Evolving error profiles during aphasia syndrome remission

Change in expressive error patterns was evaluated in twenty post-stroke aphasic patients. Two expressive tasks (repetition and naming) completed within the first, third, sixth, and twelfth months post-onset provided the data base. Response opportunities were evaluated in reference to four error types: (1) no response, (2) phonologic, (3) semantic, and (4) word omission. Error profiles were analysed across types of aphasia, and between language tasks. Results demonstrated different patterns of error change among types of aphasia. Type of expressive task influenced amount of error, but with the exception of Wernicke patients, task did not influence type of error. Change in expressive error types appears to parallel change in the underlying language deficits in evolving aphasic syndromes.