Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy 101: Language

Brenda Curtwright and Associates presents a new five-part video series covering skills, strategies, and interventions for therapists working with patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
In Part 2 of this series, we will be going over Language. We will discuss the goals of improved word-finding and the strategies of Semantic Feature Analysis (Tompkins & Massaro, 1994) and Verbal Network Strengthening Treatment (Edmonds, 2014).
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References:
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Edmonds, L. A. (2014). Tutorial for Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST): Detailed description of the treatment protocol with corresponding theoretical rationale. Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 24(3), pp. 78-88. doi.org/10.1044/nnsld24.3.78
Massaro, M. & Tompkins, C. (1994). Feature analysis for treatment of communication disorders in traumatically brain-injured patients: An efficacy study. Clinical Aphasiology, 22, pp. 245-256. aphasiology.pitt.edu/id/eprint...

[@daniellecheong9438]

Thank you for this video! How would you grade it down for a dementia patient? Across the dementia stages?

[@brendacurtwrightandassociates]

Hello Danielle, you are welcome! The lesson in this video can be used with a patient with a milder form of dementia (e.g. they can label and describe objects, read words, and answer questions about verbs). If the person has more severe dementia I would use real common objects (e.g. hair brush, fork, book) and have them tell me two things about the item. For the VNest exercise I would use photographs that showed an action from the person's life and have them tell me what was happening in the photo. I would ask "what is happening in this picture?" followed by questions "who", and "where" questions about the photo. I would work on these activities for 10 to 20 minutes twice a week if the person tolerates the activity for that long. I hope that answers your question. Let me know how it goes if you do this. Thanks for such a great question!