A Comparison of Intention and Pantomime Gesture Treatment for Noun Retrieval in People With Aphasia

Purpose The effects of intention gesture treatment (IGT) and pantomime gesture treatment (PGT) on word retrieval were compared in people with aphasia. Method Four individuals with aphasia and word retrieval impairments subsequent to left-hemisphere stroke participated in a single-participant crossover treatment design. Each participant viewed target nouns on a computer screen in 2 counterbalanced training phases. Training included paired verbal + gesture treatment strategies to elicit verbal and/or gestural productions of target nouns. Treatment effects were measured using daily picture-naming probes for verbal naming and gesture productions for trained and untrained words as well as pre-/posttreatment standardized aphasia tests. Outcomes and Results IGT resulted in immediate effects on the verbal productions of 2 participants but lacked carryover to untrained words. PGT resulted in improved verbal production for 2 participants and immediate effects on the gesture productions of 3 participants, with carryover of gesture production to untrained words in 1 participant. Improvements on standardized aphasia tests were evident in 2 participants. Conclusion IGT and PGT had positive treatment effects, but for contrasting communication modalities. Two individuals with mild–moderate aphasia improved verbal production with both IGT and PGT, and 2 individuals with severe aphasia improved gesture use with PGT.