Which Strategies Facilitate Word Retrieval in Non-Fluent Progressive Aphasia? A Single Case Study

Authors: Cadório IR*, Figueiredo DM, Martins PMV and Lousada ML

Volume 4, Issue 4

Abstract

Non-fluent progressive aphasia (nfPPA) is the less studied variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Anomia treatments available in the literature seem to use a wide range of cueing paradigms, regardless the subtype of PPA. In this case study, we compare a semantic strategy with a phonological strategy on a confrontation naming task, in order to determine which one better compensate the anomia deficits in a patient with nfPPA. As hypothesized, the phonological strategy prompted better naming scores than the semantic strategy, likely because anomia in nfPPA is phonological based. Also, the patient revealed better word retrieval for objects and food, compared to animals. We suggest that successful treatments directed to PPA population should address the basis of the naming deficit by selecting learning strategies according to the impaired network.

Keywords: Non-fluent progressive aphasia; Word retrieval; Learning paradigms; Semantic and phonological strategies; Anomia treatment

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