Adaptive Trial Scheduling in Naming Treatment for Aphasia

Study 2: Evaluate the benefits of adaptive trial scheduling.Study design: Investigators will enroll 32 people with aphasia in a randomizedwithin‐subjects crossover design comparing an adaptive scheduling condition to twonon‐adaptive conditions. For each condition, all treatment procedures will be matchedexcept for the number of treated words and the trial spacing manipulation. Participantswill receive 10 weeks of computer‐based training per condition, with probes administeredat baseline and at 1 week, 3 months, and 6 months post‐treatment. Condition order will berandomly assigned and counter‐balanced across participants. In total, Study 2 willinclude typically 3‐4 (but up to 6) assessment sessions, 120 one‐on‐one treatmentsessions, and 24 baseline and follow‐up probe sessions per participant over an 1‐yearperiod, or up to 18 months. All assessment, treatment, and probe sessions will take placevia telehealth.Treatment description: For each condition, all treatment procedures will be matchedexcept for the number of treated words and the trial spacing manipulation. The treatmentphase for each of the three conditions will consist of ten weeks of one‐on‐one treatmentfour times per week in which the treating clinician will work alongside participants tocomplete flashcard practice four days a week. The treatment sessions will each last 30minutes to approximate realistic treatment dosage in outpatient or home health practicesettings. Treatment will consist of effortful retrieval practice: on each trial,participants will see a picture of the target and attempt to name it, then rate theirnaming accuracy by button press. The experimenter will code their response time andperceived accuracy. Finally, the experimenter will code their accuracy which will revealthe target in verbal and written form. If they are unable to name the word correctly,they will be able to replay the answer and repeat it three times prior to moving on tothe next trial, per Conroy et al.