Graduate Program

Communication Disorders and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2008

Thesis Director

Brenda Wilson

Thesis Committee Member

Christine Chambers

Thesis Committee Member

Frank Goldacker

Thesis Committee Member

Gail Richard

Abstract

The use of collaborative referencing tasks as a supplement to traditional speech therapy for two individuals ( one male and one female) with non:fluent aphasia due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA) was investigated. The participants' spouses served as communication partners for the collaborative referencing task. Stimuli consisted of three sets of ten pictures of individuals performing actions. Participants and spouses alternated serving as director and matcher for six trials each session. Each picture set was targeted until participants reached 80% accuracy across two trials at identifying pictures. Analysis of transcripts showed that participants and communication partners followed the three phases of the collaborative referencing model (initiation, refashioning, and acceptance) when they did not initially agree on a verb label for a picture.

The participants in this study made gains in verb retrieval across each session. In addition, gains were shown to be maintained when picture sets were reintroduced. Cueing strategies were used by communication partners when the participant with aphasia was unable to name an accepted verb label. Descriptive analysis determined that sentence completion, description, and gesture cues were effective for eliciting correct responses for Participant 1 and phonemic and question cues were effective for eliciting correct responses for Participant 2. For these participants, collaborative referencing was a viable supplement to traditional speech therapy services. In cases in which therapy sessions are limited, this model may be an important way to supplement services provided by the speech language pathologist.

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