This post hoc study investigated coverbal gesture patterns in two persons with chronic
Wernicke’s aphasia. They had both received therapy focusing on multimodal communication
therapy, and their pre- and post-therapy verbal and gestural skills in face-to-face
conversational interaction with their speech therapist were analysed by administering a
partial barrier Referential Communication Task (RCT). The RCT sessions were reviewed in
order to analyse: (a) participant coverbal gesture occurrence and types when in speaker
role, (b) distribution of iconic gestures in the RCT communicative moves, (c) recognisable
semantic content, and (d) the ways in which gestures were combined with empty or
paraphasic speech. At post-therapy assessment only one participant showed improved
communication skills in spite of his persistent language deficits. The improvement
corresponded to changes on all gesturing measures, suggesting thereby that his
communication relied more on gestural information. No measurable changes were
observed for the non-responding participant—a finding indicating that the coverbal
gesture measures used in this study might account for the different outcomes. These
results point to the potential role of gestures in treatment aimed at fostering recovery from
severe fluent aphasia. Moreover, this pattern of improvement runs contrary to a view of
gestures used as a pure substitute for lexical items, in the communication of people with
severe fluent aphasia.
