his article describes the social networks of four individuals with aphasia and their perception of their social interactions and social integration within their network. Four male participants, who were aphasic as a result of a single left hemisphere stroke, were interviewed with their significant other. the age of the participants ranged from 29 to 65 years and they were between 9 and 25 months poststroke. the Interview Schedule of Social Interaction (ISSI) (Henderson, Byrne, & Duncan-Jones, 1981) was used to measure the perception of social support. Several aphasia-related variables and contextual factors were assessed for their impact on the maintenance of social networks using a standardised language assessment and a range of questionnaires.A descriptive analysis of results revealed that social support networks were altered following the onset of aphasia, with extended network relationships being most affected. Several factors were identified that potentially shaped the networks of the four participants. These factors fell into two broad categories: aphasia-related and contextual factors. Aphasia-related factors included severity of aphasia, time post onset, and inherent disease characteristics. Contextual factors included degree of distress exhibited by the recipient, age at onset, life cycle stage, quality and type of relationship, social network characteristics, and family constellation. Finally, limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.