Indication and Limitations of Speech-language Therapy for Foreign Language-speaking Patients / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

We reported our experiences with providing speech-language therapy to foreign language-speaking patients. The patients were English, Spanish, Chinese, Swahili and Persian speakers. The primary therapist was Japanese and had no experience in many of the target languages. Assessments were made and treatments were delivered to the patients with the assistance of interpreters and necessary information obtained from the Internet. Of the five patients reported, 3 patients were assessed as unimpaired or suffering only very mild aphasia and received no therapy, and 2 patients were assessed with severe aphasia and received speech-language therapy. It was indicated that the presence of an interpreter, the severity of aphasia and the accessibility to target language speech-language therapy information were the important factors in conducting foreign language therapy. In addition, arrangements need to be made to include a means to correct a patient's utterances, provide immediate feedback during therapy and translate all of the testing materials.