"I felt really confident to enter the session": a pilot evaluation of a co-designed speech pathologist and interpreter collaboration tool for aphasia therapy

Chelsea S Larkman; Lucette Lanyon; Miranda L Rose

doi:10.1080/09638288.2025.2566276

"I felt really confident to enter the session": a pilot evaluation of a co-designed speech pathologist and interpreter collaboration tool for aphasia therapy

Disabil Rehabil. 2025 Sep 29:1-18. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2025.2566276. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chelsea S Larkman^{1

2

3}, Lucette Lanyon^{1

2}, Miranda L Rose^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
² Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Recovery and Rehabilitation Bundoora, Australia.
³ Speech Pathology Department, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, Australia.

PMID: 41017380
DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2025.2566276

Abstract

Purpose: There is a growing need for speech pathologists to provide aphasia therapy to clients with whom they do not share a language or culture. This requires collaboration with interpreters. This study aimed to evaluate the co-designed La Trobe University Aphasia therapy Collaboration Tool for Speech Pathologists and Interpreters to determine if it can support their interactions to adapt and deliver aphasia therapy.

Methods: Four speech pathologists and four interpreters from a range of language backgrounds, experience levels, workplaces, and genders were recruited. Participants were divided into four dyads involving one speech pathologist and one interpreter. Each dyad engaged in a one-hour, online workshop during which participants role-played a pre-briefing session for an aphasia therapy case study, applying the tool as guidance. Participants were interviewed about their use of the tool. The data were analysed using Framework Analysis.

Results: Four themes were identified: 1) mutual engagement promotes active and productive collaboration, 2) engaging in adaptation can be complex and requires additional skills and resources, 3) time is a limited resource, and 4) the tool has multiple benefits.

Conclusions: The tool can support speech pathologists and interpreters collaborating to deliver aphasia therapy. Further refinement would enhance the tool's useability and impact.

Keywords: Aphasia; adaptation; briefing; cultural and linguistic diversity; interpreters; multilingualism; speech pathology.

Plain language summary

Speech pathologists and interpreters face multiple challenges in their collaboration to adapt and deliver aphasia therapy to culturally and linguistically diverse people with aphasia.Use of the La Trobe University Aphasia therapy Collaboration Tool for Speech Pathologists and Interpreters (LTU ACT-SPI) has the potential to address identified gaps in knowledge, resources and guidelines.The LTU ACT-SPI provides structure and process guidance for speech pathologist and interpreter aphasia therapy adaption and collaboration.