Supported Reading Comprehension for People with Aphasia: Photographic and Linguistic Supports

Dietz, Aimee Rebekah and Knollman-Porter, Kelly and Hux, Karen (2013) Supported Reading Comprehension for People with Aphasia: Photographic and Linguistic Supports. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

People with aphasia generally experience better reading comprehension of material formatted in aphasia-friendly manners (e.g., Rose Worrall, & McKenna, 2003) than material formatted in other ways. Aphasia-friendly principles include linguistic-based text modifications (i.e., increased white space, simplified syntax and vocabulary) and visual supports (i.e., relevant images) (Howe, Worrall, & Hickson, 2004). However, conflicting reports exist in the literature regarding the helpfulness of pairing visual supports with text (Brennan, Worrall, & McKenna, 2005; Dietz, Hux, McKelvey, & Beukelman, 2009; Rose, Worrall, Hickson, & Hoffman, 2011). Also, linguistically-based supports may bolster the reading comprehension of people with aphasia in the same way these supports help children understand written materials. Linguistic supports include the use of topic setters (e.g., organizational headings) and keywords alerting a reader to the topic and activating prior knowledge. To date, investigators have performed only preliminary explorations about the effects of linguistic and visual supports on the reading comprehension of people with aphasia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the individual and combined effect of linguistic and photographic supports on the reading comprehension of narratives by people with aphasia.

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