TREATMENT FOR AN APHASIC NAMING IMPAIRMENT - WHEN PHONOLOGY MET ORTHOGRAPHY

A treatment program for an aphasic patient with a severe naming impair ment is described. P.D. demonstrated intact comprehension, repetition, and oral reading performance for stimuli that she could not name in c onfrontation naming. It was hypothesized that she had impaired phonolo gical output processes for naming. There were three separate treatment conditions. Treatment effects as well as effects of stimulus generali zation were measured. Results indicated better performance after a Rea ding treatment condition in both the treatment and the generalization task. This was in terms of both accuracy and diminished perseverative responses. Possible explanations for the improvement seen in this cond ition are discussed.