Improvement of oral naming by unsupervised computerised rehabilitation

The effects of unsupervised, computerised rehabilitation of anomia in aphas ia were investigated with three single-case studies. The training was carri ed out in the patients' own homes without any supervision. It included sema ntic and phonemic tasks as well as written naming tasks. The computer was p rogrammed to progress through a preselected set of tasks according to set c riteria of performance. The patient could not alter the preselected sequenc e, but could start and stop a session at any time. The length of the traini ng was determined by the time it took the patient to work through the full set of tasks. Comparison was made of their progress in naming of trained an d untrained words. A cross-over design was used, and baselines were establi shed with two patients. All patients improved in their general naming perfo rmance, but to different degrees. A relatively specific effect for the trai ned words was found in two patients, whereas the third showed a somewhat mo re general effect. The chosen therapy was probably not equally appropriate for all three patients. It is concluded that oral naming can be improved wi th unsupervised computer rehabilitation in the home even though the patient is not required to speak during the training.