Do Word- and Sentence-Level Treatments Generalize to Dialogue? A Systematic Review and Synthesis of the Evidence in Poststroke Aphasia Interventions

What is it about?

Aphasia treatments which have words and sentences as the targets are well-known in both research and clinical contexts. These treatments can facilitate change in words and sentences, but can they facilitate change in dialogue (e.g., conversation)? This article is a review of all studies which have investigated the effects of word- and sentence-level aphasia treatments on dialogue in the post-stroke aphasia population. The findings indicate that word- and sentence-level aphasia treatments can demonstrate change in dialogue, but this occurs infrequently. Possible contributing factors include that few word- and sentence-level aphasia treatments have been deliberately designed to facilitate change in dialogue, and that dialogue may not be a reliable indicator of change following word- and sentence-level aphasia treatments. Ideas for facilitating change in dialogue following aphasia treatment are discussed.

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Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Why is it important?

People with aphasia want to improve in dialogue (e.g., conversation). This work contributes to our understanding of how we may facilitate change in dialogue following aphasia treatment. Ultimately, this line of enquiry has the potential to improve treatment efficiency and outcomes for people with aphasia and their close others.

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