Wertz R T, Collins M J, Weiss D, Kurtzke J F, Friden T, Brookshire R H, Pierce J, Holtzapple P, Hubbard D J, Porch B E, West J A, Davis L, Matovitch V, Morley G K, Resurreccion E
J Speech Hear Res. 1981 Dec;24(4):580-94. doi: 10.1044/jshr.2404.580.
Five Veterans Administration Medical Centers participated in an investigation designed to compare individual with group treatment for aphasic patients who had suffered a left hemisphere cerebral vascular accident. Patients who met selection criteria were assigned randomly to either traditional, individual, stimulus-response type treatment of specific language deficits or group therapy designed to improve communication through group interaction and discussion with no direct treatment of specific language deficits. All patients received eight hours of therapy each week beginning at four weeks postonset and continuing until 48 weeks postonset or until they dropped out of the study. A battery of language measures and a clinical neurologic evaluation were administered at intake and every 11 weeks a patient was in the study. Results show both individually and group-treated patients made significant improvement in language abilities. Individual treatment resulted in significantly better overall performance on the Porch Index of Communicative Ability; however, no significant differences were observed between groups on the other language measures. If the traditional belief is correct that significant spontaneous recovery is complete by three to six months postonset, significant improvement in both groups beyond 26 weeks postonset indicates both individual and group treatment are efficacious methods for managing aphasic patients.
五个退伍军人管理局医疗中心参与了一项调查，该调查旨在比较针对患有左半球脑血管意外的失语症患者的个体治疗和小组治疗。符合入选标准的患者被随机分配到传统的、针对特定语言缺陷的个体刺激 - 反应型治疗，或旨在通过小组互动和讨论改善沟通但不直接治疗特定语言缺陷的小组治疗。所有患者从发病后四周开始，每周接受八小时的治疗，持续到发病后48周或直到他们退出研究。在入组时以及患者参与研究的每11周进行一系列语言测试和临床神经学评估。结果显示，接受个体治疗和小组治疗的患者在语言能力方面均有显著改善。个体治疗在交际能力的波奇指数上总体表现明显更好；然而，在其他语言测试中，两组之间未观察到显著差异。如果传统观点正确，即发病后三到六个月显著的自发恢复就已完成，那么发病后26周后两组的显著改善表明个体治疗和小组治疗都是管理失语症患者的有效方法。
