Improving Functional Communication Outcomes in Post-Stroke Aphasia via Telepractice: An Alternative Service Delivery...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Telehealth

Background:

• Persons with aphasia (PWA) face significant barriers to accessing traditional speech-language treatment (SLT).
• These barriers include limited funding, therapist shortages, geographical and physical limitations, and public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Innovative service delivery models are crucial to improve SLT accessibility for PWA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of telepractice as a service delivery model for PWA.
• To assess changes in communication abilities and confidence following remote SLT.

Main Methods:

• Ten PWA participated in 8 hours of synchronous telepractice over 4 weeks.
• Interventions included Oral Reading for Language in Aphasia (ORLA) and Conversational Script Training (CST).
• Outcomes were measured using the Communication Activities of Daily Living-3 (CADL-3) and Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA), alongside a satisfaction survey.

Main Results:

• All participants showed significant improvements in CCRSA scores, indicating enhanced communication confidence.
• Participants demonstrated increased accuracy in producing trained words for both CST and ORLA tasks.
• No significant changes were observed in CADL-3 scores, suggesting targeted skill improvements rather than broad functional communication gains.

Conclusions:

• Telepractice is a feasible and effective model for delivering SLT to PWA.
• Remote SLT can successfully improve specific language skills and boost communication confidence in PWA.
• Telepractice represents a viable alternative to overcome traditional barriers in accessing SLT for individuals with aphasia.