Patient factors that predict response to intensive phonomotor treatment

Abstract

Abstract Patient Factors that Predict Response to Intensive Phonomotor Treatment Kristen M. Elliott Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Diane L. Kendall, PhD, CCC-SLP Speech and Hearing Sciences Phonomotor treatment is a phonologically based, intensive training program associated with gains in naming trained items, untrained items (generalization) and improvements in parts of discourse and quality of life indicators. The purpose of this study was to examine links between pretreatment individual factors and phonomotor treatment outcome measures in 26 persons with aphasia. Age, months post onset (MPO), severity of aphasia, severity of anomia, and severity of phonological impairment were assessed prior to treatment and compared to gains immediately and at a 3 month follow-up. Though age and MPO appear to predict immediate improvement, they do not predict maintenance of learned skills following treatment termination and therefore should not be used to inform enrollment decisions. Baseline lexical retrieval ability predicted trained and untrained real word confrontation naming 3 months following treatment termination. These results lend support for the importance of considering residual lexical-semantic abilities when enrolling participants into phonomotor treatment.