Treatment of Aphasia in the Later 20th Century

Treatment of Aphasia in the Later 20th Century

1. Principled Treatments

   • Based on theoretical positions

2. Symptomatic Treatments

   • Reduces or eleminates specific aphasic features

3. Didactic Methods

   • reteach language utilizing traditional and intuitive educational methods from child and foreign language teaching

4. Behavioral Techniques in Common with Didactic Methods

   • repetition,, imitation, modeling, prompting, and cueing

5. Treatments Inspired by the Boston model

   • perseveration
   • Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT)
     • reestablishes speech by reorganization of the speech production process using melodic intonation
   • Visual Action Therapy (VAT)
     • For Broca's or global impairments

6. Schuell's language stimulation

7. medical model, classification-based treatment

   • shift to everyday functional communication

8. Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (PACE)

   • Emphasizes succesfull communication, not oral naming or correct syntax

9. Reorganizational approaches

   • RH processing, MIT, artificial languages, lateralization techniques

10. Psychosocial Impact

    • The WHO introduced the terms impairment, disability, and handicap
      • Impairment: loss/abnormalty of body structure or of a physiological or psychological function
      • Disability was replaced by activity limitation: Activites may be limited in nature, duration, and quality
      • Handicap: replaced by participation restriction

11. Evidence Based Practice (EBP)

    • Combines clinical expertise, best current evidence, and client values with the aim of providing highest quality service reflecting the needs and choices of the individual.