Let's Chat About Spoken Discourse: A Tutorial to Support Use of Spoken Discourse Analysis When Providing Aphasia...

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Neurolinguistics
• Clinical Communication Research

Background:

• Spoken discourse is crucial for daily communication, especially for individuals with aphasia.
• Discourse analysis is valuable for aphasia assessment and treatment but faces barriers like time and training.
• Clinicians need comprehensive resources to effectively implement discourse analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To equip speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with knowledge on discourse tasks, outcome measures, and psychometric properties.
• To promote the consistent and effective application of discourse analysis in clinical settings.
• To facilitate the broader adoption of discourse analysis in aphasia care.

Main Methods:

• Overview of recommended spoken discourse collection and analysis procedures.
• Presentation of outcome measures and their psychometric properties.
• Inclusion of case studies for severe, mild, bilingual, and primary progressive aphasia.

Main Results:

• Illustrates the utility of discourse analysis across diverse aphasia types.
• Demonstrates how task and measure selection provides tailored insights.
• Offers practical recommendations for integrating discourse analysis into clinical services.

Conclusions:

• Spoken discourse production is a key indicator of communication ability in aphasia.
• This tutorial supports clinicians in integrating evidence-based discourse analysis into practice.
• Encourages the use of discourse-based approaches to enhance outcomes for individuals with aphasia.