Pelagie M Beeson

Interests

Teaching

Communication disorders, Aphasia, Neurogenic communication disorders

Research

Language disorders in adults, aphasia, alexia, agraphia, dyslexia, dysgraphia

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. (2018). Acquired Dysgraphias: Mechanisms of Writing. doi:10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780199772391.013.13
• Plante, E. M., & Beeson, P. M. (2013). Communication and Communication Disorders: A Clinical Introduction 4th edition.

Chapters

• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K. L., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2018). Acquired impairments of reading and writing.. In Aphasia and related neurogenic language disorders, 5th Edition.. NY: Thieme Publishers.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. L. (2017). Acquired dysgraphias: Mechanisms of writing. In Oxford Handbook of Aphasia and Language Disorders.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2015). Clinical diagnosis and treatment of spelling disorders. In A. E. Hillis (Ed.). Handbook on adult language disorders: Integrating cognitive neuropsychology, neurology, and rehabilitation, 2nd Edition(pp 117-138). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
• Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2015). Neuroanatomical correlates of spelling and writing.. In A. E. Hillis (Ed.). Handbook on adult language disorders: Integrating cognitive neuropsychology, neurology, and rehabilitation, 2nd Edition. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Journals/Publications

• Fein, M., Bayley, C., Rising, K., & Beeson, P. M. (2020). A structured approach to train text messaging in an individual with aphasia. Aphasiology, 34(1), 102-118.
• Mailend, M. L., Mailend, M. L., Maas, E., Maas, E., Beeson, P. M., Beeson, P. M., Story, B. H., Story, B. H., Forster, K. I., & Forster, K. I. (2020). Examining speech motor planning difficulties in apraxia of speech and aphasia via the sequential production of phonetically similar words. Cognitive neuropsychology, 1-16.
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  This study investigated the underlying nature of apraxia of speech (AOS) by testing two competing hypotheses. The argues that people with AOS can plan speech only one syllable at a time Rogers and Storkel [1999. Planning speech one syllable at a time: The reduced buffer capacity hypothesis in apraxia of speech. , (9-11), 793-805. https://doi.org/10.1080/026870399401885]. The states that selecting a motor programme is difficult in face of competition from other simultaneously activated programmes Mailend and Maas [2013. Speech motor programming in apraxia of speech: Evidence from a delayed picture-word interference task. , (2), S380-S396. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2013/12-0101)]. Speakers with AOS and aphasia, aphasia without AOS, and unimpaired controls were asked to prepare and hold a two-word utterance until a go-signal prompted a spoken response. Phonetic similarity between target words was manipulated. Speakers with AOS had longer reaction times in conditions with two similar words compared to two identical words. The Control and the Aphasia group did not show this effect. These results suggest that speakers with AOS need additional processing time to retrieve target words when multiple motor programmes are simultaneously activated.
• Sachs, A., Rising, K., & Beeson, P. M. (2020). A Retrospective Study of Long-Term Improvement on the Boston Naming Test. American journal of speech-language pathology, 29(1S), 425-436.
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  Purpose Lexical retrieval impairment is a universal characteristic of aphasia and a common treatment focus. Although naming improvement is well documented, there is limited information to shape expectations regarding long-term recovery. This was the motivation for a retrospective study of longitudinal data on the Boston Naming Test (BNT; Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 1983, 2000). Method BNT scores were analyzed from a heterogeneous cohort of 42 individuals with anomia associated with a range of aphasia types. The data were collected over the course of 20 years from individuals who had participated in treatment and received at least 2 BNT administrations. A linear mixed model was implemented to evaluate effects of initial BNT score, time postonset, and demographic variables. For those over 55 years of age, BNT change was evaluated relative to data from the Mayo Clinic's Older Americans Normative Studies. Results There was a significant average improvement of +7.67 points on the BNT in individuals followed for an average of 2 years. Overall, the average rate of improvement was +5.84 points per year, in contrast to a decline of 0.23 points per year in a healthy adult cohort from the Mayo Clinic's Older Americans Normative Studies. Naming recovery was approximately linear, with significant main effects of initial BNT score (i.e., initial severity) and time postonset; the greatest changes were noted in those whose initial severity was moderate. Conclusions These findings indicate a positive prognosis for naming improvement over time regardless of demographic factors and provide estimates for clinical predictions for those who seek rehabilitation during the chronic phase.
• Casilio, M., Rising, K., Beeson, P. M., Bunton, K., & Wilson, S. M. (2019). Auditory-Perceptual Rating of Connected Speech in Aphasia. American journal of speech-language pathology, 28(2), 550-568.
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  Purpose Auditory-perceptual assessment, in which trained listeners rate a large number of perceptual features of speech samples, is the gold standard for the differential diagnosis of motor speech disorders. The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility of applying a similar, formalized auditory-perceptual approach to the assessment of language deficits in connected speech samples from individuals with aphasia. Method Twenty-seven common features of connected speech in aphasia were defined, each of which was rated on a 5-point scale. Three experienced researchers evaluated 24 connected speech samples from the AphasiaBank database, and 12 student clinicians evaluated subsets of 8 speech samples each. We calculated interrater reliability for each group of raters and investigated the validity of the auditory-perceptual approach by comparing feature ratings to related quantitative measures derived from transcripts and clinical measures, and by examining patterns of feature co-occurrence. Results Most features were rated with good-to-excellent interrater reliability by researchers and student clinicians. Most features demonstrated strong concurrent validity with respect to quantitative connected speech measures computed from AphasiaBank transcripts and/or clinical aphasia battery subscores. Factor analysis showed that 4 underlying factors, which we labeled Paraphasia, Logopenia, Agrammatism, and Motor Speech, accounted for 79% of the variance in connected speech profiles. Examination of individual patients' factor scores revealed striking diversity among individuals classified with a given aphasia type. Conclusion Auditory-perceptual rating of connected speech in aphasia shows potential to be a comprehensive, efficient, reliable, and valid approach for characterizing connected speech in aphasia.
• Henry, M. L., Hubbard, H. I., Grasso, S. M., Dial, H. R., Beeson, P. M., Miller, B. L., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2019). Treatment for Word Retrieval in Semantic and Logopenic Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia: Immediate and Long-Term Outcomes. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 62(8), 2723-2749.
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  Purpose Recent studies confirm the utility of speech-language intervention in primary progressive aphasia (PPA); however, long-term outcomes, ideal dosage parameters, and relative benefits of intervention across clinical variants warrant additional investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether naming treatment affords significant, lasting, and generalized improvement for individuals with semantic and logopenic PPA and whether dosage manipulations significantly affect treatment outcomes. Method Eighteen individuals with PPA (9 semantic and 9 logopenic variant) underwent lexical retrieval treatment designed to leverage spared cognitive-linguistic domains and develop self-cueing strategies to promote naming. One group (n = 10) underwent once-weekly treatment sessions, and the other group (n = 8) received the same treatment with 2 sessions per week and an additional "booster" treatment phase at 3 months post-treatment. Performance on trained and untrained targets/tasks was measured immediately after treatment and at 3, 6, and 12 months post-treatment. Results Outcomes from the full cohort of individuals with PPA showed significantly improved naming of trained items immediately post-treatment and at all follow-up assessments through 1 year. Generalized improvement on untrained items was significant up to 6 months post-treatment. The positive response to treatment was comparable regardless of session frequency or inclusion of a booster phase. Outcomes were comparable across PPA subtypes, as was maintenance of gains over the post-treatment period. Conclusion This study documents positive naming treatment outcomes for a group of individuals with PPA, demonstrating strong direct treatment effects, maintenance of gains up to 1 year post-treatment, and generalization to untrained items. Lexical retrieval treatment, in conjunction with daily home practice, had a strong positive effect that did not require more than 1 clinician-directed treatment session per week. Findings confirm that strategic training designed to capitalize on spared cognitive-linguistic abilities results in significant and lasting improvement, despite ongoing disease progression, in PPA.
• Henry, M. L., Hubbard, H. I., Grasso, S. M., Dial, H. R., Beeson, P. M., Miller, B. L., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2019). Treatment for word retrieval in semantic and logopenic variants of primary progressive aphasia: Immediate and long-term outcomes. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-27.
• Mailend, M. L., Maas, E., Beeson, P. M., Story, B. H., & Forster, K. I. (2019). Speech motor planning in the context of phonetically similar words: Evidence from apraxia of speech and aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 127, 171-184.
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  The purpose of this study was to test two competing hypotheses about the nature of the impairment in apraxia of speech (AOS). The Reduced Buffer Capacity Hypothesis argues that people with AOS can hold only one syllable at a time in the speech motor planning buffer. The Program Retrieval Deficit Hypothesis, states that people with AOS have difficulty accessing the intended motor program in the context where several motor programs are activated simultaneously. The participants included eight speakers with AOS, most of whom also had aphasia, nine speakers with aphasia without AOS, and 25 age-matched control speakers. The experimental paradigm prompted single word production following three types of primes. In most trials, prime and target were the same (e.g., bill-bill). On some trials, the initial consonant differed in one phonetic feature (e.g., bill-dill; Similar) or in all phonetic features (fill-bill; Different). The dependent measures were accuracy and reaction time. The results revealed a switch cost - longer reaction times in trials where the prime and target differed compared to trials where they were the same words - in all groups; however, the switch cost was significantly larger in the AOS group compared to the other two groups. These findings are in line with the prediction of the Program Retrieval Deficit Hypothesis and suggest that speakers with AOS have difficulty with selecting one program over another when several programs compete for selection.
• Wilson, S. M., & Beeson, P. M. (2019). Patterns of recovery from aphasia in the first two weeks after stroke. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(3), 723-732.
• Wilson, S. M., Eriksson, D. K., Brandt, T. H., Schneck, S. M., Lucanie, J. M., Burchfield, A. S., Charney, S., Quillen, I. A., de Riesthal, M., Kirshner, H. S., Beeson, P. M., Ritter, L., & Kidwell, C. S. (2019). Patterns of Recovery From Aphasia in the First 2 Weeks After Stroke. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 62(3), 723-732.
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  Purpose Recovery from aphasia after stroke has a decelerating trajectory, with the greatest gains taking place early and the slope of change decreasing over time. Despite its importance, little is known regarding evolution of language function in the early postonset period. The goal of this study was to characterize the dynamics and nature of recovery of language function in the acute and early subacute phases of stroke. Method Twenty-one patients with aphasia were evaluated every 2-3 days for the first 15 days after onset of acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Language function was assessed at each time point with the Quick Aphasia Battery (Wilson, Eriksson, Schneck, & Lucanie, 2018), which yields an overall summary score and a multidimensional profile of 7 different language domains. Results On a 10-point scale, overall language function improved by a mean of 1.07 points per week, confidence interval [0.46, 1.71], with 19 of 21 patients showing positive changes. The trajectory of recovery was approximately linear over this time period. There was significant variability across patients, and patients with more impaired language function at Day 2 poststroke experienced greater improvements over the subsequent 2 weeks. Patterns of recovery differed across language domains, with consistent improvements in word finding, grammatical construction, repetition, and reading, but less consistent improvements in word comprehension and sentence comprehension. Conclusion Overall language function typically improves substantially and steadily during the first 2 weeks after stroke, driven mostly by recovery of expressive language. Information on the trajectory of early recovery will increase the accuracy of prognoses and establish baseline expectations against which to evaluate the efficacy of interventions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7811876.
• Beeson, P. M., Bayley, C., Shultz, C., & Rising, K. (2018). Maximising recovery from aphasia with central and peripheral agraphia: The benefit of sequential treatments. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 1-27.
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  Maximal recovery from acquired language impairment may require progression from one behavioural treatment protocol to the next in order to build upon residual and relearned cognitive-linguistic and sensory-motor processes. We present a five-stage treatment sequence that was initiated at one year post stroke in a woman with acquired impairments of spoken and written language. As is typical of individuals with left perisylvian damage, she demonstrated marked impairment of phonological retrieval and sublexical phonology, but she also faced additional challenges due to impaired letter shape knowledge and visual attention. The treatment sequence included (1) written spelling of targeted words, (2) retraining sublexical sound-to-letter correspondences and phonological manipulation skills, (3) training strategic approaches to maximise interactive use of lexical, phonological, and orthographic knowledge, (4) lexical retrieval of spoken words, and finally (5) sentence-level stimulation to improve grammatical form of written narratives. This Phase II clinical study documented positive direct treatment outcomes along with evidence of a significant reduction in the underlying deficits and generalisation to untrained items and language tasks. Improvements on a comprehensive assessment battery were realised as functional gains in everyday written and spoken communication, including improved lexical retrieval and grammatical complexity of written narratives. This case provides a valuable example of the cumulative therapeutic benefit of sequential application of theoretically motivated treatment protocols.
• DeMarco, A. T., Wilson, S. M., Rising, K., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2018). The neural substrates of improved phonological processing following successful treatment in a case of phonological alexia and agraphia. Neurocase, 24(1), 31-40.
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  Phonological deficits are common in aphasia after left-hemisphere stroke, and can have significant functional consequences for spoken and written language. While many individuals improve through treatment, the neural substrates supporting improvements are poorly understood. We measured brain activation during pseudoword reading in an individual through two treatment phases. Improvements were associated with greater activation in residual left dorsal language regions and bilateral regions supporting attention and effort. Gains were maintained, while activation returned to pre-treatment levels. This case demonstrates the neural support for improved phonology after damage to critical regions and that improvements may be maintained without markedly increased effort.
• DeMarco, A. T., Wilson, S. M., Rising, K., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2017). Neural substrates of sublexical processing for spelling. Brain and language,, 164,, 118-128.
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  We used fMRI to examine the neural substrates of sublexical phoneme-grapheme conversion during spelling in a group of healthy young adults. Participants performed a writing-to-dictation task involving irregular words (e.g., choir), plausible nonwords (e.g., kroid), and a control task of drawing familiar geometric shapes (e.g., squares). Written production of both irregular words and nonwords engaged a left-hemisphere perisylvian network associated with reading/spelling and phonological processing skills. Effects of lexicality, manifested by increased activation during nonword relative to irregular word spelling, were noted in anterior perisylvian regions (posterior inferior frontal gyrus/operculum/precentral gyrus/insula), and in left ventral occipito-temporal cortex. In addition to enhanced neural responses within domain-specific components of the language network, the increased cognitive demands associated with spelling nonwords engaged domain-general frontoparietal cortical networks involved in selective attention and executive control. These results elucidate the neural substrates of sublexical processing during written language production and complement lesion-deficit correlation studies of phonological agraphia.
• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K., DeMarco, A. T., Foley, T. H., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2016). The nature and treatment of phonological text agraphia. Neuropsychological rehabilitation,, 1-21.
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  Phonological alexia and agraphia are written language disorders characterised by disproportionate difficulty reading and spelling nonwords in comparison to real words. In phonological alexia, it has been shown that, despite relatively accurate reading of words in isolation, text-level reading deficits are often marked and persistent. Specifically, some individuals demonstrate difficulty reading functors and affixes in sentences, a profile referred to as phonological text alexia. In this paper, we demonstrate an analogous manifestation of the phonological impairment on text-level writing and suggest the term "phonological text agraphia". We examined four individuals with phonological alexia/agraphia who also showed disproportionate difficulty writing well-formed sentences in comparison to their grammatical competence in spoken utterances. Implementation of a phonological treatment protocol resulted in significantly improved sublexical phonology skills as well as improvements in grammatical accuracy of written narratives. These findings support the notion of a common phonological impairment underlying nonword reading/spelling deficits and sentence-level difficulties.
• Henry, M. L., Wilson, S. M., Babiak, M. C., Mandelli, M. L., Beeson, P. M., Miller, Z. A., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2016). Phonological processing in primary progressive aphasia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(2), 210-222.
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  Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) show selective breakdown in regions within the proposed dorsal (articulatory-phonological) and ventral (lexical-semantic) pathways involved in language processing. Phonological STM impairment, which has been attributed to selective damage to dorsal pathway structures, is considered to be a distinctive feature of the logopenic variant of PPA. By contrast, phonological abilities are considered to be relatively spared in the semantic variant and are largely unexplored in the nonfluent/agrammatic variant. Comprehensive assessment of phonological ability in the three variants of PPA has not been undertaken. We investigated phonological processing skills in a group of participants with PPA as well as healthy controls, with the goal of identifying whether patterns of performance support the dorsal versus ventral functional-anatomical framework and to discern whether phonological ability differs among PPA subtypes. We also explored the neural bases of phonological performance using voxel-based morphometry. Phonological performance was impaired in patients with damage to dorsal pathway structures (nonfluent/agrammatic and logopenic variants), with logopenic participants demonstrating particular difficulty on tasks involving nonwords. Binary logistic regression revealed that select phonological tasks predicted diagnostic group membership in the less fluent variants of PPA with a high degree of accuracy, particularly in conjunction with a motor speech measure. Brain-behavior correlations indicated a significant association between the integrity of gray matter in frontal and temporoparietal regions of the left hemisphere and phonological skill. Findings confirm the critical role of dorsal stream structures in phonological processing and demonstrate unique patterns of impaired phonological processing in logopenic and nonfluent/agrammatic variants of PPA.
• Beeson, P. M. (2015). Primary and secondary analyses of single-subject data have complementary value—commentary in response to “Optimising the design of intervention studies: critiques and ways forward.”. Aphasiology, 29(5), 598-604.
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  Beeson, P. M. (2015). Primary and secondary analyses of single-subject data have complementary value—commentary in response to “Optimising the design of intervention studies: critiques and ways forward.” Aphasiology, 29(5), 598-604.
• Bonakdarpour, B., Beeson, P. M., DeMarco, A. T., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2015). Variability in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in patients with stroke-induced and primary progressive aphasia.. NeuroImage: Clinical, 8, 87-94.
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  Bonakdarpour, B., Beeson, P. M., DeMarco, A. T., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2015). Variability in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in patients with stroke-induced and primary progressive aphasia. NeuroImage: Clinical, 8, 87-94.
• Kim, E. S., Rising, K., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2015). Treatment for alexia with agraphia following left ventral occipito-temporal damage: Strengthening orthographic representations common to reading and spelling. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 58(5), 1521-37.
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  Damage to left ventral occipito-temporal cortex can give rise to written language impairment characterized by pure alexia/letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, as well as surface alexia and agraphia. The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effects of a combined treatment approach to address concurrent LBL reading with surface alexia/agraphia.
• Roberts, D. J., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Kim, E., Tainturier, M. J., Beeson, P. M., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Woolams, A. M. (2015). Processing deficits for familiar and novel faces in patients with left posterior fusiform lesions.. Cortex, 72, 79-96.
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  Roberts, D. J., Ralph, M. A. L., Kim, E., Tainturier, M. J., Beeson, P. M., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Woollams, A. M. (2015). Processing deficits for familiar and novel faces in patients with left posterior fusiform lesions. Cortex, 72, 79-96.
• Patterson, D. K., Van Petten, C., Beeson, P. M., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Plante, E. (2014). Bidirectional iterative parcellation of diffusion weighted imaging data: separating cortical regions connected by the arcuate fasciculus and extreme capsule. NeuroImage, 102 Pt 2, 704-16.
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  This paper introduces a Bidirectional Iterative Parcellation (BIP) procedure designed to identify the location and size of connected cortical regions (parcellations) at both ends of a white matter tract in diffusion weighted images. The procedure applies the FSL option "probabilistic tracking with classification targets" in a bidirectional and iterative manner. To assess the utility of BIP, we applied the procedure to the problem of parcellating a limited set of well-established gray matter seed regions associated with the dorsal (arcuate fasciculus/superior longitudinal fasciculus) and ventral (extreme capsule fiber system) white matter tracts in the language networks of 97 participants. These left hemisphere seed regions and the two white matter tracts, along with their right hemisphere homologues, provided an excellent test case for BIP because the resulting parcellations overlap and their connectivity via the arcuate fasciculi and extreme capsule fiber systems are well studied. The procedure yielded both confirmatory and novel findings. Specifically, BIP confirmed that each tract connects within the seed regions in unique, but expected ways. Novel findings included increasingly left-lateralized parcellations associated with the arcuate fasciculus/superior longitudinal fasciculus as a function of age and education. These results demonstrate that BIP is an easily implemented technique that successfully confirmed cortical connectivity patterns predicted in the literature, and has the potential to provide new insights regarding the architecture of the brain.
• Beeson, P. M., Higginson, K., & Rising, K. (2013). Writing treatment for aphasia: A texting approach. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56(3), 945-955.
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  PMID: 23811474;PMCID: PMC3929384;Abstract: Purpose: Treatment studies have documented the therapeutic and functional value of lexical writing treatment for individuals with severe aphasia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether such retraining could be accomplished using the typing feature of a cellular telephone, with the ultimate goal of using text messaging for communication. Method: A 31-year-old man with persistent Broca's aphasia, severe apraxia of speech, global dysgraphia, and right hemiparesis participated in this study. Using a multiple baseline design, relearning and maintenance of single-word spellings (and oral naming) of targeted items were examined in response to traditional Copy and Recall Treatment (CART) for handwriting and a new paradigm using 1-handed typing on a cell phone keyboard (i.e., a texting version of CART referred to as T-CART). Results: Marked improvements were documented in spelling and spoken naming trained in either modality, with stronger maintenance for handwriting than cell phone typing. Training resulted in functional use of texting that continued for 2 years after treatment. Conclusions: These results suggest that orthographic retraining using a cell phone keyboard has the potential to improve spelling knowledge and provide a means to improve functional communication skills. Combined training with both handwriting and cell phone typing should be considered in order to maximize the durability of treatment effects. © American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Henry, M. L., Rising, K., DeMarco, A. T., Miller, B. L., Gorno-Tempini, M., & Beeson, P. M. (2013). Examining the value of lexical retrieval treatment in primary progressive aphasia: Two positive cases. Brain and Language, 127(2), 145-156.
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  PMID: 23871425;Abstract: Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) suffer a gradual decline in communication ability as a result of neurodegenerative disease. Language treatment shows promise as a means of addressing these difficulties but much remains to be learned with regard to the potential value of treatment across variants and stages of the disorder. We present two cases, one with semantic variant of PPA and the other with logopenic PPA, each of whom underwent treatment that was unique in its focus on training self-cueing strategies to engage residual language skills. Despite differing language profiles and levels of aphasia severity, each individual benefited from treatment and showed maintenance of gains as well as generalization to untrained lexical items. These cases highlight the potential for treatment to capitalize on spared cognitive and neural systems in individuals with PPA, improving current language function as well as potentially preserving targeted skills in the face of disease progression. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.
• Meinzer, M., Beeson, P. M., Cappa, S., Crinion, J., Kiran, S., Saur, D., Parrish, T., Crosson, B., & Thompson, C. K. (2013). Corrigendum to "Neuroimaging in aphasia treatment research: Consensus and practical guidelines for data analysis" [Neuroimage 73 (2013) 215-224]. NeuroImage, 81, 507.
• Meinzer, M., Beeson, P. M., Cappa, S., Crinion, J., Kiran, S., Saur, D., Parrish, T., Crosson, B., & Thompson, C. K. (2013). Neuroimaging in aphasia treatment research: Consensus and practical guidelines for data analysis. NeuroImage, 73, 215-224.
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  PMID: 22387474;PMCID: PMC3416913
• Roberts, D. J., Woollams, A. M., Kim, E., Beeson, P. M., Rapcsak, S. Z., & A., M. (2013). Efficient visual object and word recognition relies on high spatial frequency coding in the left posterior fusiform gyrus: Evidence from a case-series of patients with ventral occipito-temporal cortex damage. Cerebral Cortex, 23(11), 2568-2580.
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  PMID: 22923086;PMCID: PMC3792736;Abstract: Recent visual neuroscience investigations suggest that ventral occipito-temporal cortex is retinotopically organized, with high acuity foveal input projecting primarily to the posterior fusiform gyrus (pFG), making this region crucial for coding high spatial frequency information. Because high spatial frequencies are critical for fine-grained visual discrimination, we hypothesized that damage to the left pFG should have an adverse effect not only on efficient reading, as observed in pure alexia, but also on the processing of complex non-orthographic visual stimuli. Consistent with this hypothesis, we obtained evidence that a large case series (n = 20) of patients with lesions centered on left pFG: 1) Exhibited reduced sensitivity to high spatial frequencies; 2) demonstrated prolonged response latencies both in reading (pure alexia) and object naming; and 3) were especially sensitive to visual complexity and similarity when discriminating between novel visual patterns. These results suggest that the patients' dual reading and non-orthographic recognition impairments have a common underlying mechanism and reflect the loss of high spatial frequency visual information normally coded in the left pFG. © 2012 The Author.
• Wilson, S. M., Rising, K., Stib, M. T., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2013). Dysfunctional visual word form processing in progressive alexia. Brain : a journal of neurology, 136(Pt 4), 1260-73.
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  Progressive alexia is an acquired reading deficit caused by degeneration of brain regions that are essential for written word processing. Functional imaging studies have shown that early processing of the visual word form depends on a hierarchical posterior-to-anterior processing stream in occipito-temporal cortex, whereby successive areas code increasingly larger and more complex perceptual attributes of the letter string. A region located in the left lateral occipito-temporal sulcus and adjacent fusiform gyrus shows maximal selectivity for words and has been dubbed the 'visual word form area'. We studied two patients with progressive alexia in order to determine whether their reading deficits were associated with structural and/or functional abnormalities in this visual word form system. Voxel-based morphometry showed left-lateralized occipito-temporal atrophy in both patients, very mild in one, but moderate to severe in the other. The two patients, along with 10 control subjects, were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging as they viewed rapidly presented words, false font strings, or a fixation crosshair. This paradigm was optimized to reliably map brain regions involved in orthographic processing in individual subjects. All 10 control subjects showed a posterior-to-anterior gradient of selectivity for words, and all 10 showed a functionally defined visual word form area in the left hemisphere that was activated for words relative to false font strings. In contrast, neither of the two patients with progressive alexia showed any evidence for a selectivity gradient or for word-specific activation of the visual word form area. The patient with mild atrophy showed normal responses to both words and false font strings in the posterior part of the visual word form system, but a failure to develop selectivity for words in the more anterior part of the system. In contrast, the patient with moderate to severe atrophy showed minimal activation of any part of the visual word form system for either words or false font strings. Our results suggest that progressive alexia is associated with a dysfunctional visual word form system, with or without substantial cortical atrophy. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that functional MRI has the potential to reveal the neural bases of cognitive deficits in neurodegenerative patients at very early stages, in some cases before the development of extensive atrophy.
• Henry, M. L., Beeson, P. M., Alexander, G. E., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2012). Written language impairments in primary progressive aphasia: A reflection of damage to central semantic and phonological processes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24(2), 261-275.
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  PMID: 22004048;PMCID: PMC3307525;
• Beeson, P. M., King, R. M., Bonakdarpour, B., Henry, M. L., Cho, H., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2011). Positive effects of language treatment for the logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 45(3), 724-736.
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  PMID: 21710364;PMCID: PMC3208072;Abstract: Despite considerable recent progress in understanding the underlying neurobiology of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) syndromes, relatively little attention has been directed toward the examination of behavioral interventions that may lessen the pervasive communication problems associated with PPA. In this study, we report on an individual with a behavioral profile and cortical atrophy pattern consistent with the logopenic variant of PPA. At roughly two-and-a-half years post onset, his marked lexical retrieval impairment prompted administration of a semantically based intervention to improve word retrieval. The treatment was designed to improve self-directed efforts to engage the participant's relatively preserved semantic system in order to facilitate word retrieval. His positive response to an intensive (2-week) dose of behavioral treatment was associated with improved lexical retrieval of items within trained categories, and generalized improvement for naming of untrained items that lasted over a 6-month follow-up interval. These findings support the potential value of intensive training to achieve self-directed strategic compensation for lexical retrieval difficulties in logopenic PPA. Additional insight was gained regarding the neural regions that supported improved performance by the administration of a functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol before and after treatment. In the context of a picture-naming task, post-treatment fMRI showed increased activation of left dorsolateral prefrontal regions that have been implicated in functional imaging studies of generative naming in healthy individuals. The increased activation in these frontal regions that were not significantly atrophic in our patient (as determined by voxel-based morphometry) is consistent with the notion that neural plasticity can support compensation for specific language loss, even in the context of progressive neuronal degeneration. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
• Beeson, P., Beeson, P. M., Kim, E. S., Rapcsak, S. Z., & Andersen, S. (2011). Multimodal alexia: neuropsychological mechanisms and implications for treatment. Neuropsychologia.
• Beeson, P. M. (2010). Neuroimaging research: Brain-behavior relationships and language. ASHA Leader, 15(8).
• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K., Kim, E. S., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2010). A treatment sequence for phonological alexia/agraphia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53(2), 450-468.
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  PMID: 20360466;PMCID: PMC3522177;
• Beeson, P., Beeson, P. M., Andersen, S. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2010). Cost function masking during normalization of brains with focal lesions: still a necessity?. NeuroImage, 53(1).
• Rapcsak, S. Z., Beeson, P. M., Henry, M. L., Leyden, A., Kim, E., Rising, K., Andersen, S., & Cho, H. (2009). Phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia: Cognitive mechanisms and neural substrates. Cortex, 45(5), 575-591.
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  PMID: 18625494;PMCID: PMC2689874;Abstract: To examine the validity of different theoretical assumptions about the neuropsychological mechanisms and lesion correlates of phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia, we studied written and spoken language performance in a large cohort of patients with focal damage to perisylvian cortical regions implicated in phonological processing. Despite considerable variation in accuracy for both words and non-words, the majority of participants demonstrated the increased lexicality effects in reading and spelling that are considered the hallmark features of phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia. Increased lexicality effects were also documented in spoken language tasks such as oral repetition, and patients performed poorly on a battery of phonological tests that did not involve an orthographic component. Furthermore, a composite measure of general phonological ability was strongly predictive of both reading and spelling accuracy, and we obtained evidence that the continuum of severity that characterized the written language disorder of our patients was attributable to an underlying continuum of phonological impairment. Although patients demonstrated qualitatively similar deficits across measures of written and spoken language processing, there were quantitative differences in levels of performance reflecting task difficulty effects. Spelling was more severely affected than reading by the reduction in phonological capacity and this differential vulnerability accounted for occasional disparities between patterns of impairment on the two written language tasks. Our findings suggest that phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia in patients with perisylvian lesions are manifestations of a central or modality-independent phonological deficit rather than the result of damage to cognitive components dedicated to reading or spelling. Our results also provide empirical support for shared-components models of written language processing, according to which the same central cognitive systems support both reading and spelling. Lesion-deficit correlations indicated that phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia may be produced by damage to a variety of perisylvian cortical regions, consistent with distributed network models of phonological processing.
• Antonucci, S., Beeson, P., Labiner, D., & Rapcsak, S. (2008). Lexical retrieval and semantic knowledge in patients with left inferior temporal lobe lesions. Aphasiology, 22(3), 281-304.
• Beeson, P., Rising, K., Kim, E., & Rapcsak, S. (2008). A novel method for examining response to spelling treatment. Aphasiology, 22(7-8), 707-717.
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  Abstract: Background: According to a dual-route model of written language processing, spelling of irregular words provides an index of the status of lexical spelling procedures, whereas nonword spelling provides information about non-lexical processing that relies on phoneme-grapheme conversion. Because regular words can be spelled using either route, accuracy for such words may reflect the combined function of the two routes, and may be mathematically predicted on the basis of spelling accuracy for irregular words and nonwords. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to examine the application of a dual-route prediction equation, and a related multiple regression model, to evaluate pre-post treatment spelling performance of individuals with acquired alexia/agraphia. Methods & Procedures: Eight individuals with language impairment due to left hemisphere damage received behavioral treatment to improve their written spelling. Their spelling performance was examined before and after treatment on untrained word lists with regular and irregular spellings, and pronounceable nonwords, and concurrence between predicted and observed spelling of regular words was evaluated. Outcomes & Results: The group demonstrated significantly improved spelling performance after treatment, and the prediction equation and multiple regression model both accurately predicted regular word performance on the basis of irregular word and nonword scores. In addition, the multiple regression model provided potentially useful information about the relative contribution of the lexical and non-lexical routes to spelling performace. Conclusions: The prediction equation and related multiple regression model used in this study can offer novel insight into the cognitive processes available to individuals with agraphia as well as provide a quantitative means to characterize response to treatment.
• Henry, M. L., Beeson, P. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2008). Treatment for anomia in semantic dementia. Seminars in Speech and Language, 29(1), 60-70.
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  PMID: 18348092;PMCID: PMC2699352;Abstract: Anomia is a striking and consistent clinical feature of semantic dementia (SD), a progressive aphasia syndrome associated with focal cortical atrophy of the anterior temporal lobes. Word retrieval deficits in patients with SD have been attributed to the loss of conceptual knowledge, resulting in an impairment referred to as semantic anomia. Whereas an abundance of research has been dedicated to treatment for anomia in individuals with focal brain damage due to stroke, considerably less work has been done regarding treatment for patients with progressive language decline. The purpose of this article is to review the available literature concerning the nature and treatment of anomia in individuals with SD. Several studies have shown that new lexical learning remains possible in these patients. However, newly learned information is likely to be constrained by the learning context, and increased reliance on perceptual and autobiographical contextual information may be necessary to provide critical support for new vocabulary acquisition. There is also evidence suggesting that treatment may slow the progression of anomia over time, even affording some protective benefit to lexical items that are not yet lost. However, treatment efforts are likely to be most beneficial at early stages of the disease, when residual semantic knowledge as well as relatively spared episodic memory may support new learning. Copyright © 2008 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
• Henry, M., Beeson, P., & Rapcsak, S. (2008). Treatment for lexical retrieval in progressive aphasia. Aphasiology, 22(7-8), 826-838.
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  Abstract: Background: Treatment for lexical retrieval impairment has been shown to yield positive outcomes in individuals with aphasia due to focal lesions, but there has been little research regarding the treatment of such impairments in individuals with progressive aphasia. Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effects of a semantic treatment for anomia in progressive aphasia relative to the outcome in an individual with stroke-induced aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Two individuals with progressive aphasia and one with aphasia resulting from stroke participated in the study. Each participant presented with fluent, anomic aphasia; however, one of the patients with progressive aphasia demonstrated characteristics indicating a likely progression towards non-fluency. Each participant received a brief, intensive treatment intended to improve lexical retrieval in the context of generative naming for selected semantic categories. Treatment tasks included guided lexical retrieval prompted by the identification and elaboration of items within semantic subcategories, as well as other semantic tasks. Treatment outcomes were quantified using standard effects sizes as well as nonparametric tests comparing pre- versus post-treatment performance. Outcomes & Results: One of the individuals with progressive aphasia showed large treatment effects for lexical retrieval of items from targeted semantic categories. The other progressive aphasia patient showed very small effects overall for treated categories. The individual with the focal lesion due to stroke showed medium-sized effects for trained categories as well as significant improvement on a standardised measure of naming. Conclusions: Findings indicate that intensive, semantically based treatment for lexical retrieval can result in positive outcomes in individuals with progressive as well as stroke-induced aphasia. Examination of individual differences suggests that the status of semantic and episodic memory may provide predictive information regarding responsiveness to treatment.
• Kim, E., Bayles, K., & Beeson, P. (2008). Instruction processing in young and older adults: Contributions of memory span. Aphasiology, 22(7-8), 753-762.
• Raymer, A. M., Beeson, P., Holland, A., Kendall, D., Maher, L. M., Martin, N., Murray, L., Rose, M., Thompson, C. K., Turkstra, L., Altmann, L., Boyle, M., Conway, T., Hula, W., Kearns, K., Rapp, B., Simmons-Mackie, N., & J., L. (2008). Translational research in aphasia: From neuroscience to neurorehabilitation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51(1), S259-S275.
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  PMID: 18230850;
• Henry, M. L., Beeson, P. M., Stark, A. J., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2007). The role of left perisylvian cortical regions in spelling. Brain and Language, 100(1), 44-52.
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  PMID: 16890279;PMCID: PMC2362101;Abstract: In order to examine the role of left perisylvian cortex in spelling, 13 individuals with lesions in this area were administered a comprehensive spelling battery. Their spelling of regular words, irregular words, and nonwords was compared with that of individuals with extrasylvian damage involving left inferior temporo-occipital cortex and normal controls. Perisylvian patients demonstrated a lexicality effect, with nonwords spelled worse than real words. This pattern contrasts with the deficit in irregular word spelling, or regularity effect, observed in extrasylvian patients. These findings confirm that damage to left perisylvian cortex results in impaired phonological processing required for sublexical spelling. Further, degraded phonological input to orthographic selection typically results in additional deficits in real word spelling. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• Rapcsak, S. Z., Henry, M. L., Teague, S. L., Carnahan, S. D., & Beeson, P. M. (2007). Do dual-route models accurately predict reading and spelling performance in individuals with acquired alexia and agraphia?. Neuropsychologia, 45(11), 2519-2524.
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  PMID: 17482218;PMCID: PMC1988783;Abstract: Coltheart and co-workers [Castles, A., Bates, T. C., & Coltheart, M. (2006). John Marshall and the developmental dyslexias. Aphasiology, 20, 871-892; Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review, 108, 204-256] have demonstrated that an equation derived from dual-route theory accurately predicts reading performance in young normal readers and in children with reading impairment due to developmental dyslexia or stroke. In this paper, we present evidence that the dual-route equation and a related multiple regression model also accurately predict both reading and spelling performance in adult neurological patients with acquired alexia and agraphia. These findings provide empirical support for dual-route theories of written language processing. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Beeson, P. M., & Egnor, H. (2006). Combining treatment for written and spoken naming. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(6), 816-827.
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  PMID: 17064445;PMCID: PMC1913481;Abstract: Individuals with left-hemisphere damage often have concomitant impairment of spoken and written language. Whereas some treatment studies have shown that reading paired with spoken naming can benefit both language modalities, little systematic research has been directed toward the treatment of spelling combined with spoken naming. The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effect of pairing a lexical spelling treatment referred to as Copy and Recall Treatment (CART) with verbal repetition of target words. This approach (CART + Repetition) was compared with treatment using verbal repetition without the inclusion of orthographic training (Repetition Only). Two individuals with moderate aphasia and severe impairment of spelling participated in the study using a multiple baseline design across stimulus sets and treatment conditions. Both participants improved spelling of targeted words as well as spoken naming of those items, but improvement in spoken naming was marked for one individual in the CART + Repetition condition, while the other participant made smaller gains in spoken than written naming irrespective of treatment condition. Consideration of the participant profiles suggested that CART + Repetition provides greater benefit when there is some residual phonological ability and the treatment serves to stimulate links between orthography and phonology. © 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society.
• Beeson, P. M., & Robey, R. R. (2006). Evaluating single-subject treatment research: lessons learned from the aphasia literature. Neuropsychology review, 16(4), 161-9.
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  The mandate for evidence-based practice has prompted careful consideration of the weight of the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic value of various clinical treatments. In the field of aphasia, a large number of single-subject research studies have been conducted, providing clinical outcome data that are potentially useful for clinicians and researchers; however, it has been difficult to discern the relative potency of these treatments in a standardized manner. In this paper we describe an approach to quantify treatment outcomes for single-subject research studies using effect sizes. These values provide a means to compare treatment outcomes within and between individuals, as well as to compare the relative strength of various treatments. Effect sizes also can be aggregated in order to conduct meta-analyses of specific treatment approaches. Consideration is given to optimizing research designs and providing adequate data so that the value of treatment research is maximized.
• Beeson, P. M., Magloire, J. G., & Robey, R. R. (2005). Letter-by-letter reading: Natural recovery and response to treatment. Behavioural Neurology, 16(4), 191-202.
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  PMID: 16518009;Abstract: The present investigation provides a longitudinal study of an individual (RB) with acquired alexia following left posterior cerebral artery stroke. At initial testing, RB exhibited acquired alexia characterized by letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, mild anomic aphasia, and acquired agraphia. Repeated measures of reading accuracy and rate were collected for single words and text over the course of one year, along with probes of naming and spelling abilities. Improvements associated with natural recovery (i.e., without treatment) were documented up to the fourth month post onset, when text reading appeared to be relatively stable. Multiple oral reading (MOR) treatment was initiated at 22 weeks post-stroke, and additional improvements in reading rate and accuracy for text were documented that were greater than those expected on the basis of spontaneous recovery alone. Over the course of one year, reading reaction times for single words improved, and the word-length effect that is the hallmark of LBL reading diminished. RB's response to treatment supports the therapeutic value of MOR treatment to in LBL readers. His residual impairment of reading and spelling one-year post stroke raised the question as to whether further progress was impeded by degraded orthographic knowledge. © 2005 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
• Fridriksson, J., Holland, A. L., Beeson, P., & Morrow, L. (2005). Spaced retrieval treatment of anomia. Aphasiology, 19(2), 99-109.
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  Abstract: Background: Spaced Retrieval (SR) is a treatment approach developed to facilitate recall of information by individuals with dementia. Essentially an errorless learning procedure that can be used to facilitate recall of a variety of information, SR gradually increases the interval between correct recall of target items. Aims: Given the success of using SR in dementia, the purpose of this study was to explore its usefulness in improving naming by individuals with aphasia. The rate of acquisition and retention of items was compared between SR and a more traditional treatment technique - cueing hierarchy (CH). Also, each oral naming treatment was run concurrently with a single word writing treatment. Methods & procedures: Three participants who had moderate or severe naming impairments and agraphia were studied. Single-subject design was applied across oral and written naming and treated and untreated items. Outcomes & results: The results indicate that for these participants, SR resulted in improved naming of specific items. The data further suggest that SR compared favourably to CH with regard to both acquisition and retention of items. The participants also benefited nicely from the writing treatment. Conclusions: These findings suggest SR may be an alternative for managing naming impairment resulting from aphasia. Furthermore, the study supports providing treatments aimed at two different modalities concurrently. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.
• Orjada, S. A., & Beeson, P. M. (2005). Concurrent treatment for reading and spelling in aphasia. Aphasiology, 19(3-5), 341-351.
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  Abstract: Background: Behavioural treatments for impairments of written language have had positive therapeutic effects in patients with alexia and agraphia. However, few researchers have documented the effect of concurrent administration of treatments for reading and writing. Combined treatment has the potential to be an efficient means of rehabilitation for individuals with both reading and spelling impairments. Aims: The present study was designed to examine the therapeutic value of a concurrent treatment for reading and spelling. The goals of treatment were to increase reading accuracy and rate for text and to improve spelling accuracy for single words. Methods & procedures: An individual with chronic aphasia, alexia, and agraphia participated in the treatment, which consisted of a combination of Oral Reading Treatment (ORT) and Copy and Recall Treatment (CART) that was conducted for 10 weeks. Repeated probes at the beginning of each session were used to determine progress and maintenance of treatment gains. Additional language assessments were administered before and after treatment. Outcomes & results: Large treatment effects were obtained for reading accuracy of personally relevant scripts and spelling of targeted words, and gains were maintained on follow-up probes. Reading rate for practiced text also improved, but did not generalise when reading new text. Pre- and post-treatment measures indicated significant improvement in reading and spelling of functors not specifically targeted in treatment, and increased grammatical complexity of spoken language. In addition, oral language performance as measured by the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) showed clinically significant improvement. Conclusions: Concurrent reading and spelling treatment was successful in this patient with moderate aphasia. It appears to be an efficient way to effect change in written and spoken language in individuals with aphasia. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.
• Antonucci, S. M., Beeson, P. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2004). Anomia in patients with left inferior temporal lobe lesions. Aphasiology, 18(5-7), 543-554.
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  Abstract: Background: Damage to left inferior temporal cortex has been associated with naming deficits resulting either from impaired access to phonological word forms (pure anomia) or from degraded semantic knowledge (semantic anomia). Neuropsychological evidence indicates that pure anomia may follow damage to posterior inferior temporal cortex (BA 37), whereas semantic anomia is associated with damage to more anterior temporal lobe regions (BA 20, 21, 38). By contrast, some investigators have suggested that it is the overall severity of anomia, rather than the nature of the underlying cognitive impairment, that is affected by the anterior extent of the lesion. Aims: To examine the naming performance of patients with left inferior temporal lobe damage and determine whether anterior extension of the lesion influences the nature and/or the severity of the naming impairment. Methods & Procedures: Eight participants with focal damage to left inferior temporal cortex completed a battery of language measures that included confrontation naming, semantic processing, and single-word reading and spelling. Degree and type of anomia was examined relative to anterior lesion extension using both visual inspection and statistical analyses. Outcomes & Results: Naming performance ranged from unimpaired to severely defective, with only two participants demonstrating an additional mild impairment of semantic knowledge. The underlying mechanism of anomia seemed to be degraded access to phonological word forms in all participants, regardless of lesion configuration. The severity of the naming impairment was positively correlated with anterior extension of the lesion towards the temporal pole, although additional analyses suggested that these findings were significantly influenced by participant age. Naming was not correlated with performance on the nonverbal semantic task or any other demographic variable. Conclusions: The behavioural and neuroanatomical findings provide modest support for the hypothesis that a relationship exists between anterior lesion extension and the severity of concomitant anomia in patients with left inferior temporal lobe damage. The data suggest that such lesions may disconnect relatively preserved semantic knowledge from regions critical for access to phonological word forms. However, additional research is needed to discern to what extent age and individual variability temper these effects. © 2004 Psychology Press Ltd.
• Beeson, P. M. (2004). Remediation of written language. Topics in stroke rehabilitation, 11(1).
• Rapcsak, S. Z., & Beeson, P. M. (2004). The role of left posterior inferior temporal cortex in spelling. Neurology, 62(12), 2221-2229.
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  PMID: 15210886;Abstract: Objective: To determine whether damage to left posterior inferior temporal cortex (PITC) is associated with agraphia and to characterize the nature of the spelling impairment. Background: Left angular gyrus may play a critical role in spelling. However, this traditional view is challenged by reports of agraphia after left temporo-occipital lesions and by functional imaging studies demonstrating activation of left PITC during writing in normal individuals. Methods: Patients with focal damage to the left temporo-occipital cortex and normal control subjects were administered a comprehensive spelling battery that included regular words, irregular words, and nonwords as stimuli. Results: Although patients performed worse than control subjects in all experimental conditions, the spelling deficit was particularly severe for irregular words, whereas regular word and nonword spelling were less impaired. Additional analyses indicated that orthographic regularity and word frequency had a much more pronounced effect on spelling accuracy in patients compared with control subjects. Most errors on irregular words were phonologically plausible, consistent with reliance on a sublexical phonologic spelling strategy (i.e., phoneme-grapheme conversion). Overall, the spelling impairment of the patients showed the characteristic profile of lexical agraphia. Lesion analyses indicated that the damage in the majority of patients encompassed an area within the left PITC (BA 37/20) where the authors previously obtained evidence of activation in a functional imaging study of writing in normal participants. Conclusions: The behavioral and neuroanatomic observations in the patients are consistent with functional imaging studies of writing in neurologically intact individuals and provide converging evidence for the role of left PITC in spelling. Together, these findings implicate left PITC as a possible neural substrate of the putative orthographic lexicon that contains stored memory representations for the written forms of familiar words.
• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K., & Volk, J. (2003). Writing treatment for severe aphasia: Who benefits?. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46(5), 1038-1060.
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  PMID: 14575342;Abstract: Writing treatment that involved repeated copying and recall of target words was implemented with 8 individuals with severe aphasia in order to discern the best candidates for the treatment. Four of the 8 participants had strong positive responses to the copy and recall treatment (CART), relearning spellings for 15 targeted words during 10 to 12 weeks of treatment and up to 5 additional words during a month-long homework-based program. Of the 4 other participants, 3 learned the spellings of some target words but failed to reach criterion, and 1 had a poor treatment outcome. Insights regarding possible factors that limited success were gained by examination of individual responses to treatment as well as performance on the pretreatment assessments of semantic, phonological, and orthographic processes. Among the factors associated with success were (a) consistent, accurate completion of daily homework, (b) a relatively preserved semantic system, (c) the ability to discern words from nonwords, and (d) adequately preserved nonverbal visual problem-solving skills. Aphasia severity and minimal pretreatment spelling abilities did not necessarily limit the response to treatment. Participants with positive treatment outcomes demonstrated improved spelling of target words following repeated copying within a single treatment session, and accurately completed daily writing homework. Thus, pretreatment assessment and stimulability within initial treatment sessions provided indications of likely outcome.
• Clausen, N. S., & Beeson, P. M. (2003). Conversational use of writing in severe aphasia: A group treatment approach. Aphasiology, 17(6-7), 625-644.
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  Abstract: Background: Several studies have documented the ability of individuals with severe aphasia to relearn the spelling of target words so that written communication can augment limited spoken language abilities. To date, there has been little documentation of clinical methods to facilitate the conversational use of written communication in such individuals. Aims: The present study was designed to examine treatment outcomes in response to single-word writing treatment complemented by a group treatment approach to facilitate the use of writing for conversation. Methods & procedures: Four individuals with chronic, severe aphasia and agraphia received copy and recall treatment (CART) that included repeated copying and recall trials for spelling target words, as well as small group writing treatment. Single-subject multiple baseline designs were implemented to document progress on sets of words sequentially targeted for treatment. Writing was probed in the context of individual treatment sessions, structured group conversation, and in conversation with an unfamiliar person. Outcomes & results: All four participants responded positively to treatment by demonstrating improved spelling of target words in individual sessions, and use of single-word writing in structured group conversations. In addition, all subjects showed the ability to use telegraphic written communication with new people, albeit with fewer words written in the most naturalistic context. Conclusions: Single-word writing abilities may improve with treatment despite persistent impairments to spoken language and considerable passage of time since the onset of aphasia. Group treatment appears to be an appropriate context to facilitate conversational use of written communication in such individuals.
• Frattali, C., Bayles, K., Beeson, P., R., M., Wambaugh, J., & Yorkston, K. M. (2003). Development of evidence-based practice guidelines: Committee update. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 11(3), ix-xviii.
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  Abstract: The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS), by way of the mission, purposes, and activities of its Ad Hoc Practice Guidelines Coordinating Committee and respective Writing Committees, has embarked on a 5-year project to develop a range of evidence-based practice guidelines for specific neurologically impaired patient populations (i.e., dysarthria, dementia, acquired apraxia of speech, developmental apraxia of speech, aphasia, cognitive-communication disorders after traumatic brain injury, and cognitive and communication disorders after right-hemisphere brain damage). The project embraces a philosophy that quality of care is best supported by scientific evidence of treatment efficacy. This article, which details and updates the proceedings from the Committee's presentation at the ANCDS annual educational and scientific meeting in 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia, summarizes the progress to date by the various Writing Committees responsible for developing these evidence-based practice guidelines.
• Rapp, B., & Beeson, P. M. (2003). Introduction: Dysgraphia: Cognitive processes, remediation, and neural substrates. Aphasiology, 17(6-7), 531-534.
• Beeson, P. M., Hirsch, F. M., & Rewega, M. A. (2002). Successful single-word writing treatment: Experimental analyses of four cases. Aphasiology, 16(4-6), 473-491.
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  Abstract: Background: Individuals with severe aphasia may fail to regain spoken language, so that treatment should target other communication modalities such as writing. There is relatively limited documentation of successful writing treatment, particularly in individuals with severe aphasia. Aims: The present study was designed to examine treatment outcomes in response to two writing treatment protocols intended to rebuild single-word vocabulary for written communication. Methods & procedures: Writing treatments were implemented with four individuals who had significant aphasia and severe agraphia. Two participants received Anagram and Copy Treatment (ACT) which involved arrangement of component letters and repeated copying of target words, along with a homework programme called Copy and Recall Treatment (CART) that included copying and recall of target words. The other two participants received the homework-based CART only. Single-subject multiple-baseline designs were used with sets of words sequentially targeted for treatment. Outcomes & results: All four participants responded positively to treatment. Three of the participants had severely limited spoken language, so that mastery of written words provided a much-needed means of communication. The fourth participant, who had adequate spoken language for face-to-face conversation, employed his improved spelling for written messages such as e-mail. Conclusions: Single-word writing abilities may improve with treatment despite long times post onset and persistent impairments to spoken language.
• Beeson, P. M., & Ramage, A. E. (2000). Drawing from experience: The development of alternative communication strategies. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, 7(2), 10-20.
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  Abstract: We present a case report of a right-handed man who experienced a left hemisphere stroke and the onset of severe, persistent aphasia at age 52. This man is of interest because of his remarkable use of drawing for communication that was initiated at two years post-onset of aphasia. We provide an overview of his course of treatment from one to 5 years postonset and describe the development of his effective multimodal approach to communication.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2000). Toward a theory of therapy for aphasia. Brain and Language, 71(1), 22-25.
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  PMID: 10716796;
• Beeson, P. M., Rewega, M. A., Vail, S., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2000). Problem-solving approach to agraphia treatment: Interactive use of lexical and sublexical spelling routes. Aphasiology, 14(5-6), 551-565.
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  Abstract: Two patients with acquired spelling impairments due to left hemisphere brain damage participated in a treatment protocol to improve their written spelling. Prior to the initiation of writing treatment, both patients showed some ability to take advantage of sound-to-letter correspondences that resulted in phonologically plausible spelling errors. A homework-based treatment was implemented to improve their ability to resolve spelling errors by increased reliance on phoneme-to-grapheme conversion, self-correction, and use of an electronic speller. Both patients improved their spelling abilities and provided evidence of interactive use of partially spared lexical and sublexical spelling routes to resolve their spelling difficulties.
• Beeson, P. M. (1999). Treating acquired writing impairment: Strengthening graphemic representations. Aphasiology, 13(9-11), 767-785.
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  Abstract: A writing treatment protocol was designed for a 75 year-old man with severe Wernicke's aphasia. Four treatment phases were implemented: (1) a multiple baseline design that documented improvement in single-word writing for targeted words; (2) a clinician-directed home program that increased the corpus of correctly-spelled single words; (3) another multiple baseline series that documented acquisition of additional written words, as well as pragmatic training in the use of single-word writing to support conversational communication; and (4) a self-directed home treatment to further expand written vocabulary. The patient's acquisition of targeted words suggested an item-specific treatment effect that strengthened weakened graphemic representations. The patient's continued acquisition of correctly spelled words during the self-directed home treatment supported the use of this approach to supplement more traditional clinician-directed treatment.
• Basso, G., Romero, S., Pietrini, P., Beeson, P. M., Rapczack, S., & Grafman, J. (1998). Neurofunctional correlates of language reorganization after massive hemisphere stroke. NeuroImage, 7(4 PART II), S472.
• Beeson, P. M., & Insalaco, D. (1998). Acquired alexia: Lessons from successful treatment. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4(6), 621-635.
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  PMID: 10050367;Abstract: Two individuals with anomic aphasia and acquired alexia were each provided treatment for their reading impairment. Although reading of single words in isolation was fairly accurate, their text reading was slow and effortful, including functor substitutions and semantic errors. Prior to treatment, reading reaction times for single words showed grammatical class and word-length effects. Both patients responded positively to a treatment protocol that included two phases: (1) multiple oral rereading of text, and (2) reading phrase-formatted text that had increased spacing between phrasal clauses. Their reading rates for text improved while maintaining good comprehension. Following treatment, reading reaction times for single words showed the elimination of grammatical class and word-length effects, suggesting improved access to word forms, particularly functors.
• Murray, L. L., Holland, A. L., & Beeson, P. M. (1998). Spoken language of individuals with mild fluent aphasia under focused and divided-attention conditions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41(1), 213-227.
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  PMID: 9493746;Abstract: The spoken language of individuals with mild aphasia and age-matched control subjects was studied under conditions of isolation, focused attention, and divided attention. A picture-description task was completed alone and in competition with a tone-discrimination task. Regardless of condition, individuals with aphasia performed more poorly on most morphosyntactic, lexical, and pragmatic measures of spoken language than control subjects. Increasing condition complexity resulted in little quantitative or qualitative change in the spoken language of the control group. In contrast, the individuals with aphasia showed dual-task interference; as they shifted from isolation to divided-attention conditions, they produced fewer syntactically complete and complex utterances, fewer words, and poorer word-finding accuracy. In pragmatic terms, their communication was considered less successful and less efficient. These results suggest that decrements of attentional capacity or its allocation may negatively affect the quantity and quality of the spoken language of individuals with mild aphasia.
• Beeson, P. M., Holland, A. L., & Murray, L. L. (1997). Naming famous people: An examination of tip-of-the-tongue phenomena in aphasia and Alzheimer's disease. Aphasiology, 11(4-5), 323-336.
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  Abstract: Confrontation naming of famous faces was studied in 33 individuals with aphasia (anomic, Broca's, and conduction) and 27 individuals with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). Naming failures were examined for evidence of tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state by probing semantic and word-form knowledge (initial letter and word shape). Basic semantic information was provided for many of the recognized faces by all subject groups. Conduction and Broca's groups showed strongest evidence of TOT, performing above chance on initial letter identification. There was little evidence of word-form knowledge in anomic and AD groups.
• Murray, L. L., Holland, A. L., & Beeson, P. M. (1997). Accuracy monitoring and task demand evaluation in aphasia. Aphasiology, 11(4-5), 401-414.
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  Abstract: This study investigated possible underlying sources of resource allocation deficits in aphasia. The ability to rate one's own accuracy, as well as to evaluate task difficulty, were examined in aphasic individuals and normal, control subjects as they performed a lexical decision listening task alone and in competition with two distracter tasks. The aphasic subjects were as precise as control subjects in monitoring the accuracy of their lexical decisions. Despite greater error rates and slower reaction times, aphasic individuals' perceptions of task difficulty did not differ significantly from those of the control subjects. Therefore, resource allocation deficits in aphasia may reflect inadequate evaluation of task demands rather than poor self-monitoring of accuracy.
• Murray, L. L., Holland, A. L., & Beeson, P. M. (1997). Auditory processing in individuals with mild aphasia: A study of resource allocation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40(4), 792-808.
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  PMID: 9263944;Abstract: This study examined the effects of lesion location (frontal vs. posterior) and nature of distraction (nonverbal vs. verbal secondary, competing task) on mildly aphasic individuals' performances of listening tasks that required semantic judgments and lexical decisions under isolation focused attention and divided attention conditions. Despite comparable accuracy among all groups during isolation conditions the aphasic groups responded less accurately and more slowly than the normal control group during focused and divided attention conditions. Generally, the two aphasic groups performed similarly, quantitatively and qualitatively. Demographic characteristics such as time post stroke did not correlate with performance decrements. Independent of group, all individuals showed greater disruption of auditory processing skills when the secondary task was verbal rather than nonverbal. Within a limited-capacity model of attention, the results suggest that aphasic individuals display impairments of attention and resource allocation and that these impairments negatively interact with their auditory processing abilities.
• Murray, L. L., Holland, A. L., & Beeson, P. M. (1997). Grammaticality judgements of mildly aphasic individuals under dual-task conditions. Aphasiology, 11(10), 993-1016.
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  Abstract: This study examined the grammaticality judgements of mildly aphasic individuals under dual-task conditions in order to examine the relationship between syntactic processing and resource capacity and allocation in aphasia. Individuals with aphasia and age matched control subjects performed a listening task that required grammaticality judgements under isolation, focused attention, and divided attention conditions. Subjects were also required to rate task difficulty following completion of each listening condition. Although grammatical sensitivity was similar between groups during the isolation condition, introduction of a secondary, competing task resulted in significantly greater dual-task interference for the aphasic than for the control subjects. Despite these group differences in dual-task performance, aphasic and control subjects' perceptions of task difficulty failed to differ significantly. These findings provide further support for a resource limitation model of syntactic processing deficits in aphasia.
• Beeson, P. M., Rubens, A. B., Hodges, J. R., & Gurd, J. (1995). Anterograde memory impairment in Pick's disease [1]. Archives of Neurology, 52(8), 742-743.
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  PMID: 7639624;
• Brumfitt, S., Herrmann, M., Johannsen-Horbacht, H., Wallesch, C., Pyypponen, V., Holland, A. L., Beeson, P. M., & MacKenzie, C. (1993). Losing your sense of self: What aphasia can do. Aphasiology, 7(6), 569-591.
• Rapcsak, S. Z., Ochipa, C., Beeson, P. M., & Rubens, A. B. (1993). Praxis and the Right Hemisphere. Brain and Cognition, 23(2), 181-202.
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  PMID: 8292325;Abstract: We report our observations on praxis in a strongly right-handed man following a massive stroke that resulted in virtually complete destruction of the left cerebral hemisphere. Our patient was severely impaired in pantomiming transitive gestures with the left hand and in reproducing navel non-symbolic hand and arm movement sequences. However, overlearned habitual actions like actual object use and intransitive gestures were relatively spared. Performance of axial commands was intact. Gesture recognition and discrimination were also preserved. Based on these findings, we propose that the praxis system of the right hemisphere is strongly biased toward "concrete" or context-dependent execution of familiar, well-established action routines. The right hemisphere is critically dependent on transcallosal contribution from the left hemisphere for control of the left hand in "abstract" or context-independent performance of transitive movements and in learning novel movement sequences. At least in some individuals, the right hemisphere can recognize and discriminate gestures. Possible implications of our findings for the cerebral control of praxis and for recovery from apraxia are discussed. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.
• Rapcsak, S. Z., Beeson, P. M., & Rubens, A. B. (1991). Writing with the right hemisphere. Brain and Language, 41(4), 510-530.
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  PMID: 1723332;Abstract: We studied writing abilities in a strongly right-handed man following a massive stroke that resulted in virtually complete destruction of the language-dominant left hemisphere. Writing was characterized by sensitivity to lexical-semantic variables (i.e., word frequency, imageability, and part of speech), semantic errors in writing to dictation and written naming, total inability to use the nonlexical phonological spelling route, and agrammatism in spontaneous writing. The reliance on a lexical-semantic strategy in spelling, semantic errors, and impaired phonology and syntax were all highly consistent with the general characteristics of right hemisphere language, as revealed by studies of split-brain patients and adults with dominant hemispherectomy. In addition, this pattern of writing closely resembled the syndrome of deep agraphia. These observations provide strong support for the hypothesis that deep agraphia reflects right hemisphere writing. © 1991.

Presentations

• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. (2019, May). Semantics, phonology, and speech production skills predict naming, reading, and spelling.. 49th Clinical Aphasiology Conference. Whitefish, MT.
• Rising, K., & Beeson, P. M. (2019, May). Lexical retrieval treatment for the logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia. 49th Clinical Aphasiology Conference. Whitefish, MT.
• Beeson, P. M. (2018, October). Treatment sequence to maximize recovery in aphasia.. 2018 Barrow Stroke Rehab Symposium. Phoenix, AZ.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. L. (2018, May). Treatment for the core phonological deficit in perisylvian aphasias.. Clinical Aphasiology Conference. Austin, TX.
• Raymer, A., Beeson, P. M., Maher, L., Martin, N., & Thompson, C. K. (2018, November). Translating neuroscience to neurorehabilitation in aphasia: 10 years later.. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Boston, MA.
• Beeson, P. M. (2017, April). A treatment continuum for aphasia, alexia, and agraphia. Annual Convention of the Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association,. Tucson, AZ.
• Beeson, P. M. (2017, April). A treatment continuum for aphasia, alexia, and agraphia. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorder. Houston, TX.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. L. (2017, November). Treatment sequences to maximize recovery from aphasia. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Los Angeles, CA.
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  Platform presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Casilio, M., Rising, K. L., Beeson, P. M., Bunton, K. E., & Wilson, S. M. (2017, April). Patterns of connected speech features in aphasia. Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. Tucson, AZ.
• Casilio, M., Rising, K. L., Beeson, P. M., Bunton, K. E., & Wilson, S. M. (2017, June). Patterns of connected speech features in aphasia. Clinical Aphasiology Conference. Snowbird, UT.
• Beeson, P. M. (2016, July). A cascaded approach to lexical retrieval treatment in aphasia.. ASHA Connect Conference. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Beeson, P. M. (2016, July). A treatment continuum for aphasia, alexia, and agraphia.. ASHA Connect Conference. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K. L., & Bayley, C. K. (2016, November). Phonological treatment in aphasia: Getting at the core deficit.. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Goodman, M. L., & Beeson, P. M. (2016, November). Long-term recovery of aphasia. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Rising, K. L., Bayley, C. K., & Beeson, P. M. (2016, November). Treating naming impairments in primary progressive aphasia.. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Sachs, A., & Beeson, P. M. (2016, November). Long-term recovery of naming abilities in individuals with aphasia.. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Philadelphia, PA.: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Beeson, P. M. (2015, April). The nature and treatment of primary progressive aphasia.. California State University. Chico, CA.
• Beeson, P. M., & Rising, K. (2015, July). What is primary progressive aphasia? Does language treatment help?. Invited presentation at ASHA Health Care Conference. Phoenix, AZ.
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  Beeson, P.M. & Rising, K. (2015, July). What is primary progressive aphasia? Does language treatment help? Invited presentation at ASHA Health Care Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
• Beeson, P. M., Rising, K., DeMarco, A. T., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2015, October). Exploring the neural substrates of phonological recovery. Symposium: Neural correlates of recovery and rehabilitation.. Presented at the Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ.
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  Beeson, P.M., Rising, K., Andrew T. DeMarco, A.T. & Rapcsak, S.Z. (2015, October). Exploring the neural substrates of phonological recovery. Symposium: Neural correlates of recovery and rehabilitation. Presented at the Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting, Tucson, AZ.
• DeMarco, A. T., Rising, K., Shultz, C., Bayley, C., & Beeson, P. M. (2015, October). Whole-word response scoring underestimates functional spelling ability for some individuals with global agraphia. Poster presentation at the Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ.
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  Demarco, A.T., Rising, K., Shultz, C., Bayley, C. and Beeson, P.M. (2015, October). Whole-word response scoring underestimates functional spelling ability for some individuals with global agraphia. Poster presentation at the Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting, Tucson, AZ.
• Rising, K., & Beeson, P. M. (2015, October). Examining durability and generalization following lexical retrieval treatment in an individual with semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Presented at the Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ.
• Rising, K., Bayley, C., & Beeson, P. M. (2015, November). Treatment for written language in aphasia: Three illustrative case. Platform presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Denver, CO.
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  Rising, K., Bayley, C., & Beeson, P.M. (2015, November). Treatment for written language in aphasia: Three illustrative cases. Platform presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Denver, CO.
• Beeson, P. M. (2014, September). A treatment sequence of written language rehabilitation.. Department of Communication Disorders, Ewha Womans University. Seoul, Korea.
• Beeson, P. M. (2014, September). The literate brain.. Annual Meeting of the Korean Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Seoul, Korea.
• Beeson, P. M. (2014, September). The nature and treatment of primary progressive aphasia.. Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center. Seoul, Korea.
• Csefalvay, Z. Z., Markova, J., Kralova, M., Beeson, P. M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2014, December). Testing the orthographic depth hypothesis: A cross-language study of reading in patients with stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and primary progressive aphasia.. World Federation of Neurology Meeting. Hong Kong, China.
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  Cséfalvay, Z., Marková, J., Maria Králova, M., Beeson, P.M., & Rapcsak, S.Z. (2014, December). Testing the orthographic depth hypothesis: A cross-language study of reading in patients with stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and primary progressive aphasia. Presentation at the World Federation of Neurology Meeting, Hong Kong, China.
• Henry, M. L., Babiak, M., Beeson, P. M., Block, N., Miller, B. L., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2014, February). Phonological processing in logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia.. Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society. Seattle, WA..
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  Henry, M.L., Babiak, M., Beeson, P.M., Block, N., Miller, B.L., Gorno-Tempini, M.L. (2014, February). Phonological processing in logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia, Presentation at the Annual meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, Seattle, WA.

Poster Presentations

• Rising, K. L., & Beeson, P. M. (2018, November). Clinical assessment of aphasia, alexia, agraphia: Characterizing the underlying deficit(s).. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Boston, MA.
• Sachs, A., Rising, K. L., & Beeson, P. M. (2018, May). A retrospective study of long-term improvement on the Boston Naming Test.. Clinical Aphasiology Conference. Austin, TX.
• Edwards, K., Rising, K. L., Bayley, C. K., & Beeson, P. M. (2017, January). Examining response to lexical retrieval treatment in individuals with logopenic and semantic variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Poster presentation at the 28th Annual UBRP Conference..
• Fein, M., & Beeson, P. M. (2017, November). Facilitating functional use of texting in aphasia. Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. San Francisco, CA.
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  Poster presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Edwards, K., Rising, K. L., Bayley, C. K., & Beeson, P. M. (2016, August). Examining response to lexical retrieval treatment in individuals with logopenic and semantic variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia.. Neuroscience Summer Research Poster Session. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona.