Case Study
High-level nonfluent Aphasia
Age: 16
Time since stroke: 13 months
Problems
Cassie had a brain tumor removed. She had a stroke during the surgery. Her parents wanted to help her to succeed at school and go to college. Cassie wanted to be able to talk to and text her friends and to understand her homework and classwork. She also participated in soccer and wanted to process information faster.When talking, Cassie had a hard time organizing what she wanted to say, provide details and find the right words. She could not write key words to take notes or process information of more than one step quickly. She was a friendly, outgoing and smart girl.
Assessment
Using The Aphasia Center's testing protocols
- Spoke in complete sentences
- Difficulty follow directions
- Limited working memory and sustained attention
- Problems with auditory processing
- Poor written organization
- Read paragraph-length material
- Slower rate of speech
Treatment
She completed a 4-week program
and My Aphasia Coach software homework daily.
Results
Before
After
Narrative cartoon
36 CIUs/min
(content/minute)
(content/minute)
60
Narrative description
43 Words/minute
69
Following Directions
83%
100%
Outcome
- Learned and practiced strategies to help her understand more effectively
- Used more detailed language
- Increased her rate of speech and word-finding
- Learned to take notes and to ask questions
- Understood information better in all contexts (at school, home, and the soccer field.)
- Followed directions more independently
- Developed more confidence in her schoolwork and with her friends