In a patient with mild aphasia showing word retrieval difficulties after a stroke, which treatment focus is most appropriate?

• A. Word retrieval difficulties in mild aphasia
• B. Fluency shaping
• C. Motor speech therapy
• D. Auditory discrimination

Answer: (A)

When word retrieval is the primary difficulty in mild aphasia after a stroke, the most appropriate treatment focus is directly on improving naming and lexical access. This targets the core problem—the ability to find and retrieve the correct word—through naming practice, cueing, and semantic or phonological strategies. By strengthening the retrieval process, you’re more likely to see gains in spontaneous speech and everyday communication.

Fluency shaping changes how smoothly speech comes out but doesn’t fix the underlying word-finding problem, so it doesn’t address the main deficit here. Motor speech therapy aims at articulation and motor planning, which are less implicated if the issue is word retrieval rather than producing the word sounds correctly. Auditory discrimination trains perception of speech sounds and can help with comprehension, but it doesn’t directly improve the ability to retrieve specific words.