Influence of Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Variables on Generalization and Maintenance Following Phonomotor Treatment for Aphasia

Abstract

Purpose Although phonomotor treatment shows promise as an effective intervention for anomia in people with aphasia, responses to this treatment are not consistent across individuals. To better understand this variability, we examined the influence of 5 participant characteristics—age, time postonset, aphasia severity, naming impairment, and error profile—on generalization and maintenance of confrontation naming and discourse abilities following phonomotor treatment. Method Using retrospective data from 26 participants with aphasia who completed a 6-week phonomotor treatment program, we examined the relationships between participant characteristics of interest and change scores on confrontation naming and discourse tasks, measured pretreatment, immediately following treatment, and 3 months following treatment. Results Although the participant characteristics of aphasia severity and error profile appeared to predict generalization to improved confrontation naming of untrained items and discourse performance, a post hoc analysis revealed that no one characteristic predicted generalization across participants at 3 months posttreatment. Conclusions Response to phonomotor treatment does not appear to be influenced by aphasia and anomia severity level, error profile, participant age, or time postonset. Other factors, however, may influence response to intensive aphasia treatment and are worthy of continued exploration.