Each session lasted 30 minutes, and comprised three sections, each lasting 10 minutes: Repetition, Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA), and Lexical retrieval.

Repetition: 50 items for different kind of stimuli including: syllables, 2-syllable words and non-words; 2-syllable words and non-words with one consonant cluster; 3-syllable words and non-words; 3-syllable words and non-words with one consonant cluster, nuclear phrases.

SFA: stimuli were 46 pictures of nouns, including living and non-living objects, controlled for frequency of use.

Lexical retrieval phase: the patient was given three fluency tasks: a) 4 min of phonemic recall, b) 4 min of semantic recall, and c) 2 min of verb recall.

Three decks of cards - diversified by frequency of use - depicting nouns, were presented in sets of 4 cards each. In an exchange modality, the task consisted in understanding the noun chosen by the patient and, in turn, by the rehabilitator. Any communicative modality (oral, gestural, verbal, graphic) was allowed. Word difficulty was graded based on the frequency of use and semantic proximity or distance between target and distractors.

Phonological, Lexical, and Semantic training

A test for aphasia assessment in the Italian population

To assess lexical retrieval based on a letter

To assess lexical retrieval based on a semantic category

The syntagma repetition test from the Aachner Aphasie Test (AAT)

To assess auditory verbal short-term memory

To assess auditory verbal short-term memory, with words stimuli

To assess auditory language comprehension