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Treatment

Where possible, treatment should be offered in all relevant languages and the relevant modalities.

Reference: N/A
NHMRC level of Evidence: GPP

Rationale: 
Systematic avoidance of a language may reduce the potential for its recovery (M. Meinzer, Obleser, Flaisch, Eulitz, & Rockstroh, 2007). In addition, avoidance of a language may reduce the communication access opportunities for a bilingual person (Centeno & Ansaldo, 2013; Penn, Commerford, & Ogilvy, 2007). Cross-linguistic transfer of treatment gains provided only in one language does not occur for all cases (A. I. Ansaldo & Saidi, 2013; Faroqi-Shah, Frymark, Mullen, & Wang, 2010) , but may occur more easily when using translation tasks, Semantic Feature Analysis or a combination of this approach with phonological cueing, and  treating in the weaker premorbid language  or in the stronger post-morbid language (A. I. Ansaldo & Saidi, 2013).  However, the choice of language should reflect relative accessibility and proficiency, and also the client’s preferences and needs among other factors (Centeno & Ansaldo, 2013; Roberts, 2008).

References:

  1. Ansaldo, A. I., & Saidi, L. G. (2013). Aphasia therapy in the age of globalisation: Cross-linguistic therapy effects in bilingual aphasia. Behavioural neurology. doi: 10.3233/BEN-130336
  2. Centeno, J. G., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2013). Aphasia in multilingual populations. In P. C. I. Papathanasiou, & C. Potagas (Ed.), Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders. Boston: Jones and Bartlett.
  3. Faroqi-Shah, Y., Frymark, T., Mullen, R., & Wang, B. (2010). Effect of treatment for bilingual individuals with aphasia: A systematic review of the evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23(4), 319-341. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2010.01.002
  4. Meinzer, M., Obleser, J., Flaisch, T., Eulitz, C., & Rockstroh, B. (2007). Recovery from aphasia as a function of language therapy in an early bilingual patient demonstrated by fMRI. Neuropsychologia, 45(6), 1247-1256. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.10.003
  5. Penn, C., Commerford, A., & Ogilvy, D. (2007). Spatial and facial processing in the signed discourse of two groups of deaf signers with clinical language impairment. Clinical Linguistics  & Phonetics, 21(5). doi: 10.1080/02699200701267476
  6. Roberts, P. M. (2008). Aphasia assessment and treatment in bilingual and multicultural populations. In R. Chapey (Ed.), Language intervention strategies in adult aphasia (5th ed., pp. 245 – 276). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

GET  IN  TOUCH


l.worrall@uq.edu.au

+61 7 3365 2891

Professor Linda Worrall
The University of Queensland
ST LUCIA QLD 4072   

 

RESEARCH PARTNERS


NHMRC
The University of Queensland
La Trobe University
Macquarie University
The University of Newcastle
The University of Sydney
Edith Cowan University