Purpose: The purpose of this review is to evaluate and summarize the research evidence related to the treatment of individuals with right hemisphere communication disorders.
Method: A comprehensive search of the literature using key words related to right hemisphere brain damage and communication treatment was conducted in 27 databases (e.g., PubMed, CINAHL). On the basis of a set of pre-established clinical questions, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and search parameters, studies investigating sentence- or discourse-level treatments were identified and evaluated for methodological quality. Data regarding participant, intervention, and outcome variables were reported.
Results: Only 5 studies were identified, each representing a different sentence- or discourse-level treatment approach and reporting a wide range of prosodic, expressive, receptive, and pragmatic outcomes.
Conclusion: Although the state of the evidence pertaining to right hemisphere communication treatments is at a very preliminary stage, some positive findings were identified to assist speech-language pathologists who are working with individuals with right hemisphere brain damage. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are explored.