Change in Language Performance
aphasia
The POLAR trial was designed to study predictors of language recovery by applying evidence-based aphasia therapy but not to address questions on treatment efficacy. Nonetheless, we analyzed the change in naming performance from pre- to posttherapy to glean the We observed a significant improvement in naming performance 1 week after therapy compared to baseline performance (In light of these mixed findings, our findings of considerable improvement in untreated naming maintained 6 months after therapy completion in a comparatively large study sample are promising. Presently, most individuals with aphasia receive the majority of their therapy in the acute and subacute phases of recovery (Notwithstanding, consistent with prior research (e.g., Various other variables not systematically manipulated here may similarly influence therapy response for some individuals. These include, but are not limited to, therapy dose and intensity, therapy modality (e.g., some individuals might benefit from the addition of tablet-based therapy or group therapy), and therapy focus. For instance, recent work from our lab suggests that while some individuals respond similarly to semantically and phonologically focused SLT, others may respond selectively to one therapy type and not the other (