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A Function-Led Tailored Speech-Language Intervention in Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Retrospective Observational
Alessandra Vitulli1, Davide Vilella1, Valentina Gnoni1
1Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Aging Brain, Department of Clinical Research in Neurology, University of Bari Aldo Moro, "Pia Fondazione Cardinale G. Panico," Tricase, Lecce, Italy.
Purpose:
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects language abilities. Since no curative or pharmacological treatments are currently available, speech-language therapy represents one of the few clinical intervention options. Furthermore, evidence from routine clinical practice is needed to better characterize language changes associated with tailored, person-centered speech-language therapy approaches in PPA. The aim of this retrospective observational pre-post study was to explore baseline-to-follow-up changes associated with a function-led tailored speech-language intervention delivered in routine clinical practice.
Method:
A retrospective pre-post clinical study was conducted on data collected from individuals with a diagnosis of PPA who received weekly 45-min function-led, tailored speech-language therapy in routine clinical practice over 6-9 months. Patients within each PPA variant were treated using similar core intervention targets reflecting the predominant impaired language domains, while stimuli were personalized using ecologically relevant words and phrases derived from each patient's daily life and communicative needs. Home-based exercises reflecting the same task principles and stimuli used during therapy sessions were assigned and reviewed at each visit. The primary outcome was baseline-to-follow-up change in language performance measured using the Screening for Aphasia in NeuroDegeneration (SAND).
Results:
Seventeen individuals with a diagnosis of PPA completed the intervention. Across the whole cohort, pre-post comparisons showed statistically significant changes only in the naming of non-living items and a reduction in semantic errors during picture description. In exploratory subgroup analyses, statistically significant changes were observed in the logopenic variant for SAND overall word/nonword repetition and word repetition.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that function-led, tailored speech-language intervention delivered in routine practice may be associated with changes in selected language measures in individuals with PPA. These results should be considered preliminary and exploratory. Future prospective studies are warranted to further characterize and validate these real-world observations.
Supplemental Material:
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.34057182.
