ABSTRACT
With respect to language function, pragmatics is defined as the study of relationships between language behavior and the contexts in which it normally occurs. Pragmatic treatment strategies are based on assumptions about interactions between the "language processor" and its contexts. Some clinicians have thought that pragmatic treatment avoids impaired language and concentrates exclusively on the transformation of contexts. Pragmatics should lead to a complete explanation of natural language behavior that includes the language processor and its surroundings. Because traditional clinical aphasiology has concentrated on assessing and treating an impaired language processor, this processor shall be defined in order to specify the domain of traditional rehabilitation. Treatment should possess content validity from two sources: one, the accurate identification of a patient's primary deficit(s); the other, an understanding of the cognitive (or behavioral) domain that is being treated. Attention to conversation as a treatment mode has provided procedures that supplement standard cognitive/behavioral drills.
