Alexia Treatment: Life Participation Approach

Author: Brett McCardel, MS, CCC-SLP

In order for therapy to make the biggest impact, therapy tasks need to be centered around meaningful activities ๐Ÿ—ฃโฃ
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The ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฎ utilizes a model known as the ๐—”-๐—™๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—  (Living with Aphasia: Framework for Outcome Measurement). The A-FROM has 4 distinct domains that all contribute to living with aphasia: โฃ
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-Participation in Life Activitiesโฃ
-Personal Identity, Attitudes, and Feelingsโฃ
-Severity of Aphasiaโฃ
-Communication and Language Environmentโฃ
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Using the A-FROM model, our therapy plans can become more comprehensive as we strive to make sure that our goals are patient-centered and our treatment helps people return to activities that make their life meaningful.โฃ
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Here is an example of how you might apply the A-FROM model to alexia treatment:โฃ
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๐—ฃ๐—”๐—ง๐—œ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง ๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—™๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐—˜โฃ
Patient is a 63 year old who presents with a phonological alexia following a Left CVA 9 months ago. Reading is relatively intact at the single word level, but breaks down at the sentence level. โฃ
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Patient reports that she misses being able to read books to her grandchildren, and that she becomes unsure of herself when attempting to read (becoming distressed at always needing her husbandโ€™s help to read any material). Patient reports that her grandchildren live nearby in a house that can be busy and noisy due to young children and pets.โฃ
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๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—”๐—ง๐— ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง ๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—”-๐—™๐—ฅ๐—ข๐— โฃ
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-๐™‹๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™‡๐™ž๐™›๐™š ๐˜ผ๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จ: Reading a storybook to grandchildrenโฃ
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-๐™‹๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™„๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ, ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™š๐™จ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ: Counseling patient regarding her feelings, engaging patient and husband in communication partner trainingโฃ
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-๐™Ž๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™› ๐˜ผ๐™ฅ๐™๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™–: Using EBP treatments (ORLA, Phonological Treatment) and Assistive Technology (C-Pen Reader) as tools to help in reading storybookโฃ
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-๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ข๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™‡๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ช๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ: Brainstorming environmental modifications (picking one book to focus on, finding a quiet space in house to read to grandchildren)โฃ
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#aphasia #aphasiatherapy #neurorehabilitation #medslp #reading #alexia

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