TY - JOUR
T1 - AAC to support conversation in persons with moderate Alzheimer's disease
AU - Fried-Oken, Melanie
AU - Rowland, Charity
AU - Daniels, Darlene
AU - Dixon, Mayling
AU - Fuller, Bret
AU - Mills, Carolyn
AU - Noethe, Glory
AU - Small, Jeon
AU - Still, Kevin
AU - Oken, Barry
N1 - Funding Information:
we acknowledge support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health grant r21 HD47754 and P30 Ag008017; the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and rehabilitation research grant H133g040176; and the 2004 Oregon Tax Check-Off Alzheimer’s research grant. we thank the participants and their caregivers for inviting us into their homes and permitting us to document their conversations.
Funding Information:
Pilot Experiment 1 participants were the first 30 adults with AD who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria for the larger research effort. All exhibited moderate AD, based on NINCDS-ADrDA criteria (McKhann, Drachman, & Folstein, 1984).They were recruited from the Layton Aging & Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), one of the 30 Alzheimer’s disease centers funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging. Inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of probable or possible AD by a board certified neurologist according to DSM-Iv criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994); Clinical Dementia rating (CDr) = 1 or 2 (Hughes, Berg, Danziger, Coben, & Martin, 1982); Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) = 5–18 within 6 months of enrollment in the study (Folstein, Folstein, & McHugh, 1975); visual acuity better than 20/50 O.U. (as performed in the Layton Center); hearing loss < 40dB (as performed in the Layton Center); and English as the primary language. Exclusion criteria were: history of other neurologic or psychiatric illness (no CvA, reported alcohol abuse, traumatic brain damage, and reported recent significant psychological or speech/language disorder).
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Even though we know that external memory aids support communication in Alzheimer's disease, the components of the communication aids for individuals with Alzheimer's disease have not been studied systematically. The goal of these two pilot experiments was to examine differences in conversational performance of adults with Alzheimer's disease related to the presence and absence of an aid, the type of symbol embedded in the aid, and the presence or absence of voice output. In Experiment 1, 30 adults with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease participated in 10-min conversations with and without personalized AAC boards. There was no effect of AAC, regardless of symbol type, and a deleterious effect of voice output. In Experiment 2, modified spaced-retrieval training preceded conversations, standardized prompts were presented, and semantically-based dependent variables were examined. For the 11 participants in the second experiment, there was a significant effect of AAC, showing that the presence of AAC was associated with greater use of targeted words during personal conversations. We discuss new information about the contribution of AAC for persons with Alzheimer's disease, and demonstrate how the applied research process evolves over the course of a long-term commitment to a scientific investigation.
AB - Even though we know that external memory aids support communication in Alzheimer's disease, the components of the communication aids for individuals with Alzheimer's disease have not been studied systematically. The goal of these two pilot experiments was to examine differences in conversational performance of adults with Alzheimer's disease related to the presence and absence of an aid, the type of symbol embedded in the aid, and the presence or absence of voice output. In Experiment 1, 30 adults with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease participated in 10-min conversations with and without personalized AAC boards. There was no effect of AAC, regardless of symbol type, and a deleterious effect of voice output. In Experiment 2, modified spaced-retrieval training preceded conversations, standardized prompts were presented, and semantically-based dependent variables were examined. For the 11 participants in the second experiment, there was a significant effect of AAC, showing that the presence of AAC was associated with greater use of targeted words during personal conversations. We discuss new information about the contribution of AAC for persons with Alzheimer's disease, and demonstrate how the applied research process evolves over the course of a long-term commitment to a scientific investigation.
KW - AAC
KW - Aided conversation
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Dementia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871591530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84871591530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3109/07434618.2012.732610
DO - 10.3109/07434618.2012.732610
M3 - Article
C2 - 23256854
AN - SCOPUS:84871591530
SN - 0743-4618
VL - 28
SP - 219
EP - 231
JO - AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication
JF - AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication
IS - 4
ER -