Aphasia Therapy Using the Deblocking Method and Kanji/Kana Issues

Abstract

Language facilitation experiments based on deblocking methods were carried out with aphasic patients. Most of the language modality combinations with good facilitations occurred among comprehension modalities, speech modalities, and writing modalities. Prestimulation modalities and facilitated modalities were the same in response for pointing, speech, and writing. If an output route of a particular word had been activated, although the input route was not impaired, a facilitation would be thought to have occurred. The main difference between kanji (morpheme letters) and kana (syllable letters) as stimuli for language therapy was that kanji were more effective in activating the semantic processing capacity, whereas kana were more effective in activating the phonological processing capacity.

Keywords:

• aphasia therapy
• stimulation facilitation approach
• deblocking method