Communication disruption as perceived by significant others of thai aphasic speakers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This study investigated the perceptions of significant others (SOs) of Thai aphasic speakers about the communication difficulties that were the most salient to their mutual communication and most disruptive to their day-to-day communication. The SOs were first interviewed and then asked to complete a questionnaire. From both the interview and the questionnaire, verbal expression and pragmatic conversation difficulties were perceived as being more salient to communication breakdown than were auditory comprehension difficulties. Aphasic speakers' word-finding difficulties and the SOs' efforts in keeping conversation going were the specific verbal expression and pragmatic conversational characteristics, respectively, which SOs perceived as most salient and disruptive. A less clear pattern of communication disruption caused by specific auditory comprehension problems was found. Identifying the perceptions of SOs through both interview and questionnaire procedures appeared to have advantages in tapping information about communication disability and handicap that could lend valuable insights in planning ecologically valid intervention.