ACQ Vol 10 No 2 2008

T op 10 A phasia R esources and R eferences Samantha Siyambalapitiya and the third-year speech pathology students, James Cook University, Queensland

examines the relationship between what actually occurs within a conversational exchange, such as opportunities for interaction, repair strategies and so on, and the person with aphasia and their communicative partner’s perception of these events. The CAPPA is a useful tool to assist clinicians in improving their clients’ functional communication. It identifies conversational strengths and weaknesses in real, everyday, interactional com­ municative exchanges, which may be used in the develop­ ment of a functionally relevant and individually tailored intervention. 4 Cruice, M., Worrall, L., & Hickson, L. (2006). Perspectives of quality of life by people with aphasia and their family: Suggestions for daily living. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, 13 (1), 14–24. This qualitative study sought the perspectives of four older individuals with stroke and aphasia regarding what brings them quality in their daily lives. The article includes transcript excerpts from interviews carried out with both the people with aphasia as well as their carer/partner/child. Recurring themes from the people with aphasia included having positive relationships with others, being content with living arrangements, having independence, and participating in meaningful activities. This article is useful for managing aphasia because it highlights the idea that the clinician must gain an understanding of the patient’s priorities and goals, as well as the patient’s lived experience and individual perspective on stroke and aphasia, in order to plan a meaningful intervention program with a view to obtaining satisfying outcomes. 5 Pulvermuller, F., Neininger, B., Elbert, T., Mohr, B., Rockstroh, B., Koebbel, P., & Taub, E. (2001). Constraint-induced therapy of chronic aphasia after stroke. Stroke, 32: 1621–1626. Constraint-induced aphasia therapy is based on similar principles to constraint-induced therapy for the re­ habilitation of movement of the extremities in physio­ therapy. This approach uses the principles of massed practice (30 hours of training in 2 weeks) and constraint induction (constraints are used to force the patient to perform actions they usually avoid). Constraints include material difficulty, rules and shaping, reinforcement contingencies and behavioural relevance (focuses on actions relevant to everyday life). This approach can be used with patients with chronic aphasia, which is particularly interesting considering that, in many cases of aphasia, there may be little further improvement in the chronic stage.

1 Aphasia Info website: http://www. strokesupport.com/info/aphasia/default.asp This website is designed for patients with aphasia and their family and friends. It includes information about: what aphasia is, tips for communicating at home, support groups; and access to a free newsletter and aphasia/stroke survivor stories. The website is easily accessible from an ‘aphasia’ google search. This is a very realistic way of how patients, family and friends would search for aphasia informa­ tion. The information was basic and easy to understand and there were many extra links if more information was needed. The ‘survivor stories’ provide hope for the readers and might be a great motivation for language therapy. Helpful tips on how to communicate with a person with aphasia are also included. Overall, this site a great first step to finding information on aphasia. 2 Penpals for people with aphasia: http://www.aphasiahelp.org/penpals/ This website is particularly relevant for those patients exhibiting deficits with reading and/or writing; how­ ever, other sections of the website are an excellent educational tool for all people affected by aphasia. The aphasia-friendly site connects people with aphasia from around the globe through a network entitled ‘aphasia penpals’. This website is useful and interesting. It allows the person with aphasia to participate in real-life activities and by incorporating this resource into management, the clinician can provide more holistic speech pathology interventions. 3 Whitworth, A., Perkins, L., Lesser, R. (1997). Conversation analysis profile for people with aphasia (CAPPA). London: Whurr. The Conversation analysis profile for people with aphasia (CAPPA) is an assessment tool, based on conversational analysis methodology. It involves a two-part, structured interview with the person with aphasia and their main conversational partner, and a recorded 10-minute sample of conversation in the home environment. The CAPPA This latest Top 10 is a set of resources and references with a twist: these references were selected by speech pathology students, some of whom have not yet seen people with aphasia on their student placements. The third-year speech pathology students at James Cook University have been learning about aphasia this semester and were recently asked to seek out a resource or reference that they thought would be helpful in the management of aphasia. This is the list of some of the resources and references that they selected, along with their reasons for choosing them.

70

S peech P athology A ustralia