Sign language, pantomime, and gestural processing in aphasic persons: a review.

Many aphasic individuals who fail to reacquire spoken language skills may retain the ability to acquire aspects of a manual communication system. This conclusion is reached after reviewing the results of studies of pantomime recognition and production, spontaneous gestural production, and manual language training in a wide range of aphasic subjects. Overall, the aphasic subjects appeared to be less impaired in their visuomotor processing than in their auditory-vocal processing. The results, however, are not definitive enough to resolve the long-standing debate as to whether or not a central symbolic deficit is present in aphasia.