Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 78, Issue 8 , Pages 841-846, August 1997

Promoting recovery in chronic aphasia with an interactive technology☆☆☆★

  • Lefkos B. Aftonomos, MD

      Affiliations

    • LingraphiCARE™ Language Care CenterSM Program, Palo Alto, CA, USA
    • ,
  • Richard D. Steele, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests to Richard D. Steele, PhD, Chief Scientist, LingraphiCARE America, 3600 West Bayshore Road, Suite 202, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
    • LingraphiCARE™ Language Care CenterSM Program, Palo Alto, CA, USA
    • ,
  • Robert T. Wertz, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Audiology and Speech Pathology Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

Received 20 June 1996; accepted 2 January 1997.

Article Outline

Abstract 

Objective: To assess chronic aphasic patients' responses to resumption of therapy using an innovative, computer-based treatment system.

Design: Patients were assessed pretreatment and posttreatment using standardized assessment tools. Pretreatment and posttreatment performance score means were computed and compared, with statistical significance of the differences established using a one-tailed, matched t test.

Setting: The work was conducted at (1) a Veterans Affairs medical center participating in treatment research and (2) a regional aphasia center delivering therapy services for reimbursement.

Patients: Chronic aphasic patients (n = 23) from 6 months to more than 15 years postonset were enrolled in the study. They included a wide range of types and seventies of aphasia, and all had received traditional speech-language therapy services earlier.

Interventions: All patients were treated in 1-hour clinical sessions by speech-language pathologists using the designated computer-based treatment system. All but one of the patients had access to the computer-based treatment system at home for practice between clinical therapy sessions.

Main Outcome Measures: The outcome measures used were (1) the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA), (2) the Boston Naming Test (BNT), (3) the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB), and (4) the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE).

Results: The majority of patients improved significantly in multiple modalities as assessed by these instruments.

Conclusions: Specific measures of language function can be broadly, positively, and significantly influenced by computer-based language therapy in chronic aphasia.

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☆ Supported by LingraphiCARE America, Inc., Palo Alto, CA.

☆☆ The technology used is commercially registered as the Lingraphica® System, referred to in this article as the “LG System.” Data for this article came from two sources: a study at the VA Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ, referred to as the “VAMC” site, and the medical records of The LingraphiCARE™ Language Care CentersSM Program in Palo Alto, CA, referred to as the “Center” site.

★ A commercial party with a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a financial benefit upon one or more of the authors.

PII: S0003-9993(97)90197-0

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 78, Issue 8 , Pages 841-846, August 1997

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