APHASIA ASSESSMENT AND THERAPY USING HYPERTEXT-RELATED TASKS

This paper discusses the potential usefulness of hypertext tools in co mmunication disorders, particularly in aphasia assessment and therapy. The assessment of language comprehension abilities can be enhanced by evaluating patient performance on information-retrieval tasks. Hypert ext tools can be used to gather information about patients' planning a bilities and their semantic understanding of the available information . The paper explores the use of hypertext for generating therapy mater ial which works with existing methods of aphasia therapy, and highligh ts its importance in evaluating verbal and nonverbal abilities. Patien t performance on hypertext-related tasks can be quantified with the pr oposed parameters which quantify the degree of language deficit throug h information retrieval and understanding processes. These parameters need to be tested for their importance in outcome management: whether they are sensitive enough to measure changes or not. The role of hyper text applications in developing therapy exercises is discussed. The ad vantages of hypertext tools in single case-studies is highlighted, and an active role for hypertext applications in aphasia management is su ggested.