Professional touch in speech and language therapy for the treatment of post-stroke aphasia

This chapter deals with the use of touch by speech and language therapists involved in the treatment of patients who have developed aphasia following a stroke. In the hospital setting, therapists use touch not only instrumentally, for guiding and instructing patients in the production of sounds, but also for accomplishing other types of actions related to the therapeutic activity. In particular, rapid or sustained touch of the patient’s arm or hand is used to secure the patient’s attention, guide their participation in the accomplishment of the tasks, and comfort and motivate them in moments of distress. This emotion regulation is particularly important in early aphasia recovery, during which therapists have to deal with patients’ feelings of fear, anxiety, and frustration. More generally, this chapter highlights the importance of a multimodal approach to aphasia pathology and its treatment and emphasises the crucial role played by haptic resources in handling participatory and affective dimensions within therapy.