JLE

Revue de neuropsychologie

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Effectiveness of therapies based on lexical-semantic theories for patients with early to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a literature review Volume 13, issue 3, Juillet-Août-Septembre 2021

Authors
1 Orthophoniste indépendante, Le Mans, France
2 Orthophoniste indépendante, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
3 Université de Lille, CNRS, UMR 8163, Campus du Pont de Bois, STL Savoirs Textes Langage, UMR 8163, 59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
4 Université de Lille, CNRS, Faculté de Médecine de Lille, Dpt d’Orthophonie de Lille, 59000 Lille, France
* Correspondance

Anomia is one of the most frequent complaints in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Numerous studies have proposed models for the treatment of lexical impairment. The most promising results are those involving lexical-semantic therapies. This review offers a synthesis of lexical-semantic therapy (LST) effects on communicative and cognitive performance in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's. The methodologies deployed in those studies are also delineated. Ten intervention studies were reviewed, five of them opting for a language intervention with a lexical-semantic component, and the other five opting for a global intervention with a lexical-semantic component. The comprehensive results show that LST has significant immediate effects on language performance for specific language interventions, while for global interventions the effects were less significant. For the two thirds of the studies evaluating cognitive performance independent of language, the results were encouraging: LST helps patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's. However, it is vital that future research employs transparent methodologies and makes reference to standard terminology to ensure that the data supporting these studies can be replicated and also used in clinical practice.