Browsing by Author "Holopainen, Jonna"

Aphasia is a linguistic-cognitive disorder that impedes the understanding and production of speech and is often accompanied by disorders in non-linguistic cognitive functioning, such as working memory (WM). WM has a key role in supporting on-going linguistic processing. Earlier research shows that the impairments caused by aphasia can be alleviated with speech therapy but it is still unclear which amount of therapy is most effective, at which stage of the illness and with which intensity. Some research suggests that greater amount of therapy within a shorter time span yields greater outcome. However, research findings on the matter are difficult to synthesize as the definition of ‘intensity’ varies across studies. Language Enrichment Therapy (LET) is a systemic and developmental therapy programme for aphasia rehabilitation. LET aims to restore linguistic-cognitive functioning. LET also enables rehabilitation of working memory with “brain-jogging”. As there is hardly any prior research on the LET system, the aim of this thesis is to investigate its effectiveness as an intensive aphasia therapy programme and the role of working memory in rehabilitation and, further, to identify possible background factors predicting rehabilitation outcome. The data for this thesis was collected for a research project between 1987 and 2010. The data consists of 24 persons with aphasia (PWA) who suffered a first-time stroke and whose time post-onset at baseline was 2 to 8 months. Linguistic functioning was assessed six times within the research frame with Tsvetkova’s Speech Dynamics Test, Western Aphasia Battery and the Token test. The data was analysed statistically using Friedman’s test to analyse the change in understanding and producing speech, linear regression to analyse possible factors predicting outcome and linear correlation to analyse the connection between working memory and rehabilitation outcome. The findings show that intensive rehabilitation with the LET system improves the understanding and production of speech with PWA. LET is the most effective in ameliorating speech understanding for those PWA with greater impairment and lesser time post-onset. No factors predicting the outcome of speech production were found which might be due to the developmental nature of the LET system in which rehabilitation of understanding always precedes that of production. WM had no predictive value for rehabilitation outcome. These findings must be interpreted with caution but can still be used for clinical decision making.