title: Constraint-induced aphasia therapy versus intensive semantic treatment in fluent aphasia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors compared the effectiveness of 2 intensive therapy methods: Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy (CIAT; Pulvermüller et al., 2001) and semantic therapy (BOX; Visch-Brink & Bajema, 2001).
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine patients with chronic fluent aphasia participated in a therapy program to establish behavioral treatment outcomes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups (CIAT or BOX).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intensive therapy significantly improved verbal communication. However, BOX treatment showed a more pronounced improvement on two communication-namely, a standardized assessment for verbal communication, the Amsterdam Nijmegen Everyday Language Test (Blomert, Koster, & Kean, 1995), and a subjective rating scale, the Communicative Effectiveness Index (Lomas et al., 1989). All participants significantly improved on one (or more) subtests of the Aachen Aphasia Test (Graetz, de Bleser, & Willmes, 1992), an impairment-focused assessment. There was a treatment-specific effect. BOX treatment had a significant effect on language comprehension and semantics, whereas CIAT treatment affected language production and phonology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that in patients with fluent aphasia, (a) intensive treatment has a significant effect on language and verbal communication, (b) intensive therapy results in selective treatment effects, and (c) an intensive semantic treatment shows a more striking mean improvement on verbal communication in comparison with communication-based CIAT treatment.
authors.forename: Ineke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wilssens
authors.forename: Dorien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vandenborre
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van Dun
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verhoeven
authors.forename: Evy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Visch-Brink
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mariën
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001041:Aphasia, Wernicke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010699:Phonation; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior