A Method for Speech Donation and Speech Discourse in Speech Rehabilitation in Aphasias

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to assess the efficacy of speech rehabilitation in aphasias during the outpatient period, initially using audiovisual samples of the speech of first-order relatives, followed by transfer to rehabilitation using feedback consisting of the patient’s own audiovisual materials (a speech donation and speech discourse method). The study included 53 patients undergoing out-patient rehabilitation for aphasias of different degrees of severity (28 with moderate aphasias, 12 with mild, and 13 with severe) etiopathogenetically related to stroke or craniocerebral trauma. The speech rehabilitation algorithm included the following sequence: stage 1 – biological feedback using audiovisual samples of the speech of first-order relatives (7–14 days); stage 2 – recording the patient’s own speech on DVD and working with the patient’s own audiovisual samples (14–21 days). Sessions with recordings were delivered twice daily. After rehabilitation courses, there were significant (p < 0.001) improvements in patients’ verbal functions, with reductions in the frequencies of literal and verbal paraphasias and literal perseverations, along with improvements in speech initiation and the nonverbal components (intonation and kinesthetic appearances). Rehabilitation in the group with severe aphasias was worse than that in patients with moderate aphasias, where the speech donation method was highly effective.