A Speech and Language therapy
Shewan, C. M., & Kertesz, A. (2014). Effects of speech and language treatment on recovery from aphasia. Brain and language, 23(2), 272-299.
According to this article, speech and language therapy is classified as one of the best treatment procedures for people with Aphasia. The major aim of this therapy is to help a person communicate at their best of ability (Shewan & Kertesz, 2014, p.275). The SLT helps restore as much of a person’s speech as possible at the same time finding alternative ways to communicate. This type of therapy is effective when started at earlier stages. The process can be very exhaustive thus intensive speech and language therapy is not recommended to patients.
Describing a picture or object verbally
Rose, M., & Douglas, J. (2008). Treating a semantic word production deficit in aphasia with verbal and gesture methods. Aphasiology, 22(1), 20-41.
In this article, describing pictures of objects verbally is shown as an effective way of treating aphasia patients. In this case, descriptions are based on different pictures and objects that are commonly used. The verbal description to patients helps them recover through a trigger to the memory on how to name the objects (Rose & Douglas, 2008).
Sematic-based treatment
Fridriksson, J., Moser, D., Bonilha, L., Morrow-Odom, K. L., Shaw, H., Fridriksson, A., & Rorden, C. (2007). Neural correlates of phonological and semantic-based anomia treatment in aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 45(8), 1812-1822.
The article refers to aspects of a semantic-based treatment for naming deficits as a way to treat aphasia patients. Restitutive treatment which is a branch of semantic treatment approach has included tasks like written-word to picture matching and answering of no or yes questions. This helps in strengthening semantic activation of certain things that facilitate their word retrieval for the patient. These tasks are considered to be semantic, but the phonologic representation of the targeted words is also provided in these tasks (Fridriksson et al., 2007, p.1825).
Use of drawings, writings and gestures
Lyon, J. G. (2005). Drawing: Its value as a communication aid for adults with aphasia. Aphasiology, 9(1), 33-50.
In this article, Lyon (2005) refers the readers to the use of drawings, writing and gestures to aid word retrieval and functional communication as another treatment mechanism for people with aphasia especially the adults. Pragmatic approaches aim at restoring communication competence by using any modalities available. Using this approach the different areas of function of the brain are neglected and focus on the specific areas of impairment. For example, if the aphasia patient has difficulties in naming, picture naming tasks can help them in developing strategies aid word retrieval.
Oral reading treatment
Reiff Cherney, L. (2004). Aphasia, alexia, and oral reading. Topics in stroke rehabilitation, 11(1), 22-36.
In this article, oral reading treatment is used as an important means of aphasia treatment. Oral reading treatment with visual or auditory cues helps in improving the reading skills of people suffering from aphasia. This method of treatment entails repeated reading of sentence aloud with a clinical (Reiff Cherney, 2004, p.27). Oral Reading for Language in Aphasia (ORLA) with virtual therapist aims at improving reading comprehension by providing practice for the disease in phonological pathways. This method of treated has been proven to improve not only the reading comprehension but also enhanced their oral expression and auditory perception.
Script training
Goldberg, S., Haley, K. L., & Jacks, A. (2012). Script Training and Generalization for People With Aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21(3), 222.
This article looks at script training as a method for treatment of aphasia. Script training also helps aphasia patients to be more fluent when speaking and also helps in building their confidence to converse with others. In this therapy approach, the disease and clinical have a dialogue that is designed so that the patient communicates about a topic they wish (Goldberg, Haley, & Jacks, 2012, p.228). Moreover, there is evidence pointing out that script training intervention can improve grammatical productivity, speaking rate, and accuracy. To avoid frustrations, these patients should not be pushed too hard when they seem not to understand and also they should not be corrected if they remember something incorrectly.
References:
Goldberg, S., Haley, K. L., & Jacks, A. (2012). Script Training and Generalization for People With Aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21(3), 222.
Lyon, J. G. (2005). Drawing: Its value as a communication aid for adults with aphasia. Aphasiology, 9(1), 33-50.
Fridriksson, J., Moser, D., Bonilha, L., Morrow-Odom, K. L., Shaw, H., Fridriksson, A., & Rorden, C. (2007). Neural correlates of phonological and semantic-based anomia treatment in aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 45(8), 1812-1822.
Rose, M., & Douglas, J. (2008). Treating a semantic word production deficit in aphasia with verbal and gesture methods. Aphasiology, 22(1), 20-41.
Reiff Cherney, L. (2004). Aphasia, alexia, and oral reading. Topics in stroke rehabilitation, 11(1), 22-36.
Shewan, C. M., & Kertesz, A. (2014). Effects of speech and language treatment on recovery from aphasia. Brain and language, 23(2), 272-299.
