Gesture and Naming Therapy for People With Severe Aphasia: A Group Study

Abstract

This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link AbstractPurpose: This study investigated whether a group of people with severe aphasia could learn a vocabulary of pantomime gestures through therapy, and compared their learning of gestures with their learning of words. It also examined whether gesture therapy cued word production and whether naming therapy cued gestures.Method: Fourteen people with severe aphasia received 15 hours of gesture and naming treatment. Evaluations comprised repeated measures of gesture and word production, comparing treated and untreated items.Results: Baseline measures were stable, but improved significantly following therapy. Across the group, improvements in naming were greater than improvements in gesture. This trend was evident in most individuals' results, although three made better progress in gesture. Gains were item specific and there was no evidence of cross modality cuing. Items that received gesture therapy did not improve in naming, and items that received naming therapy did not improve in gesture. Conclusions:Results show that people with severe aphasia can respond to gesture and naming therapy. Given the unequal gains, naming may be a more productive therapy target than gesture for many (although not all) individuals with severe aphasia.The communicative benefits of therapy were not examined, but are addressed in a follow up paper.3

Computer delivery of gesture therapy for people with severe aphasia

“…However, targeting gesture in isolation often fails to stimulate speech, particularly when the aphasia is severe (e.g. Marshall et al, 2012). It also suggests that merely hearing spoken words, as occurred in GeST, is not sufficient to stimulate naming.…”

Perception of co-speech gestures in aphasic patients: A visual exploration study during the observation of dyadic conversations

“…Findings from recent studies suggest that the use of gestures can improve naming abilities by facilitating lexical access (G€ oksun, Lehet, Malykhina, & Chatterjee, 2013;Marshall et al, 2012). Moreover, Records (1994) showed earlier that aphasic patients relied more on visual information provided by referential gestures if auditory information was more ambiguous.…”

A multimodal communication program for aphasia during inpatient rehabilitation: A case study

“…Traditionally, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies have provided support for people with aphasia who cannot meet their communication needs using natural speech alone (Hux, Weissling, & Wallace, 2006). AAC strategies include gesturing (e.g., Marshall et al, 2012; Rose, 2006), drawing (e.g., Lyon, 1995; Ward-Lonergan & Nicholas, 1995), and writing (e.g., Beeson, Rising, & Volk, 2003). Speech generating devices and communication notebooks are also used by people with aphasia (e.g., Ho, Weiss, Garrett, & Lloyd, 2005; Hough & Johnson, 2009; Hux, Buechter, Wallace, & Weissling, 2010; Koul, Corwin, & Hayes, 2005; Nicholas, Sinnottee, & Helm-Estabrooks, 2011).…”