How people with aphasia describe themes depicted in grid and visual scene displays

This within-groups, repeated measures study examined differences in how accurately people with aphasia (PWA) described themes depicted in AAC displays (theme description accuracy), the types of descriptions they produced (action, naming, or combined action and naming messages), and their display preferences when viewing grids and visual scene displays (VSDs). Nineteen adults with aphasia participated in this study. Each participant viewed grids and VSDs with matched content (e.g., people, objects) presented on a computer monitor and described themes presented in each display. They then completed a display preference task. Results revealed that participants described VSDs themes correctly more often than grid themes; however, grids were described with partial correctness more often than VSDs. Additionally, both display types were described using verbs or verb phrases (action messages), more frequently than nouns or noun phrases (naming messages); however, VSDs were described using action messages more often than grids. Participants also reported greater preference for VSDs than grids. Study results support existing research that both grids and VSDs can effectively support communication for adults with aphasia; however, they may differ in their ability to represent action and naming messages. In addition, results indicate that PWA may prefer VSDs over grids.