Inner Speech Can Predict Naming Treatment Outcomes in Aphasia: A Pilot, Single-Subject Design Study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Aphasia, a communication disorder post-stroke, often impairs word retrieval.
• Inner speech (IS) is the internal experience of word retrieval, crucial for communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if self-reported inner speech (IS) predicts naming treatment outcomes in poststroke aphasia.
• To determine the utility of IS in guiding speech therapy for aphasia.

Main Methods:

• A single-subject design study involving five adults with chronic poststroke aphasia.
• Participants completed IS self-report and naming tasks to categorize stimuli as successful IS (sIS) or unsuccessful IS (uIS).
• A 2-week cueing-based naming treatment targeted both sIS and uIS items, with analysis using Tau U and mixed-effects models.

Main Results:

• Four out of five participants showed significant naming accuracy improvement for sIS items, but not uIS items.
• Self-reported IS was a significant predictor of posttreatment naming accuracy, even after controlling for aphasia severity.
• The relationship between IS and naming accuracy evolved, with sIS item accuracy aligning more closely with initial IS reports over time.

Conclusions:

• Self-reported IS is a valuable clinical predictor for naming treatment outcomes in individuals with aphasia.
• IS can inform treatment stimulus selection and progress monitoring in speech therapy.
• Further research is needed to understand individual variability in IS and treatment response.