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Purpose: Stimulation approach is a therapy technique to improve language production using auditory and visual stimulation. Jellow app is a mobile app designed for compensating for impaired language skills and may be used in the intervention of persons with aphasia. The study aimed to determine the benefits of using the Jellow app as a facilitator of stimulus therapy to improve language and psychosocial domains in chronic Broca's Aphasia. Methods: Ten right-handed male adults with Broca's Aphasia were assessed on WAB and SIQOL39g tests. The control group (n = 5) was enrolled only for stimulation therapy. Pictures of objects were used for therapy with the help of auditory or auditory and visual cues. In the study group (n = 5), along with stimulus therapy, subjects were also trained on the use of icons in the Jellow app to facilitate functional communication needs. After six-months tests were readministered. Results: Post-therapy, on WAB, the improvement in spontaneous speech, repetition, and naming were found to be significantly more in the study group (4.6 ± 0.55, 4.89 ± 0.56, 5.74 ± 0.24 respectively) than the control group (2.6 ± 0.89, 3.22 ± 0.49, 3.97 ± 0.3 respectively) on 2-sample t-test. Similarly, significantly more improvement was seen in the communication domain of SAQOL39g in the study group (2.03 ± 0.17) compared to the control group (1.14 ± 0.45). Conclusion: Use of the Jellow app may be a beneficial adjunct to stimulation therapy for improving linguistic abilities and quality of life in persons with chronic Broca's aphasia. Following are the implications of this study in the rehabilitation of persons with chronic Broca's Aphasia: • Multimodality in therapy approach in traditional stimulation therapy is beneficial. • AAC Apps like the Jellow app can be used as an adjunct to the traditional stimulation approach of language intervention which facilitates the language abilities like spontaneous speech, repetition, and naming. • Language improvement due to rehabilitation is beneficial in improving the quality of life in this population. • The caregivers must be involved in the therapy program as they act as communication partners and can repeat the therapy tasks at home. • Similar type of study is warranted in a larger population so that people with chronic Broca's aphasia may get the benefit of the latest technology which may be cheaper and easier to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Communication difficulties in aphasia can result in social isolation, challenges with interpersonal relationships, emotional changes, inability to return to work, and lack of independence. Therefore, intervention is essential particularly in the context of functional communication for persons with aphasia (PwAs). Studies have also indicated that quality of communication life (QoCL) is a valid measure of the impact of communication difficulty on quality of life.Objective: To estimate the relationship between communication intervention and QoCL in individuals with expressive aphasia.Methods and Material: Twenty PwAs were divided into two groups: group I individuals had undergone at least 3 months of speech and language intervention whereas group II individuals did not have any formal communication intervention. Tamil version of the QoCL scale was administered for all participants. Statistical analysis was carried out using Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's rho correlation coefficient.Results: Individuals with speech and language intervention in group I had higher scores in overall QoCL domains as well as in overall QoL when compared to group II. The results of correlation analysis indicated that individuals with greater therapy duration had significantly high scores.Conclusions: The results prove that communication intervention is necessary for PwAs to improve QoCL and can be used to raise awareness of its importance. The findings can also guide treatment planning, counseling the PwA, and caregivers. It also indicates the importance of using patient-related outcome measures during the intervention process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aphasia is a neurogenic communication disorder with significant deficits in various domains of language and communication. One such type of aphasia, which impacts the quality of life significantly is Broca's aphasia, where the individual is aware of the communication difficulty. Objective: To compare the Quality of Communication Life (QoCL) between individuals with Broca's aphasia and normal individuals. Methods: The first phase of the study translated and validated QCL scale in Tamil. The second phase involved administration of the Tamil QCL scale on 12 individuals with Broca's aphasia and 12 age matched normal adults. The marked responses were analysed on a visual analogue scale independently. Statistical Analysis: Three domains of QoCL were compared between the two groups using Mann–Whitney U-test. Results: The QoCL scores across three domains were observed to be lower in individuals with Broca's aphasia, when compared to normal adults. Individuals with Broca's aphasia expressed greater challenges in socialization/activities domain of QoCL than confidence/self-concept and roles and responsibilities domains. Conclusions: Information obtained on self-reported QCL scale in familiar or native language will facilitate in planning client-oriented management of aphasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study addressed efficacy of Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) as a treatment technique for word retrieval deficits in Telugu speaking individuals with Broca's aphasia, and to assess the generalization of trained items to untrained across the same and different semantic categories. Three Telugu speaking individuals with Broca's aphasia participated in the study. A discrete trial treatment design was used to examine both acquisition and generalization effects of treatment. The SFA protocol using treatment pictures (animal category) was administered for 6 weeks. Naming skills were tested with untrained items within the same semantic category every 2nd week. At the end of sixth week, both trained and untrained animals names were probed. The probes for animals list continued for the next 3 weeks. At the end of 9th week, naming skills for birds and vehicles were tested and the WAB test was re-administered. Maintenance effects were assessed at the end of 12 and 18 weeks. The results of WAB before and after use of the SFA protocol, baseline naming scores, scores obtained at the end of 2nd week, 4th week, 6th week, 9th week, 12th week and 18th week were tabulated and analyzed. A <0.05 of significant difference was observed for WAB scores before and after therapy indicating an objective evidence for the efficacy of SFA as a treatment option. To establish the difference in naming skills after the use of SFA, the naming subtest scores were subjected to paired samples t-test. Mean scores in the naming subtest of WAB pre & post therapy were 3.1 & 6.2 respectively. The present study suggests SFA strengthens association between target word and its prototypical semantic characteristics thereby facilitating word retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"TELEPRACTICE" (Source, Professional Issues in Telepractice for SLP) is defined as "The application of telecommunications technology to deliver professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client, or clinician to clinician for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation" (ASHA, 2004). There is a discrepancy between the available manpower, and ratio of individuals with communication disorders. It has been well documented that the traditional service delivery system of Speech language pathology does not suffice to the needs of individuals with disability in the rural and in urban area. The present study aimed at assessing the efficacy of "telepractice" for rehabilitation of a person with Aphasia with respect to Indian context. This was a single case study on a person with Broca's Aphasia who was assessed using the Face to Face (FTF) assessment and intervened using Skype via web camera system. The intervention was focussed on Expression, Repetition, Naming and Memory based on Manual for Adults Aphasia Therapy in Kannada (MAAT-K). Each session was audio recorded and was subjected to linguistic analysis. The results were analyzed as the baseline scores, mid therapy and post therapy scores. The results revealed there was significant improvement in the domains of Expression, Repetition, Naming and Memory. Also the impact of communication, activity limitation and emotional wellbeing was assessed using the sub-scales of The Burden of Stroke Scale (BOSS) i.e., The Communication Difficulty (CD), The Communication Associated Psychological Distress (CAPD), the Negative Mood Scale and the Positive Mood Scale and results revealed significant improvement in the domains of (CD) and( CAPD). Thus, telepractice is effective in the Indian context and is an upcoming area in the field of speech language pathology. It is vital to accelerate programs of research and clinical endeavours in this area to improvise the service delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study acoustically examined the nuclear tones and terminal intonation contours in individuals with Broca's aphasia vis-à-vis the neurologically normal participants. Ten individuals with Broca's aphasia who spoke Kannada as mother tongue participated in the study along with 10 age and gender matched neurologically normal individuals. They narrated a picture card while their utterances were audio recorded using a digital tape recorder. The Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) 4400 software was used for generating intonation contours from the utterances of participants. The nuclear tones were analysed in terms of traditional classification of rise, fall, rise-fall, fall-rise, rise-fall-rise, fall-rise-fall, and level contour whereas the terminal contours analysis included rise, fall, and level contours. The results revealed presence of similar types of nuclear contours in both groups of participants. However, the terminal contours had occurred more frequently in within-sentence intonation units in individuals with Broca's aphasia suggesting that were using this as a device to indicate utterance continuity, owing to a limited output in terms of utterance length. The intonation contour analysis results suggest that individuals with Broca's aphasia are able to signal variations in F0 and they are able to utilise effectively the prosodic features of nuclear and terminal contours in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]