Peers' perceptions of storytelling by an adult with aphasia

Abstract

This study explored potential partners willingness to participate in storytelling conversations with communicators who have aphasia. We investigated adult peers perceptions of a communicator with aphasia as he told autobiographical stories using three communication modes - natural speech, AAC notebook and AAC digitized speech. Participants rated the communicator on five dependent measures, ranked the three storytelling modes and participated in a focus-group discussion. Analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for storytelling mode. Specifically, participants rated AAC digitized speech highest of the three storytelling modes on all dependent measures. In the ranking task, a majority of peers ranked AAC digitized speech as their most preferred storytelling mode and natural speech as their least preferred storytelling mode. Rating and ranking scores were influenced by the understandability of the story and the perceived effort required to transmit and receive it. Other issues raised in the focus-group discussions related to the authorship of the communicative message, participants lack of familiarity with the communicator and concerns regarding the therapeutic nature of the interaction. The findings of this investigation offer preliminary data about how to incorporate storytelling into the communication systems of adults with aphasia in ways that may facilitate peer participation.