Treatment

Where possible, treatment should be offered in all relevant languages and the relevant modalities.

Reference: N/A
NHMRC level of Evidence: GPP

Rationale: Systematic avoidance of a language may reduce the potential for its recovery (M. Meinzer, Obleser, Flaisch, Eulitz, & Rockstroh, 2007). In addition, avoidance of a language may reduce the communication access opportunities for a bilingual person (Centeno & Ansaldo, 2013; Penn, Commerford, & Ogilvy, 2007). Cross-linguistic transfer of treatment gains provided only in one language does not occur for all cases (A. I. Ansaldo & Saidi, 2013; Faroqi-Shah, Frymark, Mullen, & Wang, 2010) , but may occur more easily when using translation tasks, Semantic Feature Analysis or a combination of this approach with phonological cueing, and  treating in the weaker premorbid language  or in the stronger post-morbid language (A. I. Ansaldo & Saidi, 2013).  However, the choice of language should reflect relative accessibility and proficiency, and also the client’s preferences and needs among other factors (Centeno & Ansaldo, 2013; Roberts, 2008).

References:

1. Ansaldo, A. I., & Saidi, L. G. (2013). Aphasia therapy in the age of globalisation: Cross-linguistic therapy effects in bilingual aphasia. Behavioural neurology. doi: 10.3233/BEN-130336
2. Centeno, J. G., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2013). Aphasia in multilingual populations. In P. C. I. Papathanasiou, & C. Potagas (Ed.), Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders. Boston: Jones and Bartlett.
3. Faroqi-Shah, Y., Frymark, T., Mullen, R., & Wang, B. (2010). Effect of treatment for bilingual individuals with aphasia: A systematic review of the evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23(4), 319-341. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2010.01.002
4. Meinzer, M., Obleser, J., Flaisch, T., Eulitz, C., & Rockstroh, B. (2007). Recovery from aphasia as a function of language therapy in an early bilingual patient demonstrated by fMRI. Neuropsychologia, 45(6), 1247-1256. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.10.003
5. Penn, C., Commerford, A., & Ogilvy, D. (2007). Spatial and facial processing in the signed discourse of two groups of deaf signers with clinical language impairment. Clinical Linguistics  & Phonetics, 21(5). doi: 10.1080/02699200701267476
6. Roberts, P. M. (2008). Aphasia assessment and treatment in bilingual and multicultural populations. In R. Chapey (Ed.), Language intervention strategies in adult aphasia (5th ed., pp. 245 – 276). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.