Locative prepositional phrases in severe aphasia.

Six severely aphasic patients were trained on C-VIC, a computerized alternative communication system. Patients with both global and Broca's aphasia were able to produce and comprehend locative prepositions using C-VIC. The Broca's aphasic patients were able to produce and interpret symbol order correctly in C-VIC locative prepositional phrases, despite their difficulties in performing the same tasks using English. One patient's verbal production of locative prepositional phrases improved markedly after C-VIC training. These results suggest that the "mapping" impairment suffered by some Broca's aphasics may be ameliorated by use of alternative communication system, such as C-VIC.