The Aphasia Project 1 Generalizability in Research with Cognitively Impaired Individuals Karyn Moffatt, Leah Findlater, Meghan Allen University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada

2 The Aphasia Project What is aphasia?  Acquired language disorder ─ Caused by brain damage: stroke, tumor, trauma,…  Affects 1.1 million North Americans  Impairment of communication abilities  Relative sparing of other cognitive abilities  Aphasia is a loss of words – not intelligence

3 The Aphasia Project Applications ESI Planner: Image and Sound Enhanced Daily Planner File Facility: Supports existing communication strategies VERA: Uses a visual language for cooking instruction

4 The Aphasia Project Generalizability Challenges  General vs. custom solutions  Large variability in skills and needs vs.

5 The Aphasia Project A Couple of Approaches  Designing in the small; testing in the large  Using detailed assessments of functional abilities Design Evaluation

6 The Aphasia Project But what else?