Novel treatments for expressive aprosodia: a phase I investigation of cognitive linguistic and imitative interventions.
This study investigated two mechanism-based treatments for expressive aprosodia, a disturbance in emotional prosody thought to be governed by the right hemisphere. The 3 participants all suffered right CVA's resulting in expressive aprosodia. Presence of expressive aprosodia was determined by performance on two batteries of emotional communication. A single subject ABAC design was employed in which two treatments, one imitative and one cognitive linguistic, were assigned in random order. All participants in this study were randomly assigned to begin with the cognitive linguistic treatment. Probes of treated and untreated emotions were completed during baseline and therapy phases. Probe items were judged by a reliable, trained rater blind to time of testing. Visual and statistical analyses were completed. These analyses confirmed that both treatments were active. For example, effect size calculations confirmed modest to substantial treatment effects for both treatments in all 3 patients. Replication to increase confidence about treatment effect and enhance understanding of the neuromechanisms underlying aprosodia is underway.
VA RR&D Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, USA.
John C
JC
Rosenbek
Gregory P
GP
Crucian
Susan A
SA
Leon
Bethany
B
Hieber
Amy D
AD
Rodriguez
Beth
B
Holiway
Timothy U
TU
Ketterson
Maribel
M
Ciampitti
Kenneth
K
Heilman
Leslie
L
Gonzalez-Rothi
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008037:Linguistics / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D016896:Treatment Outcome