Communication in severe aphasia: Effectiveness of three instruction modalities

In this study to determine which modality of instruction (verbal, pantomime, or combined verbal and pantomime) was the most effective in eliciting accurate and prompt responses from severely aphasic persons, subjects completed tasks involving body movements and object manipulation in response to each of the 3 modalities of instruction. Results showed that severely aphasic persons completed single-stage commands at least as accurately and, depending on the task type, more accurately when given combined instructions than they did when given verbal or pantomimed instructions only. The combined instructions also resulted in a greater mean response promptness score (correct responses only) than either verbal or pantomimed instruction.