within-treatment assessments, but w

within-treatment assessments, but were given no guidance
or instruction in speech therapy techniques. They saw the
patients in the speech therapy department, and the time
spent with them was the same as for the speech therapy
group.
Assessments to determine the severity of the initial
aphasia, the progress of the patient within-treatment, and
the post-treatment outcome, were all carried out using the
Functional Communication Profile-a relatively simple
measure-whose validity and repeatability have been
examined. Scores in five different areas of communicative
function were recorded, weighted, and converted to an
overall percentage of the patient's estimated previous
communicative ability. Assessments for both groups of
patients were made by speech therapists, who conveyed the
results to the treating therapists or volunteers, and who also
undertook the counselling of relatives. There were two
baseline assessments, a week apart, four within-treatment
assessments at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks from the start of
treatment, and a post-treatment test immediately after the
end of treatment. In the case of those patients receiving
conventional speech therapy, the assessing therapist was
never the treating therapist. We. reduced inter-observer
variation by suitable training of the therapists as each
centre was enrolled. One of us (RD) was responsible for
instruction in the Functional Communication Profile and
also co-ordinated the running of the tria