Drawing and multimodality communication training as an effective treatment option for individuals with nonfluent aphasia

Many individuals with nonfluent aphasia experience social isolation and depression as a result of their communication impairments. For these individuals, the use of communicative drawing and other communication modalities may potentially overcome barriers to social isolation. This thesis describes a single case, time series design used to evaluate the effectiveness of a drawing treatment program that simultaneously targets drawing recognizability and the use of drawing outside of the structured therapy tasks for an individual with nonfluent aphasia. Results indicated a general improvement in drawing recognizability and an increase in the use of drawing within conversation. Additionally, these results were maintained 8 weeks following the end of therapy. The author discusses these results in relation to the current body of research in the area of aphasia rehabilitation, as well as possible avenues for future research