Abstract: |
Two children with word-finding deficits characterized largely by semantic substitutions participated in a treatment involving phonological information about target words. The treatment was motivated by models of naming where semantic information and phonological information are stored in independent ordered components. Given such models, it is possible to characterize some semantic word-finding substitutions a well as phonological word-finding substitutions as the result of breakdown at the level oh phonological output representation. The treatment was organized according to a single-subject multiple baseline design across behaviors and subjects. As hypothesized, the phonologically based treatment resulted in reduction not only of occasional phonological word-finding substitutions but also of the large number of semantic word-finding substitutions displayed during baseline and control measures of confrontational naming. In light of these data, the possible source of word-finding breakdown in these children is explored. |