Executive Training and Anomia Therapy in Chronic Post-stroke Aphasia

University Hospital, Montpellier10 enrolled

Overview

Aphasia is a devastating acquired language impairment mainly caused by stroke, in which anomia is a quintessential clinical feature. If speech-language therapy (SLT) has been shown to be effective for persons with aphasia, the relative efficiency of one SLT strategy over another remains a matter of debate. The influential relationship between language, executive functions and aphasia rehabilitation outcomes has been addressed in a number of studies, but only few of them have studied the effect of adding an executive training to linguistic therapies.The aim of this study is to measure the efficiency of a protocol combining anomia therapy and executive training on naming skills and discourse in post-stroke aphasic persons at the chronic stage

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Anomia Post-stroke Aphasia

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 80 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion criteria: * 18 \< age \> 80 years * adult person with chronic post-stroke aphasia (\> 6 months postonset) * receiving SLT rehabilitation 3 times a Week Exclusion criteria: * presence of apraxia of speech * major impairment of comprehension * history of other neurological or psychiatric disease Exclusion criteria: * presence of apraxia of speech * presence of major impairment of comprehension * presence of history of other neurological or psychiatric disease

Locations (1)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Evolution of individual naming scores

Evolution of individual naming scores during baseline and treatment phases Participants are asked to name pictures from a personal naming task constituted of 100 black and white pictures and scores are expressed as percent of correct responses (min 0, max 100): higher percents meaning a better outcome. A visual analysis of the evolution of these scores along the course of the treatment will be conducted.

Time frame: 2 days

Comparison of discourse

Comparison of discourse scores before and after the treatment For each participant, four different samples of discourse are elicited before and after the treatment (picture description, personal narrative, book supported narrative, procedural information). The mean number of correct words per minute is then computed for each participant, and compared between the two time points, higher scores meaning a better outcome.

Time frame: 2 days

Secondary Outcomes

Comparison of executive scores

Comparison of executive scores before and after the treatment Executive scores are computed before and after treatment for each participant, from the Modified Card Sorting Test (Nelson, 1976), in which higher number of categories achieved means a better outcome, and from a verbal fluency task in which higher number of words produced in 2 minutes means a better outcome

Time frame: 2 days