Evidence for Semantic Feature Analysis Improving Lexical Access in Aphasia

Thursday, 5:15pm
Exhibit Hall 1AB
Poster 08
Speech-language pathologists will see an increased number of bilingual patients experiencing anomic aphasia in the coming years. As anomia is the most consistent feature of aphasia and the second most prevalent form of aphasia the need for understanding how therapy for anomia works in patients with bilingual aphasia is important. The purpose of this poster is to investigate how semantic feature analysis, used with persons who are monolingual, transfer to bilingual persons with anomic aphasia. The data from the studies appraised suggests semantic feature analysis does improve lexical access in bilingual individuals, not only in L1 but also in L2. While this does not apply to all patients, the implications are two-fold. First, if the patient is equally proficient in both languages, whether treatment takes place in L1 or L2 should not matter. Second, if the patient is pre-morbidly more proficient in L1, treatment should be administered in the L2, as it is more likely to generalize. However one of the studies suggests semantic treatment works best when the activation of the semantic system due to said treatment outweighs the inhibition of specific items during lexical selection, which would occur if you treated in L1 instead of L2. The data reviewed for this poster should be taken under consideration when treating bilingual individuals with anomic aphasia.
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Poster