Semantically Enhanced Verb Retrieval Treatment

描述(由申请人提供)：该项目旨在检查非流利失语症患者中发现的动词产生缺陷的治疗效果，作为开发临床上有效的治疗失语症句子产生缺陷的方法的第一步。在这个项目中，我们将测试这样一个假设，即与频繁与之相关的名词论元一起训练动词将导致更快的习得和更好的记忆，而不是像传统的动词处理中经常做的那样训练单个动词。此外，我们建议证明我们的处理方法(即语义增强的动词检索处理-SEVR)将比单一的动词训练方法在生产的各个方面产生更大的改善，包括动词产生和句子产生。改进句子发音可能会改善沟通，并有可能提高失语症患者的社会参与度和生活满意度(针对2010年健康人的目标，重点领域6：残疾和继发性疾病)。为了实现我们的目标，我们将比较传统的、基于重复的动词治疗方法和SEVR治疗方法，使用具有多个行为基线的单一受试者交叉治疗设计。所有参与者都将按照基线连续接受这两种治疗。治疗顺序的介绍将在不同参与者之间保持平衡。这两种处理的效果将通过参与者在训练动词提取上的表现来比较。潜在的泛化将通过分析参与者对未训练动词的提取、成功提取的动词的句子生成以及它们的叙事生成来检验。治疗对治疗外参与者的沟通行为的影响将通过社会确认测量(即沟通效率指数)进行评估，以记录社会参与的潜在改善。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project aims to examine the effects of treatment for verb production deficits found in non-fluent aphasic individuals, as a first step in developing a clinically efficacious treatment approach for sentence production deficits in aphasia. In this project we will test the hypothesis that training verbs in association with noun arguments frequently associated with them will lead to faster acquisition and better retention over time than training single verbs as is often done in traditional verb treatment. In addition, we propose to show that our treatment approach (i.e., Semantically Enhanced Verb Retrieval Treatment - SEVR) will result in greater improvement in various aspects of production, including verb production and sentence production, than single verb training approach. Improved sentence production will likely result in improved communication, and potentially lead to improved social participation and satisfaction with life in individuals with aphasia (addressing the goals of Healthy People 2010 Focus Area 6: Disability and Secondary Conditions). To achieve our goal, we will compare the traditional, repetition-based verb treatment approach to SEVR treatment, using single-subject crossover treatment design with multiple baselines across behaviors. All participants will receive both treatments consecutively, following baselines. The order of treatment presentation will be counterbalanced across participants. The effects of the two treatments will be compared using the participants' performance on trained verb retrieval. Potential generalization will be examined by analyzing the participant's retrieval of untrained verbs, sentence production involving successfully retrieved verbs, and their narrative production. The effect of the treatment on the communication behaviors of the participants outside treatment will be assessed via a social validation measure (i.e., Communicative Effectiveness Index), to document potential improvement in social participation.