It’s Think-It-Through-Thursday! Here’s a new series to give you and your SLP colleagues some food for thought. Feel free to print and discuss at lunch or use for continuing education or journal review! I will include a recent research article and some thoughts about how this relates (or doesn’t relate) to some of the practices we have in adult speech therapy!
Today’s topic: Personalization of Script Training for Aphasia
*In case you missed the past few Think-It-Through-Thursdays, check out:
-Discourse + High-Level WAB Scores
Article Link: https://ajslp.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2436696 Cherney, L., Kaye, R., Lee, J., & van Vuuren, S. (2015). Impact of personal relevance on acquisition and generalization of script training for aphasia: A preliminary study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 24: S913-S922.
If you aren’t using evidence-based Script Training for Aphasia yet, check out my affordable Script Training Packet for everything you need.
This article specifically compares using a PERSONALIZED script compared to a GENERIC script–Guess what? The personalized scripts were acquired more quickly! We also know from previous research in aphasia that personalization of aphasia therapy and words trained is vital: For patient satisfaction, for impact on life participation, for overall relevance and patient motivation.
Oops, I’ve been using canned scripts with every patient I treat: What do I do? The bottom line is: You need to use therapy to develop a personalized script that the Person finds relevant and useable in his/her daily life. Check out Table 2 in the article for some nice Interview Questions that can help you create a personalized script in therapy with your Person! The Script Training Packet I’ve created also includes several prompts and script examples that may be a springboard for ideas that are relevant for your Person!
How does the topic of personalization apply to other aphasia treatments? Personalization of therapy training and treatment is necessary! Using personally-relevant words and topics have been shown to improve a Person’s performance (perhaps because of higher motivation / interest, or relevance?). Personally-relevant words and topics also are directly in-line with the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia–the most efficient way to get there! Using personally-relevant words can maximize outcomes, real life results, patient satisfaction, etc.
Is this where you are getting the idea to Toss The Workbooks? Yes–along with dozens of other recent research articles!! Best practices, evidence for real-life impact, patient satisfaction, and measurable outcomes support “tossing the workbooks” (and “closing the game closets”) to opt for therapy techniques that are personalized and relevant to a person’s daily life! This applies to aphasia AND TBI. If you need further ideas about how to personalize your aphasia treatment rather than using canned words, worksheets, games, please check out the following evidence-based aphasia treatments with personally-relevant ideas included:
Script Training for Aphasia Packet
Copy and Recall Training Packet
Response Elaboration Training Packet
Verb Network Strengthening Treatment Packet
Semantic Feature Analysis Packet
Thanks for thinking it through! After reading the article, is there an aphasia therapy technique you are using that you could personalize instead of using generalized prompts?
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