Speech–Language Therapy as an Act of Collaborative Improving for Language Disorder

Interaction Analysis Focusing on IRE Sequence

Abstract

In this paper, we focused on how the Initiation–Response–Evaluation (IRE) sequence is organized in speech and language therapies by speech–language–hearing therapists for patients with aphasia and performed an interaction analysis. The analysis results revealed that the IRE sequence was organized via multimodal interactions, such as utterance, picture card exercise, and eye gaze, between speech–language–hearing therapists and patients with aphasia while they were engaged in training tasks. Additionally, speech–language–hearing therapists adjusted the pattern of utterance based on the response of subjects with aphasia and then performed the evaluation. This activated the reduced language function system and allowed the subjects to understand the implications before they responded. These findings suggest that in speech and language therapies, the active participation of patients with aphasia as recipients of language training contributes to the construction of a training field where the language system is concretely improved.