A historical study of intervention for aphasia may provide information on how speech and language pathologists work with people with aphasia. Aphasia is seen as an umbrella term for symptoms of language disorders caused by aquired brain injury. The overall aim of the present study was to describe and analyze the development of intervention for aphasia during the periods 1990-1999 and 2000-2010.The study was conducted by analysis of 83 medical records from two hospitals in Sweden during a period of 20 years. These decades were compared to each other and yo current litteraturein search for differences and trends in Aphasia intervention.The Results of the present study revealed that intervention mainly focused on recovering the linguistic ability in both the 1990s and 2000s. Intervention and literature focusing on communication seem to increase during the 2000s.

Background: The speech- and language deficit aphasia affects 12 000 persons annually in Sweden. Aphasia is caused by injury in the brain and the most common etiology is stroke. According to the tool for describing and assessing aphasia, A-FROM (Kagan et al., 2008), the four following aspects of aphasia need to be considered: severity of aphasia, participation in life situations, communication and language environment and personal factors. Several different interventions and treatments can be performed in every domain. There is scientific evidence for interventions performed by speech and language pathologists; however, the question is yet being discussed since results are unambiguous.Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate which Aphasia interventions performed by speech and language pathologists that are supported by evidence.

Previous studies shows that high-intensity Aphasia interventiongives better results than intervention that is less intense. This study evaluateda working model at a hospital in Gothenburg which involve related personsin intervention. The model prescribes daily training in the home. The caseseries design study investigated the effect of intervention on auditorycomprehension, impact on participation and examined how the relatedperson judged that communication was affected. Four participants withsevere aphasia received intervention for 16 weeks, 8 of which includedintensive training at home and at the clinic, while 8 weeks only includedclinical intervention.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Komm-A, a model for usingcommunication books in clinical practice for people with aphasia. The studyconsisted of two group studies and one case study. One of the group studies had apretest-posttest design and consisted of nine couples; a person with aphasia andhis/her communication partner. The material used was Quality of communicationlife scale (QCL), Communicative effectiveness index (CETI), Goal attainmentscaling (GAS), and a questionnaire to the communication partner. The other groupstudy consisted of seven speech-language pathologists who worked with thecouples according to the Komm-A model.

The aims were to investigate the public awareness of aphasia in a Swedish sample and examine if knowledge of aphasia relates to gender, education or age. Participant?s sources of knowledge of aphasia were examined. A total of 153 individuals, aged 18-90, were surveyed. Participants were categorized into three groups; heard of, knowledge of and not heard of aphasia.

In speech and language intervention, the ability to interact is seldom evaluated; rather intervention is evaluated in terms of improved testresults.  If goal-setting in intervention also is based on everyday communicative needs, the relevance of the treatment may be increased and intervention outcome may be implemented in the patient?s natural environment.The present study, as part of a research-project, is based on analyses of interaction and interviews to examine everyday conversations and speech and language intervention. The aim was to explore if there is a relation between everyday communication needs and goal-setting in speech and language intervention for people with aphasia. A further aim was to investigate if there are everyday communicative needs that may form goals for speech and language intervention.Two individuals with aphasia and one individual with both dysarhtria and aphasia participated in the study. Three speech and language pathologists and two relatives also participated in the study.

New tools for the assessment of aphasia are important for bothclinical work and research. To see how they relate to already existing testscan increase their usefulness. Western Aphasia Battery ? Revised was translatedto Swedish and compared with the Swedish aphasia test A-ning, partlyto compare content and partly to see how sixteen people aged between 22and 92 with aphasia performed on the tests. The subtests did not correspondcompletely and the type of items included varied a lot.

Around 30,000 people in Sweden suffer stroke every year, out of which about 12,000 end up with language difficulties, aphasia. Behind every person with aphasia there are significant others whose lives are also affected. Studies of how aphasia affects the health of these people are few. The overall aim of the present study was to examine how significant others of people with aphasia perceive their life situation, and how their quality of life is affected by the illness of their partner. Spouses of people with aphasia were contacted through aphasia groups and the Swedish Aphasia Association.

Aphasia is a disease that brings on disability. The purpose of the study is to describe the daily life when afflicted with aphasia and gain a deeper understanding of persons with aphasia in working ages. The study was made with a qualitative approach with a combination of data sources; literature, internet lectures, live lectures, interviews with personnel in medical and educational services and three persons with aphasia. More research in aphasiology is welcome. This may be aimed at developing knowledge about the importance of communication, of active participation in the social environment, and the achievement of improved attitudes towards people with disabilities. The study should give rehabilitation actors and close relations knowledge and support in their action when they meet people with aphasia..

Every year, 12,000 people in Sweden are diagnosed with aphasia. Many people with aphasia supplement their logopedic treatment by participating in an aphasia group. Aphasia groups provide both social and linguistic stimulation. The aim of the present thesis was to study the social interaction between participants, and between participants and leaders in aphasia groups.In the present study, eleven persons with aphasia and four leaders participated divided into three aphasia groups. The groups were video recorded during sessions with a total of four sessions.

Aphasia is a linguistic impairment which affects communication and may have an impact on a person?s narrative ability. The purpose of the present study was to analyse the narrative ability in aphasia by narrative interviews with people with aphasia and their partners. The interviews were scrutinised for strategies used in joint narration involving couples where one of the spouses has aphasia. The definition of strategies was methods to cope with communicative difficulties often due to aphasia.

Afasi medför en språklig och kommunikativ begränsning för personer med afasi vid samspel med andra individer. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka interaktion mellan personer med afasi, samt mellan afasigruppsledare och deltagare i en afasigrupp under behandlingssituationer. Tre afasigrupper, med sammanlagt elva afasigruppsdeltagare och fyra afasigruppsledare deltog i föreliggande studie. Datainsamling skedde via videoupptagning samt ljudinspelning. Det insamlade materialet transkriberades och analyserades enligt samtalsanalytiska principer.

 Conversation Analysis (CA) is a tool to facilitate analysis of everyday conversations. A small number of studies have used CA as an intervention for people with aphasia and have seen positive effects as an outcome of the intervention. The authors of the present study have not found any other studies where CA was used as an intervention in other target groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate if CA may be used in intervention with an adolescent who uses Bliss. The main participants in the present study, which the intervention was based upon, were a sixteen year old girl who communicates through Bliss, and her assistant.

Our aim in this work has been to redesign ModernFamilies and make a user-friendly interface for people with aphasia. The focus has been to identify general issues they might face while using different technology and applications, in order to find better alternative design for ModernFamilies, with a focus on usability. To approach this issue, we used a qualitative method. Our study includes several interviews and observations preformed in conjunction with the AGNES project (AGeing in a NEtworked Society) and speech therapists. Aphasia requires simple design that in the same time gives them support to understand and use technology and different applications.

The purpose of the study was to examine how TalkingMats® canbe used to support communication in a group of people with aphasia. Fourpeople with aphasia and their group leader participated. Comparison wasmade between group discussion with and without Talking Mats. Theparticipants used one Talking Mat each. The group discussions werevideotaped and analysed.