1. Assessment and Treatment of Abstract Words in Aphasia
Dallin Bailey, PhD, CCC-SLP
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication Disorders
Auburn University
Auburn, AL
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2. Learning Outcomes
As a result of participation, the attendee will be able to describe methods for assessing and treating abstract word retrieval deficits in aphasia
As a result of participation, the attendee will be able to describe methods for assessing and treating abstract verb-based sentence production in aphasia
As a result of participation, the attendee will be able to discuss potential ways for maximizing generalization in abstract word retrieval and sentence production treatments for aphasia
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3. Assessing abstract word retrieval deficits in aphasia
Keep psycholinguistic variables in mind
Example psycholinguistic variables (word characteristics affecting word processing and retrieval from the mind):
age of acquisition: the age at which people think they learned a word
(early: ball, car, play, wash. Later: allegory, calculus, etiquette, audit)
word frequency: how often a word appears in a corpus (very large collection of words) compared to other words
high frequency: be, have, do, know, say, people, time, year.
low frequency: adage, abyss, abstain, airlift
word length: the length of a word, typically in phonemes or letters
history vs antidisestablishmentarianism
lexicality: the status of a word as being a real dictionary word, or a nonsense word
ferb vs rain
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4. Psycholinguistic variables
More psycholinguistic variables
imageability: the ease with which the referent of a word (the concept the word represents) can be imagined in the mind (how picturable it is)
high = house or apple
low = fact or hope
concreteness: closely related to imageability; the ease with which the referent of a word can be experienced with the physical senses; how tangible (touchable) it is
Usually the same, but emotions are an example that may vary (anger is low concreteness, but high imageability)
Either may be used as a proxy for “abstract”
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5. Compromise
No word can be favorable to processing on all psycholinguistic variables, so we shouldn’t say that low concreteness words should just be avoided
Other presentation: frequency is a major variable we should consider, and high frequency words includes a large amount of low concreteness words, like remember, decide, and appreciate
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6. Beyond picture naming: methods for assessing naming
Generative naming
Constrained by contextual or other semantic category
Contexts as in Sandberg & Kiran
Levin’s verb categories
Naming to definitions or to synonyms or antonyms (McNeil et al., 1998)
Sentence completion/fill in the blank
Icons ( and pictures as stand ins, maybe combined with a phonemic cue (starts with…) or a definition cue
Any other ideas?
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7. Sentence Frame
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8. Help for clinician Hard to come up with on the spot
Sheet developed using
Click “collocates”
Type a target verb (like decide) in the first box
Select the collocates you would like
The numbers refer to the location of words in relation to the target word (up to four words before the target, or four words after the target)
put in _n* in the collocates box
Click “Find collocates”
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10. References SHAA Convention 2019
Bailey, D. J. (2016). Development of an Aphasia Treatment Targeting Verbs with Low Concreteness. (PhD dissertation), The University of Utah,
Barsalou, L. W. (1999). Perceptions of perceptual symbols. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(04), doi: /s x
Bunker, L. D., Wright, S., & Wambaugh, J. L. (2018). Language Changes Following Combined Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech Treatment. Am J Speech Lang Pathol, 27(1S), doi: /2018_AJSLP
Edmonds, L. A. (2014). Tutorial for Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST): Detailed Description of the Treatment Protocol with Corresponding Theoretical Rationale. SIG 2 Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 24, doi: /nnsld
Edmonds, L. A., & Babb, M. (2011). Effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment in Moderate-to-Severe Aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(2),
Gierut, J. A. (2007). Phonological Complexity and Language Learnability. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(1), 6. doi: / (2007/003)
Kiran, S. (2007). Complexity in the Treatment of Naming Deficits. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(1), doi: / (2007/004)
Kiran, S., Sandberg, C., & Abbott, K. (2009). Treatment for lexical retrieval using abstract and concrete words in persons with aphasia: Effect of complexity. Aphasiology, 23(7), doi: /
Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., & Mushinski Fulk, B. J. (1990). Teaching Abstract Vocabulary with the Keyword Method:: Effects on Recall and Comprehension. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23(2), doi: /
McNeil, M. R., Doyle, P. J., Spencer, K., Goda, A. J., Flores, D., & Small, S. L. (1998). Effects of training multiple form classes on acquisition, generalization and maintenance of word retrieval in a single subject. Aphasiology, 12(7-8), doi: /
McNeil, M. R., Doyle, P. J., Spencer, K. A., Goda, A. J., Flores, D., & Small, S. L. (1997). A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of pharmacological and behavioural treatment of lexical-semantic deficits in aphasia. Aphasiology, 11(4-5), doi: /
McNeil, M. R., Small, S. L., Masterson, R. J., & Fossett, T. R. D. (1995). Behavioral and Pharmacological Treatment of Lexical-Semantic Deficits in a Single Patient with Primary Progressive Aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4.
Mestres-Misse, A., Munte, T. F., & Rodriguez-Fornells, A. (2014). Mapping concrete and abstract meanings to new words using verbal contexts. Second Language Research, 30(2), doi: /
Newton, P. K., & Barry, C. (1997). Concreteness Effects in Word Production but Not Word Comprehension in Deep Dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14(4), doi: /
Paivio, A., & Csapo, K. (1973). Picture superiority in free recall: Imagery or dual coding? Cogn Psychol, 5(2), doi: / (73)
Sandberg, C. W., & Kiran, S. (2014a). Analysis of abstract and concrete word processing in persons with aphasia and age-matched neurologically healthy adults using fMRI. Neurocase, 20(4), doi: /
Sandberg, C. W., & Kiran, S. (2014b). How justice can affect jury: Training abstract words promotes generalisation to concrete words in patients with aphasia. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 24(5), doi: /
Thompson, C. K., Shapiro, L. P., Kiran, S., & Sobecks, J. (2003). The role of syntactic complexity in treatment of sentence deficits in agrammatic aphasia: the complexity account of treatment efficacy (CATE). Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 46(3), doi: / (2003/047)
Wambaugh, J. L., & Ferguson, M. (2007). Application of semantic feature analysis to retrieval of action names in aphasia. J Rehabil Res Dev, 44(3),
Wambaugh, J. L., Mauszycki, S., & Wright, S. (2014). Semantic feature analysis: Application to confrontation naming of actions in aphasia. Aphasiology, 28(1), doi: /
Wambaugh, J. L., Nessler, C., & Wright, S. (2013). Modified response elaboration training: application to procedural discourse and personal recounts. Am J Speech Lang Pathol, 22(2), S doi: / (2013/ )
Wambaugh, J. L., Wright, S., Mauszycki, S. C., Nessler, C., & Bailey, D. J. (2018). Combined aphasia and apraxia of speech treatment (CAAST): Systematic replications in the development of a novel treatment. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, doi: /
Wambaugh, J. L., Wright, S., Nessler, C., & Mauszycki, S. C. (2014). Combined Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech Treatment (CAAST): effects of a novel therapy. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 57(6), doi: /2014_JSLHR-L
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11. Questions?
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