Aphasia

How do people with brain damage communicate? How does the partial or total loss of the ability to speak and use language fluently manifest itself in actual conversation? How are people with brain damage able to expand their cognitive ability through interaction with others - and how do these discursive activities in turn influence cognition? This groundbreaking collection of new articles examines the ways in which aphasia and other neurological deficits lead to language impairments that shape the production, reception and processing of language. Edited by noted linguistic anthropologist Charles Goodwin and with contributions from a wide range of international scholars, the articles provide a pragmatic and interactive perspective on the types of challenges that face aphasic speakers in any given act of communication. Conversation and Brain Damage will be invaluable to linguists, discourse analysts, linguistic and medical anthropologists, speech therapists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, workers in mental health care and in public health, sociologists, and readers interested in the long-term implications of brain damage.

Different from a textbook or academic journal, the File represents a collection of explicit descriptions about therapy interventions written by practitioners themselves. The description of the rationale for the therapy, the intervention itself and evaluation of outcomes are of paramount importance. Each contributor guides the reader through the thinking that they engaged in as they decided what to do, often with considerable frankness about the difficulties involved. The File will be of equal value to experienced practitioners and students alike.