Recent work in neuropsychology, clinical aphasiology and neuropharmacology have presented evidence that the causative substrates of recurrent perseveration in adults with aphasia are more recondite and subject to distinct interpretations than originally thought. This article will discuss and evaluate how various proposals from theory, from the…

Despite the well documented pragmatic deficits that can arise subsequent to Right Hemisphere Brain Damage (RHBD), few researchers have directly studied everyday conversations involving people with RHBD. In recent years, researchers have begun applying Conversation Analysis (CA) to the everyday talk of people with aphasia. This research programme…

Spoken verb tense use in three groups of Spanish speakers with expressive limitations, namely, children with specific language impairment, bilingual children with first language (L1) (Spanish) attrition and adults with agrammatism, was compared in order to examine the possible impact of conversational tense frequency on expressive production.…

This review brings together evidence from a diverse field of methods for investigating sex differences in language processing. Differences are found in certain language-related deficits, such as stuttering, dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia. Common to these is that language problems may follow from, rather than cause the deficit. Large studies…

The oral expressive language of 47 aphasic subjects (who had suffered a single unilateral occlusive cerebral vascular accident two to four weeks prior to original testing) was measured on two occasions a year apart. Results found positive changes toward normal language functioning for several variables with type of aphasia affecting outcome on…

Purpose: Multidimensional scoring methods yield valuable information about communication abilities. However, issues of training demands for valid and reliable scoring, especially in current service delivery contexts, may preclude common usage. Alternatives to multidimensional scoring were investigated in a sample of adults with aphasia. Method:…

The differential effects of normal and emphatic stress on the auditory comprehension performance of nine aphasic and five normal adults were assessed. The aphasic subjects demonstrated significantly better performance for stimuli presented with emphatic stress. (Author/DB)

Results of a seven-week sentence stimulation treatment on sentence production in an aphasic adult female with agrammatism indicated that treatment influenced description of test picture sets and that some generalization to other picture sets occurred. (Author/DB)

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.…

This study reports intraindividual variations in the semantic and syntactic complexity of language and in the linguistic errors produced by mildly and moderately impaired adult aphasic subjects (N=10) in different communication contexts. Aphasic patients exhibited at least as many linguistic variations as controls in response to changing…

The study describes the Shewan Spontaneous Language Analysis (SSLA), establishes its reliability and validity, and reports on its use with 47 aphasic adults who had suffered a single unilateral occlusive cerebral vascular accident two to four weeks prior to testing and 30 normal adults. (Author/DB)

Language sample data from normal subjects (ages 40-79) were collected to determine how normal aging might affect performance on a picture description task, routinely used for assessment of aphasic individuals. Only an increase in the number of paraphasias and a decrease in communication efficiency correlated with increased age. (DB)

Motor control has long been associated with language skill, in deficits, both acquired and developmental, and in typical development. Most evidence comes from limb praxis however; the link between oral motor control and speech and language has been neglected, despite the fact that most language users talk with their mouths. Oral motor control is…

The study compared PACE (Promoting Aphasics' Communicative Effectiveness) and traditional stimulation therapy in the remediation of naming deficits in a 66-year-old conduction aphasic. In PACE, client and clinician engage in natural interaction sequences using multiple channels, including gestures, to communicate. PACE resulted in greater gains in…

Language Enrichment Therapy (LET), a program of language stimulation for aphasia developed in Finland, was tested by five British speech therapists with 13 adult stroke victims and their relatives. Results suggested the usefulness of a refined English version of LET as a cooperative tool for speech therapists and volunteer helpers. (JW)