Assessing Game Therapy for Aphasia: a New Approach to Aphasia Rehabilitation

EasyChair Preprint 6416

Abstract

The efficacy of speech and language therapy for people with aphasia (PWA) is limited by the difficulty of delivering therapy with the right intensity and by the negative interaction of language and emotional difficulties. Romani et al., 2019 have recently provided evidence for the efficacy and feasibility of a new approach based on playing language games which addresses these issues.  This study aims to pilot new materials which extended game therapy by: 1. Making the therapy even more game-like through the use of game-boards with slots corresponding to different types of exercises; 2. Including different games closely linked to functional scenarios (at the café, doctor, clothing store etc.); 3. Including different types of exercises working with different aspects of language processing.mSix PWA split into two teams played the language games for a total of 48 hours over eight weeks. Patients differed in severity and type of impairment.  Results after therapy showed:

• 18.9% (45/240) more treated words correct in picture naming;
• 19.8% (48/240) more treated target words produced correctly in describing pictured scenes;
• In narrative contexts (descriptions of pictured scenes; narrating a story from vignettes) significant increases in the number and % of words used meaningfully and in the number of sentences or partial sentences produced;
• Gains maintained over time and significant in all participants;
• Improvements in mood and self-confidence;
• Excellent engagement and satisfaction for all participants and a preference for game therapy over individual therapy.

Team-Game therapy is a promising new approach. It is effective and economical in terms of resources since a single facilitator can support a  group of PWA and it addresses at the same time linguistic and emotional difficulties by carrying out the therapy in a relaxed environment where participants support each other.

Keyphrases: Game therapy, Playing in teams, Rehabilitation

@booklet{EasyChair:6416,
  author    = {Cristina Romani and Asma Jebril and Sabira Dewji and Andrew Olson and Nick Cox and Louise Lander},
  title     = {Assessing Game Therapy for Aphasia: a New Approach to Aphasia Rehabilitation},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6416},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}