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Changes in the conversational participation of individuals with severe aphasia given three types of partner support
Abstract
In this single-subject study, three individuals with severe aphasia conversed with a partner in three experimental conditions. In the no support condition, the subjects responded without assistance to conversational questions pertaining to familiar topics. In the thematic written choice condition, the partner generated possible answers to topical questions and presented them graphically and auditorally if the subject could not respond through natural communication modalities. The subjects responded by pointing to these written choices. In these two conditions (no support and thematic written choice), a conversational topic was discontinued if two consecutive exchanges were unsuccessful; otherwise the topic was continued. In the nonthematic written choice condition, questions were presented in random topical order to determine if thematic structure influenced response accuracy. The subjects also rated their comfort, enjoyment, communicative competence, and partner's communicative competence following each experimental session. Results showed a substantial increase in interaction length (exchanges per topic) and proportion of comprehensible responses in the thematic written choice conditions as compared with the baseline (no support) conditions for each of the three subjects. The elimination of thematic structure did not appear to influence the subjects' response accuracy. Results of the perceptual analysis were inconclusive; the subjects demonstrated idiosyncratic rating patterns that did not correspond with changes in the treatment conditions. Based on the findings, the written choice conversational technique appears to assist persons with severe aphasia to participate in dyadic, topical and nontopical communication exchanges with knowledgeable communication partners.
Subject Area
Speech therapy
Recommended Citation
Garrett, Kathryn Lynn, "Changes in the conversational participation of individuals with severe aphasia given three types of partner support" (1993). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9406076.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9406076