A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

A number of methodological issues arose for both the presentation and content
of the stimuli. To address this, the methodology was amended (see section
4.4.4) and was considered suitable for teaching and assessing new vocabulary
to an adult with normal cognitive and linguistic abilities. However, the aim of the
main investigation was to assess if adults who had language impairment, as a
result of a stroke could learn this new vocabulary. To ensure that any difficulties
encountered by post-stroke adults in learning the new vocabulary was a
reflection of their impaired language rather than some other variable of poststroke
impairment pilot study two was carried out with participant P2 who had a
stroke but was not aphasic.
4.5 PILOT STUDY TWO
This study used the amended methodology (from pilot study one) to appraise
the procedure with an adult who had a stroke but did not have aphasia. It was
expected that the participant would be able to demonstrate learning of the new
vocabulary presented during the training procedure. Also the timing of all
sessions and assessments were evaluated with an adult who had experienced a
stroke.
4.5.1 Participant details
P2 was recruited from a local Chest, Heart and Stroke Association group. She
was female (aged 59;06 years) and was 20 months post-stroke at the time of the
study. She completed 17 years in education and did not seek employment
following graduation. P2 lived with her husband and had no physical impairment
or aphasia following her stroke, although there was a mild dysarthric quality (see
section 2.2) to her speech. She reported that she mainly experienced memory
difficulties.
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