ABSTRACT
The cognitive neuropsycho-logical architecture, while undeniably still not fully understood, provides us with a testable model for how single words are processed, around which principles and tools have developed to isolate and then monitor these processes over time. Therapies for written word retrieval that draw on similar tasks to those above are also relatively independent of the underlying deficit. While developments in studies motivated by cognitive neuropsychology provide us with some guiding principles for therapy, there are numerous other factors that impact on the therapy process. The early period after the onset of aphasia is a time of rapid and confusing change, of multiple therapies and of huge social adjustment to a changed social role. Moreover, the comparison of different therapy methods can, in the light of knowledge of the participant's underlying deficits, provide critical information about how the treatments are having their effects.
