The Aphasia Therapy File Volume 1

This book in file format is designed as a practical resource for speech and language therapists to disseminate, encourage and facilitate writing about therapy interventions for aphasia by the practitioners themselves. This provides an opportunity for clinicians to contribute to the evidence base for practice. The description of the rationale for the therapy, the intervention itself and evaluation of outcomes are of paramount importance. Each contributor guides the reader through the thinking that they engaged in as they decided what to do, often with considerable frankness about the difficulties involved. These thought processes will be of interest to experienced therapists and students alike, offering ideas for further development of therapy tasks or reorienting familiar ones. Many of the studies demonstrate the complex interaction between combining work on the language impairment and the disabling impacts of becoming aphasic. The social, psychological, cultural, and logistical constraints on offering therapy are also explored.

Different from a textbook or academic journal, the File represents a collection of explicit descriptions about therapy interventions written by practitioners themselves. The description of the rationale for the therapy, the intervention itself and evaluation of outcomes are of paramount importance. Each contributor guides the reader through the thinking that they engaged in as they decided what to do, often with considerable frankness about the difficulties involved. The File will be of equal value to experienced practitioners and students alike.

Introduction. Section 1. Alternative Forms of Output. Introduction: When There's No Spoken Output. D. Harding, C.Pound, Needs, Function and Measurement: Juggling with Multiple Language Impairment. J. Hunt, Drawing on the Semantic System: The Use of Drawing as a Therapy Medium with a Woman with Severe Expressive Aphasia. R. Lawson, M. Fawcus, Increasing Effective Communication Using a Total Communication Approach. Section 2. Word Retrieval Therapies. Introduction: Therapies for Word Finding Utilising Orthographic Relay Strategies. J. Mortley, Evaluating the Efficacy of an Intensive Strategy Based Therapy Programme for Spelling Impairment. M. White-Thompson, Naming Therapy for an Aphasiac with Fluent Empty Speech. J. Sheriden, A Treatment Programme for an Impairment in Reading Function Words. Section 3. Beyond the Single Word Therapies. Introduction: Therapies Addressing the Impairments in Processing Verbs and Sentences. J. Marshall , Doing Something About Verbs and Sentences: Two Therapy Approaches. A. Greenwood, Early Stages in Treating a Person with Non-fluent Aphasia. J. Marshall, `Who Ends Up With the Fiver?' A Sentence Production Therapy. K. Swinburn, An Informal Example of a Successful Therapy or a Sentence Processing Deficit.

Sally Byng, Carole Pound, Kate Swinburn