Table 2.

Medical and demographic information describing the participants.

Participants	Physical extent of the stroke	Language ability	Civil status	Work
Man, 53 years	Hemorrhagia of the left hemisphere. Paresis in right side. Can walk. Visuospatial neglect.	Word production and understanding seriously affected, no functional reading or writing ability.	Lived together with wife and three children (teenagers).	Full time
Man, 72 years	Thrombosis of the left hemisphere. Hemiplegic right side. Paralysis in right arm. Not able to walk alone.	Speech production and speech understanding seriously affected. No functional reading or writing ability. Good situational understanding.	Lived together with wife. One grown child and one grandchild.	Retired
Man, 63 years	Thrombosis of the left hemisphere. No visible motor symptoms. Independent of help.	Speech production seriously affected. Speech apraxia. Disability in reading and writing. Good understanding.	Lived alone. Two grown children and one grandchild.	Full time
Man, 43 years	Thrombosis of the left hemisphere. Slight numbness and reduced strength in right side. Diplopia.	Expressive and impressive difficulties. Understanding better than production of speech. Reading and writing disability. Good situational understanding.	Lived partly alone. Two children (teenagers).	Full time
Man, 60 years	Thrombosis of the left hemisphere. Hemiplegic right side, some neglect. Can walk short distances with a stick.	Understanding is better than production of speech. Requires time to find words. Reading and writing disability.	Lived alone. Two grown up children and two grandchildren	Full time
Woman, 33 years	Thrombosis of the left hemisphere. Paresis in right side.	Serious expressive and impressive difficulties. Sound and word paraphasia. Strongly reduced reading and writing disability. Situational understanding is good.	Lived alone.	Full time
Man, 64 years	Hemorrhagia in the left hemisphere. Reduced strength in right side. Can walk with a roller. Reduced ADL function. Reduced vision. Concentration and memory affected.	Good speech production and understanding, reading and writing disability, dysarthria.	Lived in a nursing home after stroke onset. No children.	Disability benefit