Session Descriptions for 2024 ASHA Health Care Summit

April 12, 2024 | In collaboration with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago

Evidence-to-Practice in Aphasia Rehabilitation: A Framework for Balancing Real-World and Research Considerations
Julia Carpenter, MA, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS

There are many aphasia intervention protocols that target impairment and activity/participation domains, yet clinicians continue to struggle with deciding which interventions to use, for whom, and at what point in rehabilitation. SLPs’ understanding of the principles of neuroplasticity—including intensity, salience, or specificity—is advancing, but at the same time, health care settings often impose considerable constraints on how much and how long SLPs may work with a given individual. This session will review these factors and share a framework to support clinical decision-making to deliver patient-centered, evidence-based rehabilitation services.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• compare routine practices in your clinical setting with recent advances in aphasia management
• outline impairment, patient-centered, and intervention factors using a clinical decision-making framework for treating individuals with aphasia

Aphasia Treatment: Sorting Through the Potpourri of Options
Leora R. Cherney, PhD, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS, FACRM

The literature is replete with hundreds of studies supporting the benefits of aphasia treatment. However, interventions for aphasia are complex, with many interacting components, and no one treatment is appropriate for all individuals. This session will describe a selection of interventions in greater detail to illustrate the extensive toolbox of evidence-based treatments for aphasia, and will address some key issues that SLPs should consider when selecting interventions for their specific patients.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• list at least 10 commonly used, evidence-based treatments for people with aphasia
• discuss the components of an aphasia treatment that require consideration when developing the plan of care for a person with aphasia

Communication Partner Training: What, Why, and How
Elissa Larkin, MS, CCC-SLP

Effective health care requires effective exchange of information between patients and providers, yet many providers do not know how to adapt to their patients’ communication needs. Communication partner training (CPT) is an evidence-based method to improve communication interactions, focusing on empowering communication partners with knowledge and skills to make information exchange more accessible. This session will summarize key concepts and current evidence related to CPT, offer examples of varied CPT programs including trainee insights, and prepare SLPs to advocate for and implement CPT for related professionals in their work setting.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe key concepts and current evidence related to communication partner training rationale, implementation, and outcomes
• list examples of multiple tailored communication partner training programs for health care providers
• identify opportunity areas in your organization to advocate for and integrate communication partner training

Texting With Aphasia: Person-Centered Rehabilitation in Today’s Technological World
Jaime Lee, PhD, CCC-SLP

Texting is pervasive in today’s technological world and has many advantages as a communication modality for people with aphasia, including facilitating social connection and participation. However, clinicians may not feel comfortable prioritizing texting as a rehabilitation goal or prepared to support electronic writing and technology usage in their patients with aphasia. This session will review current research on texting behaviors of people with aphasia and tools for evaluating technology usage and texting abilities. The session will describe texting communication breakdowns and potential barriers for people with aphasia and discuss strategies to support texting exchanges between people with aphasia and their communication partners.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify potential advantages of prioritizing text messaging for people with aphasia to meet their communication participation goals
• describe tools for evaluating technology usage and texting abilities of people with aphasia
• discuss strategies and barriers to successful communication via texting for people with aphasia and their texting partners

Case Studies in Aphasia
Kathryn Borio, MS, CCC SLP, and Caitlin Ferrer, MA, CCC-SLP

This session is your chance to put what you’ve learned earlier in the day to the test. The presenters will lead you through a series of three case studies to illustrate how Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s SLPs use their clinical decision-making framework to design appropriate individualized treatment plans. The presenters will model how they apply the framework and then allow you to actively practice analyzing patient-dependent influential factors and specifying treatment activities.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• use the decision-making framework to incorporate evidence-based practice and patient factors to design treatment plans for your aphasia patients

Documenting Skilled, Person-Centered Practice
Anne K. Montana, MA, CCC-SLP, and Lauren Wineburgh, MA CCC-SLP

This session will discuss how to effectively document the findings from aphasia assessments, emphasizing the medical necessity for SLP services. Referencing case studies presented earlier in the day, the presenters will demonstrate Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s process for documenting SMART goals for evidence-based treatments and justifying funding from various payer sources. The session will address the challenges SLPs may encounter when justifying treatment for chronic conditions.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• document evaluation results to justify medical necessity of services
• apply person-centered goals written with the SMART goal approach for evidence-based aphasia treatments
• document medical necessity to justify ongoing services at various levels of care

Perspectives of People With Aphasia and Their Care Partners: A Panel Discussion
Rachel S. Hitch, MA, CCC-SLP (moderator)

During this panel session, three people with aphasia and one care partner will share about their journey since time of aphasia onset. Panelists will focus on life participation, including some of the barriers they experienced as well as some of the skills, strategies, and supports they discovered and implemented in order to live well with aphasia.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• state three barriers that people with aphasia and/or their care partners commonly face
• identify three skills, strategies, or supports that promote successful life participation for people with aphasia