SPTH 9126 Assignment: Aphasia Intervention

GENERAL INFORMATION           

 Mode of submission: Word document and video lodged electronically via drop box on FLO

Grade:            Non-Graded Pass

Length:          1500 words (plus video – 5 minutes)

Hurdle task: Yes

 Due Date as per FLO

 Assignment summary       

In this assignment you will develop a case of a person with aphasia and a therapy task to conduct with them which you will video. There will be two parts to be submitted individually:

•        a written assignment

•        a video

You will design and implement an assessment and an intervention task targeting verbal expression at the single-word level (i.e., naming) for a hypothetical person with aphasia. The intervention will use Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) as the treatment approach.

This assignment links to learning outcomes 1 and 2 for this topic

Its purpose is to give you practise in:             

•        Hypothesising how different strokes (location, cause) will affect the language and non-language functions of an individual through the development of a hypothetical case.

•        Appraising the principles of learning and rehabilitation in the context of a neurological damage and client centred care through your development and enactment of a clientcentred intervention plan

•        Critically examining the semantic feature analysis (SFA) treatment approach to aphasia and service delivery models and provide justification through the rationale you provide for your intervention plan

•        By videoing your role play you are also gaining indirect evidence of your ability to implement speech pathology practice

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION         

Process     

Step 1. Develop a case of a person with aphasia. This should include a brief description of your client – demographics, psychosocial background, diagnosis of stroke and how it has caused aphasia, communication strengths and impairments (approx. 200 words).

HINT: Ensure that your descriptive information aligns with your final diagnosis, keeping in mind that Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) is the selected therapy activity here (e.g. this is an expressive language intervention task). All elements of the assignment should flow cohesively, with a clear narrative that avoids contradictory information.

Step 2. Outline your assessment plan for your case. Include results from your assessments as would be appropriate from your case. E.g. results of the BDAE naming test including what cues helped them and what didn’t.

Choose one assessment task from your plan to demonstrate in your video recording (details below) e.g. confrontational naming task.

Step 3. Search the literature for evidence-based practice implementation of semantic feature analysis (SFA) as an intervention to target verbal expression at a single word level 

HINT: The article chosen should be a contemporary source where possible and NOT a systematic or scoping review article. The aim is for you to replicate this EBP intervention described in the literature with the client that you have developed as a part of this assessment.  

Step 4. Write a synopsis of an article that has described and evaluated the intervention approach for semantic feature analysis (SFA) (approx. 300 words).

Step 5. Based on your evaluation of semantic feature analysis (SFA), devise a 5-minute therapy activity for the person with aphasia.

a.     Explain and provide rationales for:

o   the goals of the session o method and materials o teaching instructions o cueing strategies o criterion for success

o   how performance will be recorded

(this can be presented in a table but will be included in the word count)

b.     If you altered the intervention described in the article, describe how and why

(approx. 400 words)

Step 6. Produce a video recording showing an example of BOTH your assessment tasks and your therapy (5 minutes).

•        With a fellow student (or friend/ family member) record a role play of you delivering the assessment and therapy tasks you designed in the task above.

Guide: You will be the therapist, and your helper will be the client. 

•        Consider how you would build rapport with your adult client

•        Consider error types that your ‘client’ will make and include these in the role play.

•        Include one example of you providing feedback and monitoring of client performance during the ‘session’ and adjusting the task to make it appropriately harder or easier (e.g. utilising your contingencies – step ups/downs)

Step 7. Imagine you receive an email from a family member of your client. They would like to know how much better your client will get. Write a short reply email giving some feedback to the family in layman terms what the prognosis is for your client and why. (approx. 200 words)

What to hand up         

Part 1: Written assignment will include

•        Brief description of a client

•        Written plan for assessment of their language skills

•        Synopsis of an article

•        Written plan for a therapy activity

•        Email to family members

Part 2: Video

•        An example of one assessment AND one therapy task uploaded to FLO