RESUMEN
The paper describes the spontaneous recovery of language abilities of 52 stroke patients who were aphasic for more than 4 weeks. These patients had been randomly allocated to receive no speech therapy and had been assessed at 6-weekly intervals after a stroke. There was improvement in language abilities over time. Age, sex and aphasia type were not related to the amount of improvement. An aphasic patient's level of language ability at 6 months could be predicted on the basis of the test score on the Porch Index of Communicative Ability at 4 weeks.
Asunto(s)
Afasia/terapia , Infarto Cerebral/complicaciones , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas , Logopedia , Adulto , Anciano , Anomia/terapia , Afasia de Broca/terapia , Afasia de Wernicke/terapia , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Medición de la Producción del HablaRESUMEN
A survey of the service available, in speech and language therapy departments, to adults with aphasia revealed that many districts in the United Kingdom are unable to fulfil the professional recommendations for the care of aphasic clients. Although individual 'good practice' criteria could be satisfied, only a minority of districts were able to provide a comprehensive service. Levels of staffing for the adult neurological caseload are variable and even, at best, hinder therapists in delivering the recommended standard of management to aphasic clients and their carers.
Asunto(s)
Afasia/terapia , Terapia del Lenguaje/estadística & datos numéricos , Logopedia/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Derivación y Consulta/estadística & datos numéricos , Reino Unido , Recursos HumanosRESUMEN
Aphasic stroke patients were randomly allocated to either a speech therapy group receiving treatment twice a week for 24 weeks or a no-treatment control group. Patients in both groups improved and there were no significant differences in language recovery between the 104 patients allocated to the treatment group and the 87 allocated to the no-treatment group. This treatment regimen, which is representative of clinical practice, is ineffective for most aphasic stroke patients.