Restoring one’s language edifice: A case study of long-term effects of intensive aphasia therapy employing cognitive modifiability strategies

Abstract

NG is an architect who suffered a left occipital-parietal hemorrhage cerebral vascular accident (CVA) in 2000, resulting in aphasia of Wernicke and conduction types. He was characterized with fluent paraphasic speech, decreased repetition, and impaired object naming. Comprehension was relatively preserved but reading and writing were severely compromised, as well as his auditory working memory. Despite a grim prognosis he underwent intensive aphasia therapy, lasting from 2001 to 2010, at the Center for Cognitive Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured at the Feuerstein Institute. The tailored-made interventions, applied in NG’s therapy, were based upon the implementation of the principles of the Structural Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) and the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) Program, to optimize his rehabilitation. As a result NG improved in most of his impaired linguistic capacities, attested by the results of neuropsychological and linguistic assessments performed throughout the years. More importantly, he was able to manage again his daily functions at a high level, and to resume his occupational role as an architect, a role which he holds to this day.