Treatment efficacy: aphasia.

Abstract

This article presents a brief overview of aphasia, followed by a summary of research studies and program evaluation data addressed to answering the question of the efficacy of treatment for aphasia. Selected studies are reviewed in terms of the quality of evidence they present. In addition, a number of questions that remain unanswered are also presented. Several tables, designed to provide clarifying information concerning several aspects of research design (number and types of patients studied, examples of well-designed small-group or single-subject studies, clinical techniques for which efficacy data are available), are included. The conclusion of this review is that, generally, treatment for aphasia is efficacious.