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- Antonsson, Malin, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Narrative writing in patients with low-grade glioma - using keystroke logging to investigate differences in the writing process before and after tumour resection
- 2017
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Ingår i: Meaningful outcomes Nordic Aphasia Conference. Copenhagen, 15 -17 June 2017.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate the writing process, using a keystroke logging program, in narratives written by patients with LGG and to compare the patients’ writing processes and products three months after tumour resection with their pre-operative performance. Twenty consecutive patients scheduled for tumour resection at Sahlgrenska University Hospital wrote to a picture-elicited narrative before and at three months follow-up using the keystroke logging program, ScriptLog (Frid, J., Johansson, V., Johansson, R., Wengelin, Å., & Johansson, M., 2014). After surgery there was a significant decline in production rate, i.e. words produced per minute. An analysis of pause distribution in different micro contexts revealed a significant increase of pauses before initiating the typing of a word. The decline in production rate suggests an increase in cognitive effort in narrative writing for patients who have undergone surgical treatment for LGG. The analysis of pause distribution indicates lexical retrieval difficulties. Investigation of the writing process can give information about subtle changes in language and cognitive processing for patients undergoing tumour resection.
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| 2. |
- Antonsson, Malin, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Writing fluency in patients with low-grade glioma before and after surgery
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 53:3, s. 592-604
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2018 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Background: Low-grade glioma (LGG) is a type of brain tumour often situated in or near areas involved in language, sensory or motor functions. Depending on localization and tumour characteristics, language or cognitive impairments due to tumour growth and/or surgical resection are obvious risks. One task that may be at risk is writing, both because it requires intact language and memory function and because it is a very complex and cognitively demanding task. The most commonly reported language deficit in LGG patients is oral lexical-retrieval difficulties, and poor lexical retrieval would be expected to affect writing fluency. Aims: To explore whether writing fluency is affected in LGG patients before and after surgery and whether it is related to performance on tasks of oral lexical retrieval. Methods & Procedures: Twenty consecutive patients with presumed LGG wrote a narrative and performed a copy task before undergoing surgery and at 3-month follow-up using keystroke-logging software. The same tasks were performed by a reference group (N = 31). The patients were also tested using the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and word-fluency tests before and after surgery. Writing fluency was compared between the patients and the reference group, and between the patients before and after surgery. Relationships between performance on tests of oral lexical retrieval and writing fluency were investigated both before and after surgery. Outcome & Results: Different aspects of writing fluency were affected in the LGG patients both before and after surgery. However, when controlling for the effect of typing speed, the LGG group differed significantly from the reference group only in the proportion of pauses within words. After surgery, a significant decline was seen in production rate and typing speed in the narrative task, and a significant increase was seen in pauses before words. Strong positive relationships were found between oral lexical retrieval and writing fluency both before and after surgery. Conclusions & Implications: Although aspects of writing fluency were affected both before and after surgery, the results indicate that typing speed is an important factor behind the pre-surgery differences. However, the decline in overall productivity and the increase in pauses before words after surgery could be related to a lexical deficit. This is supported by the finding that oral lexical-retrieval scores were strongly correlated with writing fluency. However, further exploration is needed to identify the language and cognitive abilities affecting writing processes in LGG patients.
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| 3. |
- Johansson, Charlotte, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Changes in writing ability over a three year period – a case study from a person with post-stroke aphasia
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference, University of Malta..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Persons with post-stroke aphasia have reported improvement in writing ability many years after onset of illness (Kjellén, Laakso and Henriksson, 2017). Even though studies have shown an improvement of writing ability years post stroke (most often by using dictation tasks), no longitudinal studies have continuously investigated writing ability in text production. The aim of the study was to investigate writing ability over a two year period for a person with post-stroke aphasia. Method: A 63 year old right handed man with 25 years of formal education, suffered a left hemisphere cerebri media insult. He was diagnosed with Broca’s aphasia, apraxia of speech and experienced a considerable writing impairment. The participant enrolled in the study 8 months post stroke. He had mild chronic aphasia with pertaining writing difficulties. Over a two year period he was tested three times using dictation tasks, testing both spelling of real words and non-words and a reading task. He also wrote two narratives, one picture-elicited and one free narrative. The narrative texts were collected by means of keystroke logging, which enables analysis of the writing process as well as the final text. Results: Whereas results from dictation of real words showed the greatest improvement during the first year, results from non-word dictation and the reading test showed continued improvement. Analysis of the writing process gives evidence of clear improvement in all aspects of the writing process throughout the two year period. Most strikingly, the production rate (measured as number of written words per minute) were 4,5 times faster in the free narrative between the first and the last data collection. Conclusion: Results revealed that after an improvement of spelling to dictation plateaued, measures from the writing process showed an ongoing improvement of writing ability in text production. The results further emphasize the importance of investigating text production when measuring writing ability for persons with aphasia.
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| 4. |
- Johansson-Malmeling, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Aphasia and spelling to dictation: Analysis of spelling errors and editing
- 2021
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 56:1, s. 145-160
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction Spelling difficulty is a common symptom of aphasia and can entail editing difficulties. Previous research has shown that extensive editing is related to a lower production rate in text writing for persons with aphasia, yet editing difficulty is not commonly examined. It is not known if editing difficulty is related to reading and writing skills or to aspects of the word. Aims To analyse spelling and editing processes as well as errors in a dictation task performed by Swedish-speaking adults with post-stroke aphasia. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify any relationships between spelling and editing difficulties and characteristics of individual words. Finally, relationships between successful edits and reading and phonological ability were investigated and specific editing strategies or behaviours identified. Correlation analyses were performed between measures of spelling and editing and word frequency and length as well as participants' scores on tests of reading, phonological spelling and phonological decoding. Methods & Procedures A total of 16 Swedish speaking participants with post-stroke aphasia wrote a word-dictation task in a keystroke logging program and were tested for phonological spelling, phonological decoding and reading ability. Spelling errors were categorized and analysed. Outcomes & Results The most common error type was omission of letter(s) and there was evidence of aphasia-specific writing errors. Both spelling and editing difficulty were related to word frequency and word length. Successful editing was related to participants' scores on the phonological spelling task, but not to phonological decoding or reading ability. Specific editing strategies could be identified, and some strategies were individual, while others were more commonly used. Conclusions & Implications Word length and word frequency should be taken into consideration in spelling tests for persons with aphasia, and the presence of editing difficulty should be taken into account when assessing spelling difficulties. Treatment for writing difficulties in aphasia should include training in successful editing strategies and individual fitting of digital writing aids. What this paper adds What this paper adds to existing knowledgeWhat is already known on the subject What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Post-stroke aphasia often causes writing and spelling difficulties. Spelling difficulties may entail editing difficulties, in turn causing extensive and/or unsuccessful editing. Extensive editing is known to impede productivity in text writing. Still, editing behaviour, abilities relating to editing or what features of a word that causes editing difficulty has not been investigated for persons with aphasia. This study adds an in-depth analysis of spelling ability, spelling errors and editing behaviour for persons with aphasia, using keystroke logging and a single-word dictation task. Results showed that both features of the target word (frequency and word length) and the individual abilities of the person with aphasia (score on a phonological spelling task) related to spelling and editing difficulty, editing behaviour and successful editing. Specific editing strategies were analysed and described. Word length and word frequency should be taken into consideration when testing single-word spelling for persons with aphasia. When assessing spelling difficulties, both correctness of spelling as well as the presence and nature of any editing difficulties should be taken into account and treatment for writing difficulties in should include training in successful editing strategies. The fitting of digital writing aids for persons with aphasia should be individual, since many of the editing strategies used were individual.
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| 5. |
- Johansson-Malmeling, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Using a digital spelling aid to improve writing in persons with post-stroke aphasia: An intervention study
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 57:2, s. 303-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Intervention studies aimed to improve the written production of single words by persons with aphasia have yielded promising results and there is growing interest in interventions targeting text writing. The development of technical writing aids offers opportunities for persons with aphasia, and studies have shown that using them can have a positive impact on written output. Aims: The aim was to investigate what impact training to use a computerised spell checker had on text writing in persons with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: The study had a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design replicated across six male Swedish participants with mild-to-moderate post-stroke aphasia. The participants received training twice a week during 8weeks, learning how to use the spell checker. At baseline and before every session, the participants wrote two texts which were logged in a keystroke-logging tool. Dependent variables were continuously measured in the texts, and the participants performed tests of language function and answered questionnaires on reading and writing habits and health-related quality of life before and after the intervention. The participants were also interviewed about how they had experienced the training. The results were evaluated on individual and group level. Results: The study showed that systematic individual training involving a spell checker was experienced as positive by the participants and that they all described their writing ability in more positive terms after the intervention. Evaluation showed statistically significant improvements on group level for the dependent variables of spelling accuracy, rated syntax, writing speed and proportion of unedited text during text writing when using the spell checker. The intervention also had a generalising effect on writing speed and editing during text writing without the spell checker and on spelling accuracy in a dictation test. The participants who had the greatest spelling problems were the ones who showed the most progress, but participants with only minor writing difficulties at baseline also improved. Conclusions & Implications: The study shows that a digital spelling aid constitutes effective support for people with aphasia and may also affect levels other than spelling. The training had a generalising positive effect on text writing and spelling in a test. Although writing difficulties is a persisting symptom in aphasia, it can be supported and improved through use of digital spelling aids. Hence, treatment of writing ability should always be included in the rehabilitation of people with aphasia. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Use of a technical writing aid can have a positive impact on the written output of persons with aphasia. Using a digital spell checker may improve spelling as well as other levels of writing, but it has not been investigated using a keystroke-logging tool in combination with language-test scores and results from questionnaires. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Through analyses on both individual and group level, this study shows that a digital spelling aid constitutes effective support for people with aphasia and also affects levels other than spelling. The training had a generalising positive effect on text writing and spelling in a test. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Digital spelling support, which is a relatively simple and inexpensive technology, can support and improve text writing in persons with post-stroke aphasia.
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