Purpose: Persons with aphasia (PWAs) have been shown to have impaired attention skills that may interfere with their ability to successfully participate in speech and language therapy. Fluctuations in attention can be detected using physiological measures such as electroencephalography (EEG), but these measures can be impractical for clinical use.…

Background: Factors influencing the implementation of communication partner training (CPT) with familiar partners of people with aphasia (PWA) have previously been documented using disparate approaches. To date there has been no synthesis of these factors using a common theoretical framework. Investigating CPT implementation factors using a common…

Purpose: The StartReact effect, whereby movements are elicited by loud, startling acoustic stimuli (SAS), allows the evaluation of movements when initiated through involuntary circuitry, before auditory feedback. When StartReact is applied during poststroke upper extremity movements, individuals exhibit increased muscle recruitment, reaction…

Introduction: Spelling difficulty is a common symptom of aphasia and can entail editing difficulties. Previous research has shown that extensive editing is related to a lower production rate in text writing for persons with aphasia, yet editing difficulty is not commonly examined. It is not known if editing difficulty is related to reading and…

Background: The semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is typically associated with a loss of semantic knowledge. Research on the semantic processing in the other clinical variants of PPA is, however, rather sparse and limited to off-line behavioural studies. Aims: This study aimed to investigate verbal semantic processing in…

Purpose: This article reviews four discourse measures and examines whether they are sensitive to impairments in people with both mild and severe aphasia. We also ask whether these measures were sensitive to effects of conversation treatment in two case examples. Method: Two people with aphasia, one mild and fluent and the other severe and…

Background: During clinical interactions, clinicians and people with aphasia (PWA) use humour and laughter for a range of purposes, most of which contribute to friendly interactions in which the participants appear to develop a positive regard for one another. Moreover, humour is a vital component of facework, or the processes interactants engage…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to verify the equivalence of 2 alternate test forms with nonoverlapping content generated by an item response theory (IRT)--based computer-adaptive test (CAT). The Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996) was utilized as an item bank in a prospective, independent…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the utility of two automated indices of lexical diversity, the Moving-Average Type-Token Ratio (MATTR) and the Word Information Measure (WIM), in predicting aphasia diagnosis and responding to differences in severity and aphasia subtype. Method: Transcripts of a single discourse task were analyzed…

Purpose: Enhancing social participation and reducing emotional distress in persons with aphasia (PWA) are a critical rehabilitation goal. Social relationships and meaningful activities performed by PWA are also crucial to promote positive psychosocial well-being. As a precautionary measure specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, most PWA worldwide have…

Purpose: Many factors influence poststroke language recovery, yet little is known about the influence of previous stroke(s) on language after left hemisphere stroke. In this prospective longitudinal study, we investigated the role of prior stroke on language abilities following an acute left hemisphere ischemic stroke, while controlling for…

Purpose: Recent studies confirm the utility of speech-language intervention in primary progressive aphasia (PPA); however, long-term outcomes, ideal dosage parameters, and relative benefits of intervention across clinical variants warrant additional investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether naming treatment affords…

Purpose: People with aphasia (PWA) use different kinds of gesture spontaneously when they communicate. Although there is evidence that the nature of the communicative task influences the linguistic performance of PWA, so far little is known about the influence of the communicative task on the production of gestures by PWA. We aimed to investigate…

More than 50 years of research has demonstrated the profound effect that aphasia has on people with the condition and their family members. In the International Classifcation of Functioning, Disability and Health, the World Health Organization described the impact of an individual's health condition on a signifcant other as "third-party…

The sudden loss of intimacy can have a dramatic effect on satisfaction in a relationship. As many caregivers shift roles and try to personally adjust to their new reality, a steep drop in intimacy can often simultaneously occurs. Aphasia presents a significant barrier to opening discussions about intimacy and sexual contact. The purpose of this…