Aphasia Treatments for Spanish Speakers With Aphasia: A Scoping Review

There is ample research reporting the development of aphasia treatments for English speakers with aphasia. However, less is known about the development of specific treatments for Spanish speakers with aphasia. The aim of this article is to examine the literature reporting aphasia treatments for Spanish speakers. We conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA methodology of studies published between 2011 and 2021 reporting aphasia treatments for native Spanish speakers or bilingual speakers with Spanish as a native language. The scoping review included 18 studies that reported aphasia treatments for Spanish speakers. The mean age of the participants was 55,7 years. Nine out of the 18 studies reported single case designs while nine reported group designs. In addition, 10 studies reported individualized treatments while 8 reported adaptations of treatments previously reported in other languages. On average, the amount of treatment provided to people with aphasia, as reported in the studies, was 15 weeks and 25,5 sessions (distributed 3,18 times per week) with a session duration of 1,32 hours. It is important to highlight the effort in developing research for Spanish speakers with aphasia. Nevertheless, the number of studies reporting treatments developed and adapted for Spanish speakers with aphasia in the last decade is extremely limited. There is a need to continue developing research that supports evidence-based treatments to respond to the need of Spanish speakers with aphasia, especially in Latin America.