Influence of Rehabilitation on Language Skills in Aphasic Patients

TLDR

The study examined how language rehabilitation influences speaking, understanding, writing, and reading in 281 aphasic patients. The authors evaluated the impact of time since onset, aphasia type, initial severity, and the presence of rehabilitation on language improvement. Rehabilitation significantly improved all language skills; earlier onset and greater initial severity were linked to less improvement, aphasia type had no effect, and even delayed therapy proved beneficial.

Abstract

•The influence of language rehabilitation on specific language skills (speaking, understanding, writing, and reading) was investigated in 281 aphasic patients (162 reeducated and 119 controls) who were subjected to a second examination no less than six months after the first. The relationship of the following factors to improvement was studied: (a) time between onset of aphasia and first examination; (b) type of aphasia; (c) overall severity of aphasia on first examination; (d) presence or absence of rehabilitation between first and subsequent examination. It was found that rehabilitation had a significant positive effect on improvement in all language skills. Time between onset and first examination and overall severity of aphasia were negatively related to improvement. The relationship of type of aphasia to improvement was not significant. Additional evidence of the efficacy of rehabilitation is provided by experience with patients who began language therapy several months or years after the onset of their language disorder.