Constraint-induced
language therapy (CILT) has received recent attention as a possible intervention to improve expressive language in people with
nonfluent aphasia. Difficulties have been reported with the practical implementation of constraint-induced movement
therapy due to its intensive treatment parameters. It remains unknown whether similar challenges may exist with CILT.
OBJECTIVE: One hundred sixty-seven SLPs completed an electronic survey assessing their opinions of various aspects of CILT.
OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Over 60% of participants felt that people with
aphasia would be very unlikely or somewhat unlikely to adhere to CILT. The majority felt that people with
aphasia would hold high or moderate concerns with the number of hours spent in
therapy (high, 41.8%; moderate, 31.4%), the number of days spent in
therapy (high, 44.4%; moderate, 24.8%), likelihood for managed care reimbursement (high, 74.8%; moderate, 15.2%), and other logistical issues (high, 39.2%; moderate, 30.7%). With respect to providing CILT, participants cited the number of hours of
therapy (high, 37.3%; moderate, 21.6%) and the number of consecutive days of
therapy (high, 29.4%; moderate, 20.3%) as concerns. There were 70.6% who indicated that their facilities lacked resources to provide CILT, and 90.9% felt that most facilitates do not have the resources to provide CILT.
CONCLUSIONS: Some SLPs hold significant concerns with the administration of CILT, particularly related to its dosing and reimbursement parameters. Additional work is needed to investigate the issues that were identified in this survey using qualitative methods with SLPs and people with
aphasia and to examine modified CILT protocols.