The Effects of Treating Verbs and Nouns Using a Modified Semantic Feature Approach to Improve Word-finding in Aphasia

• Main Author: Gareis, Heather A.
• Language: EN
• Published: California State University, Long Beach 2018
• Subjects: Speech therapy|Health sciences|Language
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10784915

<p> Semantic approaches, including semantic feature analysis (SFA), are commonly used to treat individuals with anomia (word-finding difficulties) due to nondegenerative chronic aphasia. Research has traditionally targeted nouns, with relatively few published studies targeting verbs in isolation or in comparison to nouns. Yet, verbs are essential for higher-level communications, and some evidence suggests that treating higher-level word types may have crossover benefits. Generalization to untrained words and discourse have also varied across studies. </p><p> Thus, the aim of this study was to determine if a modified SFA treatment could be effective for both nouns and verbs, to assess generalization, and to investigate potential crossover benefits. Results revealed that the treatment did improve spontaneous production of trained nouns and verbs as well as semantic retrieval of untrained words, with an unexpected result of untrained verbs achieving a higher level of spontaneous production than untrained nouns. Implications and avenues for future studies are also discussed.</p><p>