Intervention in Aphasia (NADIIA)
Narrative and Discourse Intervention in Aphasia
...a naturalistic therapy approach to assist people with aphasia to combine the skills needed to talk and interact again in everyday situations
About NADIIA
NADIIA (Narrative and Discourse Intervention in Aphasia) is a multi-level approach, combining what we know about finding words, putting words into sentences and then organising language into larger communication structures to enable people to tell stories, give their opinions, or recount what happened on the weekend.
Drawing on theories of how we tell stories, and expanding to everyday speaking situations, NADIIA has been developed by a team of researchers and clinicians, led by Professor Anne Whitworth, which is continuing to research this approach to understand how it works, who it works for, and how it can be best delivered in clinical settings. This highly structured language therapy tool focuses on the naturalistic speaking of daily life and is individualised to maximise therapy benefits.
NADIIA previously used the acronym NARNIA (a Novel Approach to Real-life communication: a Narrative Intervention in Aphasia). NARNIA captured the importance of narrative as a springboard to organising different everyday genres, but was considered to insufficiently capture the central focus of discourse. We also hope it is an easier acronym to remember!
“It is conceptually different to most other approaches to aphasia treatment,” says Professor Whitworth, “a characteristic that we believe is critical to its early success with people after stroke, following head injury, and with certain progressive language disorders seen in dementia.”
NADIIA has been developed to be used with a speech pathologist. If you have aphasia, or support a person with aphasia, please speak to a speech pathologist to explore this approach.
Coming soon...the NADIIApp
Currently, the NADIIA team is undertaking the development of the NADIIApp. The NADIIApp project is being funded by MSWA (Multiple Sclerosis Western Australia). We have joined with Dr James White, Reach Health Promotions Innovations, to design and develop the app. Consultation has taken place in the development phase with therapists and people with aphasia to test user acceptability. We are now undergoing trials with people with aphasia to assess feasibility and early effectiveness of developing NADIIA through mobile technology. If the trial is successful, this will allow more people to be access the NADIIA program, including those in remote locations to continue their treatments from their home.
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The intended outcome is to produce an iPad-based app for long-term rehabilitation, and evaluate the success of the app in improving functional language and cognitive skills for stroke related aphasia, and potentially other neurological conditions such as dementia.
