Congruent vs. incongruent tasks in interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation: a single-case report.

Purpose: Stroke survivors may experience challenges in multiple domains (e.g., speech-language, dexterity, mobility) and pursue services from multiple professionals. Clinicians typically provide rehabilitation services in back-to-back sessions (multidisciplinary). Alternatively, two or more clinicians can co-treat a stroke survivor in one session (interdisciplinary). This pilot project examined task congruency in interdisciplinary stroke care. Method: A stroke survivor chronically challenged by non-fluent aphasia and right hemiparesis completed spoken-naming and upper-limb tasks simultaneously. The concurrent tasks were presented in two conditions: congruent (i.e., naming a pictured item while tracing the first letter of the name) and incongruent (i.e., naming a pictured item while tracing a non-symbolic shape). The sequence of the two conditions was: baseline probes, congruent practice (eight weeks), no practice (eight weeks), incongruent practice (eight weeks), and no practice (eight weeks). The entire treatment program was implemented as independent home practice utilizing a computer. Results: The participant made significant improvements in naming and clinically meaningful gains in arm movements during the congruent condition, but not during the incongruent condition. Conclusions: Data from this study suggest a potentially positive effect of simultaneous speech-language and upper-limb tasks. More research is warranted to further examine the role of task congruency in interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Stroke survivors may chronically experience challenges in multiple domains (e.g., speech-language, dexterity, and mobility). Clinicians from multiple disciplines can collaborate and co-treat a stroke survivor within an interdisciplinary framework. During a co-treatment session, a stroke survivor can achieve greater gains by completing congruent tasks (e.g., saying the name of a pictured item while writing the first letter of the name with the impaired hand), compared to incongruent tasks (e.g., saying the name of a pictured item while tracing a non-symbolic shape with the impaired hand). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]