Overview
This research aims to explore the relative efficacy of Verbal-only and GVT on naming difficulty in Cantonese-speaking people with aphasia (PWA).
The primary research question in this study is: "For Cantonese-speaking people with aphasia, what are the relative effects of verbal treatment compared to gesture plus verbal treatment (GVT) on verbal and gesture naming at different levels?"
People with aphasia will be engaged in a repeated measures experimental design. Participants will be engaged in two phases of training. In the first phase, participants will be assigned to receive verbal-only treatment. To minimize and prevent the carry-over effects caused by the first intervention, a one-month washout period will be implemented before the start of the second phase. After a washout period, participants will switch to GVT in the second phase.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Diagnosed with aphasia
- Demonstrate Word finding Difficulty (WFD)
- Able to repeat single words
- Normal (or corrected) vision and hearing
- Aphasia resulting from a unilateral left hemisphere stroke
- Premorbidly fluent in spoken Cantonese
- Without significant cognitive impairments
- Chronic aphasia resulting from a unilateral left hemisphere stroke
Exclusion Criteria:
- A history of other neurological disorders
- With the above moderate to severe or severe motor speech impairment
- With moderate to severe apraxia of speech
- With very mild or very severe aphasia
