Variables and Mechanisms Affecting Response to Language Treatment in Multilingual People with Aphasia
Mira Goral, Aviva Lerman
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite substantial literature exploring language treatment effects in multilingual people with aphasia (PWA), inconsistent results reported across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions. METHODS: We highlight and illustrate variables that have been implicated in affecting cross-language treatment effects in multilingual PWA. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: We argue that opposing effects of activation and inhibition across languages, influenced by pertinent variables, such as age of language acquisition, patterns of language use, and treatment-related factors, contribute to the complex picture that has emerged from current studies of treatment in multilingual PWA. We propose a new integrated model-Treatment Effects in Aphasia in Multilingual people (the TEAM model)-to capture this complexity.