Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a rare neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by declining language ability. There is currently no way to reverse or slow the course of the progressive brain degeneration, nor is there a cure for PPA. Throughout the course of the disease, any treatment must therefore be palliative in nature…

In this paper, we describe technological advances for supporting persons with aphasia in philosophical dialogues about personally relevant and contestable questions. A computer game-based application for iPads is developed and researched through Living Lab inspired workshops in order to promote the target group's communicative participation during…

Background: Previous research has shown that speakers with aphasia rely on enactment more often than non-brain-damaged language users. Several studies have been conducted to explain this observed increase, demonstrating that spoken language containing enactment is easier to produce and is more engaging to the conversation partner. This paper…

Purpose: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and the amnestic variant of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are neurodegenerative conditions characterized by a profound loss of functional communication abilities. Communicative impairment in AD and PPA is especially apparent in the domain of naming common objects and familiar faces. We evaluated the…

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…

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LF-rTMS) in patients with poststroke aphasia. Method: We comprehensively searched for eligible studies from 11 electronic medical databases from their inception to February 20, 2019. Randomized controlled…

Background: Interest in how stroke survivors might be better supported to manage life after stroke has grown rapidly in recent years, with a particular emphasis on enabling 'self-management'. Post-stroke communication difficulties may pose a unique barrier to longer term adaptation and adjustment. It is important to understand how stroke survivors…

Background: SAPS--'Sprachsystematisches Aphasiescreening'--is a novel language-systematic aphasia screening developed for the German language, which already had been positively evaluated. It offers a fast assessment of modality-specific psycholinguistic components at different levels of complexity and the derivation of impairment-based treatment…

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by language and cognitive decline. Word-retrieval deficits are the most common PPA symptom and contribute to impaired spoken expression. Intense semantic interventions show promise for improving word retrieval in people with PPA. In addition, people with PPA may learn…

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) describes a heterogeneous group of language-led dementias. People with this type of dementia are increasingly being referred to speech and language therapy (SLT) services. Yet, there is a paucity of research evidence focusing on PPA interventions and little is known about SLT practice in terms of…

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the comparative effectiveness of 2 different approaches, 1 domain-specific and the other domain-general, to language and attention rehabilitation in participants with stroke-induced aphasia. The domain-specific treatment consisted of language-specific attention treatment (L-SAT), and the domain-general…

Background: Spatial communication consists of both verbal spatial language and gesture. There has been minimal research investigating the use of spatial communication, and even less focussing on people with aphasia. Aims: The aims of this exploratory study were to describe the frequency and variability of spatial language and gesture use by three…

Clinical Question: For people with aphasia following a stroke, is group therapy shown to be more effective on communication outcome measures reflecting impairment, activity, and/or participation than individual therapy or no therapy? Method: Review of treatment efficacy research for group intervention in aphasia Study Sources: Cochrane Database of…

Despite the well documented pragmatic deficits that can arise subsequent to Right Hemisphere Brain Damage (RHBD), few researchers have directly studied everyday conversations involving people with RHBD. In recent years, researchers have begun applying Conversation Analysis (CA) to the everyday talk of people with aphasia. This research programme…

Background: Little is known about the way people with aphasia perceive their social participation and its influencing factors. Aims: To explore how people with aphasia perceive participation in society and to investigate influencing factors. Methods & Procedures: In this qualitative study thirteen persons with aphasia and twelve central…