Contributions of the Department of Veterans Affairs to clinical aphasiology

Background: For more than 60 years, clinicians and researchers in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VA) have contributed to our understanding of aphasia and its related neurogenic communication disorders. VA clinician-researchers have made a major and lasting impact on clinical practice, training, and aphasia outcomes research. Aims: To overview the development of aphasia rehabilitation in the VA. To provide an introduction and background for a series of papers highlighting contributions from VA clinician-researchers to the assessment and treatment of persons with aphasia and related disorders. Methods Procedures: The papers in this special section recognise some of the contributions of VA clinician-researchers to clinical aphasiology. The papers were solicited by the journal's North American Editor. For the most part, they focus on assessment and treatment of persons with aphasia and apraxia of speech. All papers were authored by persons currently and/or previously working in the VA in some capacity and were reviewed by the North American Editor.