Evaluating the effectiveness of intensive therapy schedules for adults with varying severities of chronic aphasia
Like many aphasia programs around the country, the University of Michigan Aphasia Program (UMAP) offers high quality state of the art speech language therapy services. What sets us apart from these other programs, however, is our intensive service delivery model. Therapy schedules are an important variable to consider when treating the speech and language abilities of adults with chronic aphasia. Less-intensive schedules provide fewer hours of therapy, perhaps one or two per week, whereas intensive therapy offers more hours of therapy in a shorter period of time. The number of studies supporting the effectiveness of intensive therapy is small but there is a growing consensus in this research that intensive therapy is better than non-intensive. Research to date is generally not informative relative to aphasia severity level.
The purpose of current research at UMAP is to improve understanding of therapy schedules for adults with varying severities of chronic aphasia. Progress and durability of gains made in intensive therapy will be compared to those resulting from lesser rates of therapy and no formal therapy.
No single speech-language intervention suits all clients. It is critical that clinicians have an array of effective techniques available to tailor the technique to the client. This project also will provide information on the effectiveness of varying types of therapy for clients with different severities of aphasia. Currently, we are evaluating the language skills of clients before, during, and after their intensive therapy at UMAP to show whether improvements can be gained and maintained.
Related Presentations
- Marshall, R. K., Block, M. E., Kennedy, A., & Pierson, J. M. (2009, November) Intensive Language Therapy for Chronic Aphasia: Who Is a Candidate? Paper presented at the meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, New Orleans, LA.
- Marshall, R., Block, M., & Kennedy, A. (2008, November). A clinical alternative to the Token Test. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Chicago, IL.
If you have any questions about this research, please contact us at
ucll@umich.edu.
