Speech and language therapy approaches to managing primary progressive aphasia

Anna Volkmer, Emily Rogalski, Maya Henry, Cathleen Taylor-Rubin, Leanne Ruggero, Rebecca Khayum, Jackie Kindell, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, Jason D. Warren, Johnathon D. Rohrer*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    61 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The term primary progressive aphasia (PPA) describes a group of neurodegenerative disorders with predominant speech and language dysfunction as their main feature. There are three main variants - the semantic variant, the nonfluent or agrammatic variant and the logopenic variant - each with specific linguistic deficits and different neuroanatomical involvement. There are currently no curative treatments or symptomatic pharmacological therapies. However, speech and language therapists have developed several impairment-based interventions and compensatory strategies for use in the clinic. Unfortunately, multiple barriers still need to be overcome to improve access to care for people with PPA, including increasing awareness among referring clinicians, improving training of speech and language therapists and developing evidence-based guidelines for therapeutic interventions. This review highlights this inequity and the reasons why neurologists should refer people with PPA to speech and language therapists.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)154-162
    Number of pages9
    JournalPractical Neurology
    Volume20
    Issue number2
    Early online date29 Jul 2019
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2020

    Keywords

    • aphasia
    • frontotemporal dementia
    • primary progressive aphasia
    • speech therapy

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