EXECUTIVE FUNCTION &CONVERSATION APHASIA PARADIGM SHIFT

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

The specific aims of the feasibility study proposed herein are: 1) to develop a broad set of measures of executive functioning for use with persons who have aphasia, 2) to refine a new method of quantifying communication success, and 3) to begin to identify the specific executive functions that play an important role in real life communicative success for persons with aphasia. To achieve these goals, a broad set of executive functioning components that may be important to the communication performance of persons with aphasia will be identified. Currently available assessment procedures for these executive systems components will then be modified so that they can be administered to participants with aphasia. Simultaneously, additional data necessary to establish the reliability and validity of a new method of quantifying communication success in conversation will be gathered and analyzed. Finally, these new assessment procedures, along with other standardized measures of functional communication, will be combined and administered to a group of thirty persons with aphasia to determine possible relationships between specific executive functions and communication success. The work proposed will establish the feasibility and tools necessary for future research that may ultimately provide new insights into nonlinguistic processes that contribute to good functional outcome for persons with aphasia.