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Is the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia an appropriate tool in the assessment of language impairment in closed head injury
Author(s) -
SPEER ANGELA,
SKINNER CHRISTINE
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-6984.1995.tb01716.x
Subject(s) - aphasia , psychology , dementia , comprehension , rehabilitation , judgement , perception , feeling , cognition , developmental psychology , audiology , cognitive psychology , disease , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , linguistics , social psychology , philosophy , pathology , political science , law
There is, at present, no formal standardised assessment for closed head injury (CHI), and a general feeling of dissatisfaction by speech and language therapists with the current use of assessments available has been reported over recent years in the literature. Assessments used in CHI have traditionally been those used in the assessment of aphasia, as the language of CHI was thought to be ‘sub‐clinical’ aphasia. However, it is now widely acknowledged that the diffuse neuronal damage caused by a CHI results in cognitive deficits which lead to disorders of learning, memory, perception, complex information processing and communication. It is now suggested, as a result, that the communication problems of CHI may be more similar to those associated with dementia rather than cerebrovascular disease, and that comparisons should be drawn with dementia, rather than aphasia. It is hypothesised that the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD) (Bayles & Tomoeda, 1993) is an appropriate assessment tool for the language of CHI. Eight young British adults undergoing rehabilitation for a CHI in a neurological rehabilitation unit were assessed on the ABCD and also the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) (Kertesz, 1982). Five of the subjects were able to be re‐tested on both assessments approximately three months later. The hypothesis was supported by significant statistics showing that although the subjects suffered initial problems with linguistic comprehension and expression, the greater and more permanent deficits were of attention and concentration, memory, orientation, perception, judgement and self‐awareness. It is suggested that the ABCD is a useful assessment for the CHI population.