Maria L. Muñoz

Script training and automaticity in two individuals with aphasia

Background: Automatic production of spoken language is compromised in many individuals with aphasia whose speech is consistently effortful. Linguistic-based and functional treatments for aphasia both may help to return some automaticity to language production. However, neither approach specifically targets automaticity of speech production for individual with aphasia.Aims: A treatment protocol was developed to facilitate the automatic spoken production of trained scripts in specific functional contexts by individuals with aphasia. The purpose of this study was to measure its treatment outcomes.Methods & Procedures: Two individuals with non-fluent aphasia participated. A multiple baseline design across behaviours examined the acquisition of personally relevant short scripts. Script production was probed at the initiation and termination of treatment, and during weekly treatment sessions. Scripts were transcribed and analysed according to several measures of accuracy and fluency.Outcomes & Results: All scripts were mastered, and scripted speech productions were judged to have become more automatic based on naturalness and stability of speech, increased speaking rate, and relatively errorless production. Automatic script production also generalised to novel conversation partners and novel cues in a limited fashion.Conclusions: Script training as used here was a successful treatment approach. It may be an effective, practical, and functional approach to the treatment of aphasic individuals with moderately spared comprehension and cognitive difficulties and with significant expressive speech difficulties.

The Quality of Life of Patients with Malignant Gliomas and Their Caregivers

ABSTRACT The grim prognosis that accompanies a diagnosis of a malignant glioma affects quality of life (QOL) as patients attempt to adapt to overwhelming losses. Caregivers also experience negative changes in QOL as responsibilities grow. This pilot study measured the QOL of patients with malignant gliomas prior to tumor progression and the QOL of their caregivers. It examined negative and positive factors that impacted the QOL while highlighting positive factors often overlooked in brain tumor QOL research. Standardized QOL questionnaires and focus groups were utilized. Patients experienced distress in the domains of physical, psychological, and social QOL but in all four of the QOL domains there were also positive outcomes. Caregiver data demonstrated mostly positive outcomes in the four QOL domains except for loved ones declining health and fear that the loved one would die.

The performance of neurologically normal bilingual speakers of Spanish and English on the short version of the Bilingual Aphasia Test

Background: The assessment of aphasia in bilingual speakers is complicated by the need to measure language impairment in each language, as well as defining how one language recovers in relation to another. The Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) is a criterion‐referenced measure designed to provide the requisite data needed to measure the impairment of bilingual speakers with aphasia while minimising the effects of pre‐morbid differences in language skill. Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of neurologically normal adult bilingual speakers on the short version of the BAT (English and American Spanish). Methods & Procedures: A total of 22 adults ranging in age from 51 to 77 completed the BAT as well as a series of measures of language history, proficiency, and use. Outcomes & Results: Results indicated that the group scored higher in English than in Spanish on the BAT. BAT performance was consistent with higher proficiency in English than Spanish, as indicated by responses to language background measures. An item analysis identified 54 items with a correct response rate less than 70%; the majority of these items were from the Spanish version and the translation subtest of the BAT. Conclusions: Performance on the Spanish BAT was influenced by academic experience in Spanish, and the influence of English on Spanish. Interpretation of BAT results for bilingual speakers with aphasia requires accounting for pre‐morbid differences in language skill.

The influence of language context on lexical retrieval in the discourse of bilingual speakers with aphasia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of conversational language demands on lexical retrieval in the discourse of bilingual speakers with aphasia. Specifically, we explored how normally occurring crosslinguistic variability in lexical retrieval manifests in the discourse of bilinguals with aphasia when language demand of the environment varies. Discourse analyses of conversation samples were conducted for three bilingual Spanish/English speakers with aphasia in monolingual English, monolingual Spanish and bilingual contexts. Results revealed contextual variation in lexical retrieval that were related to pre-morbid language skill. Manifestation of a linguistic impairment is influenced by the context (monolingual or bilingual) in which the information is gathered. Analysis of discourse samples can provide additional insight into the subtle differences in the characteristics of the impairment in monolingual and bilingual contexts.

A Test of English Sentence Production for Persons with Aphasia

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the assessment review by Wilshire, C. E., Lukkien, C. C., and Burmester, B. R. (2014). The sentence production test for aphasia. Aphasiology, 28(6), 658–691.