Affiliations: [a] Communication Sciences & Disorders Program, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| [b] Communication Sciences & Special Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Jacqueline S. Laures-Gore, Communication Sciences & Disorders Program, Department of Educational Psychology, Special Education, and Communication Disorders, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3979, Atlanta, GA 30302-3979, USA. Tel.: +1 404 413 8299; Fax: +1 404 413 8043; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Despite the potential behavioral and neurological benefits of Mindfulness Meditation (MM), its use in treating stroke related communication disabilities appears to be underexplored. Specifically, aphasia, a language disorder resulting from stroke, may be amenable to the benefits of MM because of the observed attention problems often underlying the language symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The current paper presents a case report of an adult with aphasia who was trained in MM. METHOD: An adult with aphasia completed a five-day mindfulness training, and was assessed on measures of language, attention, and physiological measures of cortisol and heart rate variability. She completed four assessments: two baseline measures, immediately post training, and one week post training (maintenance). RESULTS: Overall, changes were observed in both psychophysiological measures (heart rate and heart rate variability) and behavioral measures (word productivity, phrase length, word generation, decreased impulsivity, and increased attention). CONCLUSION: Given the psychophysiological and behavioral changes observed in this individual, further exploration of the influence of MM in the treatment of post-stroke aphasia is warranted.
