Abstract words, like knowledge, are often more impaired in aphasia than concrete words, like book. However, few treatments are available for abstract words. We developed AbSANT (Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training) to improve abstract word retrieval.

We have found that not only does training abstract words result in improvement for the trained abstract words, but it also helps with retrieval of related concrete words in the same category. For example, training the word ‘justice’ in the category ‘courthouse’ will also improve access to the word ‘jury’.

We believe that this generalization is partly based on the notion that abstract words are more complex than concrete words, and partly based on the way abstract and concrete words are organized in the semantic system.

If you are an SLP and would like to conduct AbSANT with your clients, instructions and treatment materials are located here.

AbSANT has been adapted for use in a variety of languages (click here for more details on BAbSANT) and has been applied to second language learning (click here for more details).

We are always recruiting people who have had a stroke and have aphasia to participate in our treatment studies. If you are interested in participating in treatment research, contact Dr. Chaleece Sandberg at cws18@psu.edu or the lab at sandberglab@gmail.com.