Browsing by Subject "ILAT"
Now showing items 1-4 of 4
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(2015)Aims. In the last few years there have been studies that use multi-level approaches in the analysis of narrative language in aphasia. In Finland there is no established method for assessing the narration of aphasic persons. The literature provides different models but there is not commonly approved system. The purpose of this study was to examine how aphasic persons perform in cartoon story description tasks and to apply a multi-level method for assessing their narrative speech. The aim is to find an appropriate model that discovers change in narrative speech. Method. Six aphasic persons participated in this research where they received transcranial magnetic stimulation or the placebo version of it and ILAT rehabilitation. The narrative speech of the participants was assessed by using to picture sequence tasks in four different times during the research: before the rehabilitation, during it, immediately after it and after 3 months. The analysis focused on 1) productivity, 2) lexical and grammatical processing and 3) informativeness. In addition their performance in narrative task was compared to performance scores in Western Aphasia Battery. The methods of analysis were adapted from methods used by Marini et al. (2011). Results and conclusions. In five out of the six persons who participated in this study there was some positive change in narration at least in one aspect of the analysis. Only one participant showed overall improvement. The participants who had fluent aphasia, had more clear changes in the results that the subjects who had non-fluent aphasia. The definition of the analyzing method was challenging but it is important to unravel these multi-level analyzing methods in Finland in future. The picture sequence task is a functional means to elicit narrative speech but instead of using sequences with small number of pictures sequences with more pictures should perhaps be used. It would also be important to collect normative data from Finnish speaking people using these multi-level methods. It would enable the comparison of aphasic person's narratives to the normative data.
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(2021)Aims of the study. Aphasia can be studied from the aspect of functional communication, in which case the focus is on how a person with aphasia is able to use language in their everyday environment. One way to study the functional communication of people with aphasia is to analyse discourse, as word-finding difficulties, which are common in aphasia, can affect discourse. Discourse can also be studied to determine whether the effects of an intervention are generalized to the level of functional communication. The aim of this thesis is to study the discourse of people with chronic aphasia, elicited using interview questions, in different phases of an intervention consisting of rTMS treatment (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) and Intensive Language Action Therapy (ILAT). The discourse features which are analysed include lexical diversity (verbs and nouns) and informativeness (correct information units). The results of the discourse analysis are compared to the results of linguistic tests (Boston Naming Test for nouns and Action Naming Test for verbs). Methods. The data consisted of the discourse of three participants. The discourse was elicited using interview questions. All the participants had chronic fluent aphasia. They participated in the University of Helsinki research project “Treatment-Induced Speech and Language Improvement and Neuroplasticity after Stroke”, during which they received both rTMS treatment and ILAT therapy. They were examined four times during the intervention: at baseline, after rTMS treatment period, after combined rTMS and ILAT period, and at follow-up (3 months after the intervention). The discourse samples were analysed using discourse analysis. The chosen measurements were measures of lexical diversity, i. e. verbs and nouns, and measures of information units. The results were analysed visually. In addition, group effect sizes were calculated. Regression lines were used to compare the results of the discourse analysis to the results of linguistic tests. Results and discussion. No clear changes were detected in lexical diversity and informativeness of the discourse of people with chronic aphasia during rTMS and ILAT. Thus, the intervention did not have effect on functional communication at group level. However, there was much variation between the participants as well as between the results of different measures. The efficiency of informativeness increased for all the participants and it also had the largest group effect size. There was a stronger correlation between the use of nouns in discourse and the results of Boston Naming Test than between the use of verbs in discourse and the results of Action Naming Test
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(2021)Aims of the study. Aphasia can be studied from the aspect of functional communication, in which case the focus is on how a person with aphasia is able to use language in their everyday environment. One way to study the functional communication of people with aphasia is to analyse discourse, as word-finding difficulties, which are common in aphasia, can affect discourse. Discourse can also be studied to determine whether the effects of an intervention are generalized to the level of functional communication. The aim of this thesis is to study the discourse of people with chronic aphasia, elicited using interview questions, in different phases of an intervention consisting of rTMS treatment (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) and Intensive Language Action Therapy (ILAT). The discourse features which are analysed include lexical diversity (verbs and nouns) and informativeness (correct information units). The results of the discourse analysis are compared to the results of linguistic tests (Boston Naming Test for nouns and Action Naming Test for verbs). Methods. The data consisted of the discourse of three participants. The discourse was elicited using interview questions. All the participants had chronic fluent aphasia. They participated in the University of Helsinki research project “Treatment-Induced Speech and Language Improvement and Neuroplasticity after Stroke”, during which they received both rTMS treatment and ILAT therapy. They were examined four times during the intervention: at baseline, after rTMS treatment period, after combined rTMS and ILAT period, and at follow-up (3 months after the intervention). The discourse samples were analysed using discourse analysis. The chosen measurements were measures of lexical diversity, i. e. verbs and nouns, and measures of information units. The results were analysed visually. In addition, group effect sizes were calculated. Regression lines were used to compare the results of the discourse analysis to the results of linguistic tests. Results and discussion. No clear changes were detected in lexical diversity and informativeness of the discourse of people with chronic aphasia during rTMS and ILAT. Thus, the intervention did not have effect on functional communication at group level. However, there was much variation between the participants as well as between the results of different measures. The efficiency of informativeness increased for all the participants and it also had the largest group effect size. There was a stronger correlation between the use of nouns in discourse and the results of Boston Naming Test than between the use of verbs in discourse and the results of Action Naming Test
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(2016)Objectives: Intensive language action therapy (ILAT/CILT) has been found to be effective in the treatment of aphasia, even in the chronic state of aphasia. It is based on three principles emphasising several components of therapy: massed practise, functional communicative contexts, and restriction to verbal output only. ILAT is typically practiced in group settings, but in this investigation it was performed on a single-participant design. Studies have shown that verbs and nouns can be separately impaired in aphasia, partly because of the concreteness effect: nouns are more imageable than verbs. The concreteness effect also explains that certain types of verbs are easier to produce than others (concrete versus more abstract verbs). The objective of this study was to measure the increase of concrete and more abstract verb production after the ILAT-intervention. In addition, there has been discussion about functional communication outcomes of aphasia therapy. Therefore, this study also takes into account the measurement of aphasic speaker's everyday communication using self-evaluation (Communicative Activity Log, CAL). Method: The participant of this study was a non-fluent speaker with Broca's aphasia. The quality and the amount of communication was measured two times before the treatment phase and two times after it. The treatment phase included intervention approximately four times per week for six weeks about 1,5 hours each time (30 hours in total). The changes in measured communication were evaluated with statistical tests for effect size. The functional communication was assessed with Communicative Activity Log (CAL). Results and conclusions: The results showed improvement in the production of concrete verbs. The production of abstract verbs did not increase significantly. Functional-communication measure did not demonstrate increase in communication amount and quality right after the therapy, but in the follow-up it did increase. Intensive language action method was found to be an effective treatment also as an individual therapy.
Now showing items 1-4 of 4