2019 Volume 39 Issue 2 Pages 243-250
The present study aimed to report the effect of an intervention focusing on the qualitative errors of tooth-brushing action in a patient with ideational apraxia. A 60-year-old right-handed man was admitted four months after cerebral hemorrhage in the left cerebral hemisphere. Neurological findings included motor paralysis, sensory impairment, and hypertonia on the right side, whereas neuropsychological findings included motor aphasia, buccofacial apraxia, ideational apraxia, ideomotor apraxia, and attention deficit. Tooth-brushing activity in this patient disclosed “mislocation,” “perplexity,” “clumsiness,” and “omission.” This study was conducted using the single-case design. Interventions were designed as error-free learning focusing on specific qualitative errors and were performed step-by-step with appropriate feedback. Tau-U was used for statistical analysis. Qualitative errors such as “perplexity,” “clumsiness,” and “mislocation” were significantly decreased in the intervention phase compared with the baseline phase. The results of this study suggest that graded intervention for qualitative errors and feedback affected the degree of improvement in this specific patient.
