systematic behaviors that have served as diagnostic indices in communicatively impaired populations. Specifically, by employing conversation analysis, several examples of problematic behaviors in autism are analysed as a specific type of compensatory adaptation. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed

Reading skills in an individual with aphasia: The usefulness of meaningbased clinical applications. Asia Pacific

This case study investigates the impact of a meaning-based reading intervention program on an individual with aphasia. Though this qualitative method of inquiry, pretreatment and post-treatment change is documented and results indicate that the meaning-based approach had an impact on the recovery of literacy skills-particularly comprehension. In addition to describing the individual with aphasia and her reaction to the intervention, the program itself is detailed. Considerations of how the program is organized, its treatments objectives, the materials employed, and the various procedures that incorporate authentic reading and writing into the program are described

Experiences Associated with Pediatric Dysphagia: A Mother’s Perspective

Background: Pediatric dysphagia arises from various etiologies but often coincides with complex health issues. Tasks associated with the management of pediatric dysphagia are often unfamiliar and arduous, leaving a heavy burden on the primary caregiver. Little is known regarding how these experiences affect caregivers and family systems.Aims: This study was conducted to examine dysphagia and its vast implications from a caregiver’s perspective in order to reveal a perceived role in management.Methods & Procedures: A qualitative case study design was chosen. Consistent with this tradition of inquiry, naturalistic data were collected through ethnographic interviewing procedures, collection of artifacts for analysis, and multiple lamination sessions obtained through electronic mail messages. These data were analyzed inductively, in which authors independently reviewed data several times and coded the data line by line with a category of idea or action that represented the raw data. As data collection and analysis continued in a cyclical fashion, several initial categories clumped into more abstract overarching themes related to the participant’s experience with dysphagia.Outcomes & Results: Data interpretation suggests that encounters associated with caring for multiple children with dysphagia are multifaceted and that consequences of dysphagia extend far beyond the individual with dysphagia and into the entire family system.Conclusion: This paper argues for further consideration of social and affective factors in pediatric dysphagia management and the inspection of dysphagia from a dynamic lens that accounts for all layers of the disorder

Acadiana-Area Speech-Language Pathology Students’ Perceptions of Cajun English Speakers

Purpose: Accents may have an impact on how a speaker’s personality is perceived, and such dynamics may impact the therapeutic relationship. This study examined how speech-language pathology students in the Acadiana (Cajun) area of Louisiana perceive speakers of Cajun English (CE), Standard American English (SAE), and Standard Southern English (SE) on 2 dimensions of personality perception: solidarity (social closeness) and competence (education and intelligence). Method: An online survey was completed by 73 of the 285 undergraduate and master’s students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Participants were presented with a standardized reading sample in each of the target accents. Target accents were not disclosed to participants. Students were asked to rate the speakers on a 6-point Likert scale for each of the 5 items in either dimension. Results: The CE speaker was rated higher than the SAE and SE speakers on 4 out of 5 measures of solidarity (Sociable, Likable, Friendly, and Kind), whereas the SAE speaker was rated higher than the CE or SE speakers on 2 out of 5 measures of competence (Educated and Intelligent). These results are in line with previous findings regarding the perception of personality traits in speakers of standard versus nonstandard, in-group accents. Conclusion: Despite the fact that training in linguistics is part of their curriculum, speech-language pathology students in the Acadiana area showed stereotypical patterns of accent perception. It is suggested that speech-language pathology education might benefit from targeting students’ preconceptions in order to help students appreciate the uniqueness of each client