Executive Training and Anomia Therapy in Chronic Post-stroke Aphasia

Combining Executive Training and Anomia Therapy in Chronic Post-stroke Aphasia : a Single Case Experimental Design -SCED Preliminary Study

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

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