The Efficacy of Combined Inhibitory Control Treatment on Word Retrieval Deficits in Patients with Aphasia

Background and Objective: The relation between word retrieval deficits and inhibitory control as the hallmark component of executive function in persons with aphasia is controversial. Studies have been done in aphasia syndrome and language impairment; have documented difficulties in executive function abilities as well. Inhibitory control issues are common in aphasic persons who demonstrate word retrieval deficits. The current project had the aim to develop a treatment protocol which simultaneously considers word retrieval and inhibitory control mechanism.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on the 7 patients with aphasia. Patients received combined treatment (CT: The errorless naming treatment plus an Inhibitory control paradigm) for 4 weeks, 12 treatment sessions, 3 times per week, every other day. The Paralell Pictutre Naming Tests (PPN), word/ non word repetition task (WR/NWR), semantic and phonologic word-picture matching task (WPMs and WPMp) considered as the main outcome measures. The Stroop task (interference score) and Persian Communicative Effectiveness index (P-CETI) were considered as secondary outcome measures. All of the main and secondary outcome measures were assessed before and after the treatment s and at one month follow up. Findings: All patients had improved regarding PPNT, WR/NWR, WPMs, WPMp, interference and P-CETI scores over the time (P < 0.05). The large effect sizes were found for PPNT and NWR scores in post-assessment. Furthermore, the moderate effect sizes were reported for WPMp, interference (Stroop Task) scores and WR in follow up assessment.Conclusions: The results of this preliminary study showed that combined therapy led to a great improvement in word retrieval performance in patients with aphasia.

کلیدواژه ها:

aphasia ، word retrieval deficits ، inhibitory control system ، errorless naming treatment