Question
How can I teach scripts to persons with aphasia who are unable to read and have impaired auditory comprehension?
Answer
Persons with impaired auditory comprehension may not be very good candidates for scripting, especially if their reading is equally impaired. If I was working with somebody with severe auditory comprehension problems and severe reading problems I would use a scripting approach to work on some useful phrases. You could use some of the phrases that can be found on the SmallTalk Aphasia app from Lingraphica. Aphasia Corner (www.aphasiacorner.com) is trialing some phrase scripts, and these have the advantage of being easily modifiable. If you are interested in trialing them, you might contact Aphasia Corner at the above website.
For people with severe alexia, but moderately good comprehension, they would be relying more on the auditory than on the written scripts, of course. But since you are probably also using pictures, especially if you use apps like Pictello, iConverse! or Small Talk for aphasia, the writing certainly is not in the way. In the process of learning the spoken script, reading that same material might be improving as well. In fact, that would be an interesting and easy thing to check pre- and post-script training for such individuals. However, I do not know of any data to support it at this time.
Audrey Holland has had a long and productive career in working with people with neurogenic communication disorders and developing innovative treatment techniques in aphasia. She also had conducted research aimed both at increasing understanding aphasia and related disorders, and in evaluating the efficacy of treatment.
