Could Mindfulness Practice Be Helpful for People With Aphasia?

Aphasia therapy involves improving receptive and expressive language through traditional language approaches. Over the past few years, some research has started to indicate that non-linguistic factors may also affect auditory comprehension: Distractions that interfere with attention may negatively affect auditory comprehension in people with aphasia. While most treatment approaches focus solely on linguistic deficits, I believe it is helpful to consider how other areas of cognition impact a person’s ability to interpret and produce language. I look to techniques from other disciplines for solutions when working on attention issues in clients with aphasia. One such approach includes Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This evidence-based practice—developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School—helps reduce various psychological symptoms for people with chronic illness. MBSR uses western medicine and psychology along with Buddhist principles to alleviate anxiety, depression and stress. To achieve stress-reducing mindfulness, a person must pay attention to the present moment while ignoring competing thoughts. Attaining a state of “mindfulness” involves internalizing seven attitude traits: non-judging, patience, beginners’ mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go. To reach this state, a person must sustain their focus and attention on all seven attributes. Therefore, a positive tertiary effect of mindfulness can ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Aphasia Language Disorders Source Type: blogs