Comparing the effects of clinician and caregiver-administered lexical retrieval training for progressive anomia

ABSTRACT

There is a growing body of literature indicating that lexical retrieval training can result in improved naming ability in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. Traditionally, treatment is administered by a speech-language pathologist, with little involvement of caregivers or carry-over of practice into the home. This study examined the effects of a lexical retrieval training programme that was implemented first by a clinician and, subsequently, by a trained caregiver. Two dyads, each consisting of one individual with anomia caused by neurodegenerative disease (one with mild cognitive impairment and one with logopenic primary progressive aphasia) and their caregiver, participated in the study. Results indicated medium and large effect sizes for both clinician- and caregiver-trained items, with generalisation to untrained stimuli. Participants reported improved confidence during communication as well as increased use of trained communication strategies after treatment. This study is the first to document that caregiver-administered speech and language intervention can have positive outcomes when paired with training by a clinician. Caregiver-administered treatment may be a viable means of increasing treatment dosage in the current climate of restricted reimbursement, particularly for patients with progressive conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary progressive aphasia
• treatment
• lexical retrieval
• anomia
• caregiver

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health under award number R03DC01340 and by funding provided to the University of Texas at Austin by the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease.