Conversation Therapy for Aphasia: A Survey

Simmons-Mackie, Nina and Worrall, Linda and Savage, Meghan (2013) Conversation Therapy for Aphasia: A Survey. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

PDF Conversation_Therapy_for_Aphasia_A_Survey.pdf Download (285kB)

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the engagement in and management of conversation in aphasia. The literature describes aspects of conversation in aphasia such as nonverbal communication and management of repair (e.g. Ferguson, 1994; Madden, Oelschlaeger & Damico, 2003). Research delineates strategies and resources employed to achieve conversation by people with aphasia and partners (e.g. Beeke, 2003; Beeke, Wilkinson & Maxim, 2001, 2009; Oelschlaeger & Damico, 1998; Wilkinson, Lock, Bryan & Sage, 2011). There is also growing interest in conversation as a target of aphasia treatment. Various approaches related to conversation have been reported such as multimodality training (Purdy & Van Dyke, 2011), discourse treatment for word retrieval (Boyle, 2011), group conversation therapy (Elman & Bernstein-Ellis, 1999; Simmons-Mackie, Elman, Holland & Damico, 2007), interaction-focused intervention (Wilkinson, Lock, Bryan & Sage, 2011), couples therapy (Boles, 2011) and partner training (Kagan et al, 2001). There has also been discussion of the impact of impairment-focused therapy on conversation (Carragher et al. 2012). Despite this growing knowledge base, there are no data regarding the translation of knowledge into clinical practice. Has conversation therapy become a routine aspect of clinical practice in aphasia? If so, what do clinicians do in conversation therapy for aphasia? In order to explore these questions, a web-based survey was initiated.

Actions (login required)

View Item