Co-constructed storytelling for a person with aphasia from traumatic brain injury
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Abstract
Can co-constructed storytelling help a person with aphasia from a traumatic brain injury read and share their story? This study is a continuation of how the Aphasia-Friendly Reading approach developed by Regier (2021) can help a person with aphasia share their personal stories despite their communication challenges. A 31-year old male with aphasia from a traumatic brain injury that occured 7 years ago participated in the study. His mother participated in the study in the role of care partner and co-reader. In the first phase of the study, the participant selected three topics that he would like to tell stories about. Then, graduate student clinicians supervised by a speech language pathologist worked with the person with aphasia and co-reader to develop three personalized scripts for them to practice and read aloud together. A single subject multiple baseline design was used to measure improvement in oral story reading, and a pretest-posttest design was used to measure changes in standardized test scores. Following the story practice phase, a celebration for the participant was held, and family and friends were invited to hear the participant and his co-reader share their stories. Analyses of oral story reading accuracy showed significant improvement from pre-treatment to one month post treatment with a large effect size for one story and small effect sizes for the other two stories. Results of the pre- and post-treatment standardized test scores from the Western Aphasia BatteryRevised showed an increase in Aphasia Quotient Score from 65.5/100 (type Broca’s) to 70.4/100 (type Conduction, a milder aphasia type). Additionally, the participant and his coreader reported that they enjoyed sharing their stories and progress with their loved ones. These results are consistent with a prior study that used Aphasia-Friendly Reading intervention with people who had aphasia from stroke.