Abstract
We investigated factors which govern spontaneous writing of sentences and evaluated the recovery process shown by Broca's aphasic patients by means of an index measuring velocity of spontaneous writing, namely, the number of written words per minute. Factors were analyzed according of the scores achieved for “ writing about a comic strip ” in the Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA) ; the recovery process was described by comparing scores between the second and third evaluations. In addition, the influence of phonological disturbance was examined by the coefficient of variation as determined by speech duration among three speech modalities : reading aloud Kana phonograms, reading aloud Kanji ideograms and naming objects. Results of the factor analysis shed light on three factors : factor 1 for the quantity of written sentences, factor 2 for phonological errors and factor 3 for grammatical errors.
Two types of recovery process of spontaneous writing in Broca's aphasic patients were recognized : one shows a gradual improvement in writing velocity, the other shows little change in it. It was infered from these findings that impairment of phonological processing has an influence on Kana reading and writing. Monitoring of phoneme levels was also discussed.
