Phonological and orthographic approaches to the treatment of word retrieval in aphasia

We present a preliminary report on a study of the treatment of word finding difficulties in aphasia using phonological and orthographic cues. These te chniques although often used to cue word finding in the immediate term have been little evaluated in terms of therapy designed to improve word retriev al in the long term. The first phase using cued word retrieval in a picture naming task was followed by a second phase designed to facilitate use of t reated words in real-life contexts. The results from both phases were encou raging with improved word retrieval for three out of the four participants. The implications for clinical practice are discussed.