Patterns of spontaneous recovery in aphasic groups: A study of adult stroke patients

The recovery of 31 aphasic stroke patients in the first three months postonset was investigated. Improvements on eight comprehension, repetition, and expression tasks were documented for four groups. These groups, retrospectively defined on the basis of initial scores on a fluency and a comprehension task, were: Low Fluency/Low Comprehension (LFLC), Low Fluency/High Comprehension (LFHC), High Fluency/Low Comprehension (HFLC), and High Fluency/High Comprehension (HFHC). Examination of each group's recovery revealed (1) equal improvement on nearly all language tasks for the two High Comprehension groups and (2) a more selective improvement largely in comprehension and imitation tasks for the two Low Comprehension groups. Implications of this selective improvement in initially low comprehending aphasics are discussed.