As a follow-up to previous research, this report focuses on the wide range of gestures employed by an individual with aphasia to overcome instances of unintelligibility and re-establish intelligibility. The gestures observed are woven seamlessly into the fabric of the interactions and range from deictic to metaphorical or symbolic in nature.…

During clinical interactions between speech-language pathologists and adults with aphasia, a variety of emotional issues arise. The literature suggests that while counseling is within the scope of practice, SLPs tend to avoid emotional issues in therapy (A. Holland, 2007a). The precise mechanisms employed for circumventing emotional issues in…

Background: Because communication after the onset of aphasia can be fraught with errors, therapist corrections are pervasive in therapy for aphasia. Although corrections are designed to improve the accuracy of communication, some corrections can have social and emotional consequences during interactions. That is, exposure of errors can potentially…

A qualitative study of group therapy for aphasia was undertaken in order to discover interaction patterns and discourse management strategies that help define "social" or "conversation" group therapy for aphasia. Specifically, an analysis of the discourse of clients and therapists was conducted to identify patterns across therapists and settings.…

Conversation analysis was used to investigate a conversational partner's strategies when assisting with the word searches of an aphasic person. Analysis of 38 authentic videotaped conversation sequences identified four conversation strategies systematically and collaboratively used: guessing, alternative guessing, completion, and closing…

Employing conversation analysis as a research technique, this study investigates the ways that unintelligibility is accounted for and overcome within a therapeutic encounter between an individual with aphasia and dysarthria and his clinician. The results emphasize the collaborative nature of intelligibility negotiation and demonstrate how both the…

Assessment methods adapted from qualitative research including ethnographic interviewing and journal writing were applied to the case of an adult with aphasia. By analyzing reports of the client and significant others over the course of treatment, changes in social participation and psychosocial well being were documented. These descriptive data…