19 - Neurodegenerative Disorders Within the Context of Bilingualism: Implications for Assessment and Treatment

Evidence is lacking regarding methods for assessment and treatment practices for bilingual speakers with language-prominent dementia syndromes. Most assessments lack normative data for bilingual groups and often are based upon translations and adaptations of measures developed for monolingual English speakers. As such, clinicians often face difficult decisions when selecting and interpreting assessments for bilingual speakers. In this talk, I will discuss principles for bilingual assessment in the context of neurodegenerative syndromes including methods for characterizing an individual’s bilingualism history. In addition, outcomes data from novel speech-language interventions administered to bilingual speakers with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) will be highlighted. PPA is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive worsening of speech and language in the context of relatively spared general cognitive abilities. Although there is a growing body of research addressing the nature and treatment of PPA in monolingual speakers, this disorder has been relatively unexplored in bilingual speakers. In this talk, I will also present research investigating 1) bilingualism as a contributor to cognitive reserve, specifically with regard to age at symptom onset, and 2) methods for promoting cross-linguistic transfer via speech-language intervention in bilingual PPA. Innovative treatment models developed to increase accessibility to service provision will also be discussed.