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22. European Stroke Conference Table I – Sample characteristics Sample Size 47 Sex (M/F) 20/27 Age 56 +/- 15 Yeas since stroke 6 +/- 4 Affected Side (L/R) 20/27 798 © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel Scientific Programme PARAMETER (unit) BEFORE SURGERY 1 Mo. AF-TER SUR-GERY NOR-MAL RANGE p-Value DF@IC (degrees) -10 +/- 8 -1 +/- 4 -1 - 3 <0.0001 Maximum DF@St (degrees) 4 +/- 10 11 +/- 6 10 - 20 <0.0001 Maximum DF@Sw (degrees) -8 +/- 9 5 +/- 7 4 - 8 <0.0001 Cadence 69 +/- 22 71 +/- 18 100 - 130 0.31 Velocity (m/s) 0.36 +/- 0.21 0.36 +/- 0.18 10 - 15 0.97 Step Width (cm) 19 +/- 5 17 +/- 5 11 - 20 <0.0001 Stride Length (cm) 63 +/- 24 65 +/- 20 120 - 150 0.18 Anterior Step Length (cm) Affected Side 35 +/- 9 37 +/- 10 60 - 70 <0.01 Contralateral Side 29 +/- 15 30 +/- 15 60 - 70 0.33 Double Support Time (%Gait Cycle) Affected Side (cm) Contralateral Side (cm) 22 +/- 11 23 +/- 11 20 +/- 7 20 +/- 9 6 - 10 6 - 10 0.23 <0.05 Table II – Ankle dorsiflexion at Initial Contact, during Stance and during Swing and space-time pa-rameters of a sample of 47 stroke patients before and one month after surgery for the correction of equino-varus foot deformity and early rehabilitation treatment 854 Rehabilitation and reorganisation after stroke Analysing types and function of communicative gesture in a group of people with severe Apha-sia; Grading gesture according to levels of representation; Communicative,Deictic,Emblem- ,Pantomime, Iconic J.M. McIntosh1, M Rowe2 St Georges Hospital/NHS Trust, London, UNITED KINGDOM1, St Georges Hospital/NHS Trust, London, UNITED KINGDOM2 Background People with aphasia can often communicate better than they speak/understand and some people with Aphasia can use gesture to do this. Many therapy studies to date have used iconic gesture, perhaps neglecting the potential of more simple levels of communicative gesture. Purpose: The aphasiology literature lacks studies describing spontaneous gesture behaviour and its function in the conversation of individuals with severe aphasia to guide clinicians in designing effi-cacious conversation therapy involving gesture. Group settings in aphasia rehabilitation offer oppor-tunity for natural conversation. Method In a,‘Total Communication’ group, designed for people with severe Aphasia and working on basic communicative strategies, patients were videotaped. Data from two groups of patients was analysed with a view to looking at levels of gesture; from basic facial expression to iconic, represen-tative gesture, using an adapted version of the levels of gesture outlined by McNeil 1992. The func-tion of the gesture was also recorded. Results Findings revealed that individuals with aphasia produced a range of gestures that were com-municative though few were iconic in nature. The gesture had various pragmatic functions including compensatory, complementary, lexical facilitation functions. Discussion Our study showed a range of gesture predominately the simple levels; communicative, deictic, emblems as well as facial expressions. Few instances of pantomime and iconic gesture were noted. It is suggested that people with severe Aphasia demonstrate communicative competence through simple gesture. It is suggested that lower levels of gesture offer potential for treatment. It is suggested that this potential needs investigating further. We recommend that careful analysis of each persons’ use of gesture may inform how clinicians might use, encourage and teach the many levels of gesture in severe aphasia to maximise individual patients’ communicative competence and effectiveness.


Karger_ESC London_2013
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