Analysis of behavior of adults with Aphasia in a community

Abstract

Aphasia is a disorder involving the disruption of language ability owing to brain injury. Practical communication support tools for adults with aphasia have been proposed, some of which are used in therapy and daily communication. The recent development of specialized applications and information technology, especially tablet computers and other portable devices, can improve communication between adults with aphasia, their caregivers, therapists, and others. The present study aimed to identify the needs of adults with aphasia and caregiving family members concerning communication aids. This paper analyzes the behavior of adults with aphasia in a community to clarify the preliminary requirements of computerized communication aid in Japanese for aphasics and their caregivers. The study data were obtained through (1) responses to questionnaires conducted on aphasics and their caregiving family members and (2) a morphological investigation of aphasics in community-based rehabilitation training. The principal results can be summarized as follows: (i) adults with aphasia and their caregiving family members have dif􀅫iculty communicating in various situations in their daily lives; among these, the most serious issue is the ability to share the conditions of the adult with aphasia; (ii) the noun utterances of the participants were diverse in terms of the frequency and content of uttered nouns; and (iii) the verbs frequently uttered by the adults with aphasia were limited in number. Based on these 􀅫indings, the preliminary conceptual design of a computer-based communication support tool is discussed as follows: (a) in addition to language impediments, adults with aphasia are more or less paralyzed; however, portable tablet PCs incorporating communication support software represent a promising communication aid; and (b) since the tendencies of verb and noun utterances differed among the participants, at least two different types of communication software should be implemented on tablet PCs.