No abstract

Background: While previous research has shown that a number of tasks can be successful in improving word retrieval following aphasia, the majority of studies result in improvement restricted to treated items. This has two major implications: first it is essential that personally relevant items of communicative value are treated. Second, treatment is likely to be required long term. Therapy provided as a self-administered home programme has the potential to improve the long-term accessibility of therapy and to be more cost effective. This research was part of a larger investigation into treatment for lexical retrieval difficulties in adults with aphasia. Our earlier research found that treatment using repetition in the presence of a picture conducted by a clinician was effective in improving the later retrieval of treated words. In this study we modified the treatment programme such that it could be carried out independently by the participants as a home programme using personally chosen words. Aims: The aims of our study were first, to determine if a home treatment programme for word retrieval with personally chosen words could result in significant improvements in lexical retrieval, and second, to observe if there would be carry over to improved word retrieval in conversation. Methods & Procedures:Three people with aphasia participated, and selected 60 personally relevant words for treatment. These stimuli were treated in two sets, each for eight sessions over 2 weeks. Outcomes of treatment were evaluated by comparing naming of these items on three pre-treatment baselines, with naming following the completion of the programme. Semi-structured conversations based around topics relating to the target words were sampled prior to treatment and following treatment to observe generalisation to conversation. Outcomes & Results: Two participants showed evidence of increased accuracy for naming of treated items following the home programme with no change in naming of unseen

While participants felt that the group was beneficial, there was little clear evidence for treatment-related gains in word retrieval. 'Traditional' group treatment has many positive features, but clinicians need to be cautious regarding the extent of impairment-related gains that can be expected, which seem small at best.