Changes in Fluent Aphasics' Performance following Therapy

Abstract

Four fluent aphasics, varying in severity, were given twenty sessions of word-retrieval therapy. Twenty-four stimulus words were used across three tasks: comprehension, repetition, and confrontation naming. The stimulus words were also placed into four word variable categories for analysis. The categories were semantic, frequency of occurrence, pronounciability, and place of existence. Pretreatment performance measures on the three word-retrieval tasks and on two elicited conversation tasks were obtained for comparison to the same measures obtained after therapy. The severe patient did not improve on any tasks. The two moderate patients improved to almost 100% correct in daily word-retrieval and to 83.7% in the elicited conversation tasks. The mild aphasic with high pretreatment scores who maintained a flat high daily profile on word-retrieval tasks achieved a post-treatment score of 93.7% on the elicited conversation measures. Word variables were related to the pretreatment scores; however, minimal word variable effects were seen in post-treatment responses.