Background: There is increasing interest in the incorporation of animal-assisted services (AAS) in therapy for adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. AAS have the potential to enhance speech and language therapy engagement and outcomes. However, a greater understanding of the nature and potential benefits of these interventions…

Background: Based on stakeholder conversations, speech and language therapists have anecdotally observed cases of dysphagia with suspected laryngeal hypersensitivity. These presentations have been coined as 'muscle tension dysphagia' often with concurrent laryngeal sensitivity symptoms. However, the role of laryngeal hypersensitivity in dysphagia…

Purpose: Motivation is a complex phenomenon that can influence a person's ability to make progress in treatment. We sought to understand how motivation is currently measured and utilized in aphasia rehabilitation by identifying treatment studies that (1) include measurement of motivation and (2) use motivation to predict treatment response.…

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to explore the extent to which nonlinguistic cognitive factors demonstrate a relationship with aphasia treatment outcomes. To that end, we conducted a scoping review to broadly characterize the state of the literature related to this topic. Methods: Reporting guidelines from the PRISMA extension for scoping…

Background & aims: Echolalia, the repetition of one's or others' utterances, is a behavior present in typical development, autism spectrum disorder, aphasias, Tourette's, and other clinical groups. Despite the broad range of conditions in which echolalia can occur, it is considered primarily through a disorder-specific lens, which limits a…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review treatment studies of semantic feature analysis (SFA) for persons with aphasia. The review documents how SFA is used, appraises the quality of the included studies, and evaluates the efficacy of SFA. Method: The following electronic databases were systematically searched (last search February 2017):…

Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI), such as Parkinson's disease, dementia or stroke, can result in communication difficulties that lead to an impoverished ability to connect meaningfully with others. Choral singing is a complex task that uses multiple brain regions which are also responsible for language and communication skills. The…

Background: Aphasia assessment is traditionally divided into formal and informal approaches. Informal assessment is useful in developing a rich understanding of the person with aphasia's performance, e.g., describing performance in the context of real-world activities, and exploring the impact of environmental and/or partner supports upon…

Background: Speech-language therapists use counselling to address the psychological well-being of people affected by post-stroke aphasia. Speech-language therapists report low counselling knowledge, skill and confidence for working in post-stroke aphasia which may be related to a lack of counselling training specific to the needs of this client…

Pharmacotherapy of aphasia had been discussed for the last twenty years with first bromocriptine and amphetamine and then serotoninergic, GABAergic and cholinergic agents. Here, we reviewed the MEDLINE available reports of drug therapy for aphasia. So far, proofs of efficiency were found indubitable for none of the studied molecules. However, some…

The goal of all speech rehabilitation methods is the restoration of speech as a unitary higher function. One approach views speech as a complex but coherent system where all levels and components are interconnected. This view takes into consideration the use of verbal communication, which takes place at a higher speech level and includes activity,…

This article provides information on aphasia, including the incidence of aphasia; the effects of the disorder; the role of the speech-language pathologist; and the different types of treatment of aphasia. General studies of the efficacy of aphasia treatment are reviewed and a case study is included. (CR)