DIFFERENTIATING GLOBALLY APHASIC PATIENTS - DATA FROM IN-DEPTH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENTS AND PRODUCTION TRAINING USING C-VIC

It is commonly assumed that globally aphasic patients retain little or no propositional language abilities. Data are presented from six pati ents classified as globally aphasic who participated in a computer-bas ed language production training program (C-VIC). Utilization of the C- VIC training program allowed for assessment of language skills, such a s sentence production, that previously have been difficult to measure in globally aphasic patients. The results from language assessments an d training data indicate some residual language skills in these patien ts, both in language comprehension and production. Implications as to the usefulness of augmentative communication systems for globally apha sic patients are discussed.