Aphasia Assessment

Question 0

You are working in an acute-hospital setting and your client has a moderate expressive and receptive aphasia. You client has no knowledge of the speech pathologist’s role in aphasia management. Provide a brief script documenting how you could appropriately
A. Describe your role as a speech pathologist
B. Explain Why you plan to administer a language assessment

Answer 0

A. Hello, my name is..I’m a speech therapist. Part of my job in the hospital is to help patients and staff communicate as best as possible
B. I want to go through an assessment with you so I can assess what level you’re at, to best facilitate communication - bad

Question 1

List four general purposes of communication assessment, as outlined by Brookshire (2007)

Answer 1

A. To assist in diagnosing communication impairments
B. To arrive at a prognosis for recovery
C. To determine the nature and severity of impairment an and activity and participation restrictions
D. To make decisions about the appropriateness and potential Focus of treatment

Question 2

List six different and distinct goals of aphasia assessment, as outlined by Chapey (2008)

Answer 2

A. Determine the presence or absence of aphasia -> lead to an attempt at diagnosis
B. Identify any conditions impacting on communication difficulty (eg. Auditory and visual impairments, motor impairments, medical conditions)
C. Analysis of cognitive ability
D. Analysis of ability to comprehend - language content and form
E. Analysis of ability to produce - language content and form
F. Analysis of ability to comprehend and produce pragmatic aspects of communication interactions

Question 3

When completing an adult case history it is often relevant to obtain information about the communication activities of the person with aphasia. Provide 4 different and distinct examples of information that may be Relevant to obtain that specifically relate to communication activities, as discussed within SPCH7825

Answer 3

A. Names of key communication partners
B. Social contacts
C. Topics of conversation
D. Communication style prior to CVA

Question 4

Name two resources/assessments that you could use to obtain information specifically about the communication activities of a client with aphasia. Write the name of the resources/assessments in full

Answer 4

A. Aphasia needs assessments

B. Communication History Checklist

Question 5

Describe the Communication Effectiveness Index (CETI) (Lomas et al 1989) by listing...
A. Who typically completes the CETI
B. the response  format
C. Number of items
D. Examples of two items

Answer 5

A. Significant other
B. Responder rates current performance on rating scale - on 100mm line from ‘not at all able’ to ‘as able for the stroke’
C. 16
D. Getting somebody’s attention; communicating their emotions

Question 6

List one reason for completing a social network analysis with a client who has aphasia

Answer 6

Shows us impact on life and tells us who to train as communication partner

Question 7

When informally assessing language, identify whether auditory comprehension skills or verbal expression skills are typically assessed first and why

Answer 7

Auditory comprehension is assessed first so we know whether they will understand the instructions we will give them

Question 8

List four different components/aspects of language that speech pathologists typically assess in an informal language screening assessment, as discussed within SPCH7825

Answer 8

Spoken discourse
Auditory comprehension
Verbal expression
Reading comprehension

Question 9

Name one assessment/checklist that could be used to obtain information about your client’s communication activities

Answer 9

Communication activities checklist

Question 10

Provide two examples of different spoken discourse samples typically obtained in an informal language assessment

Answer 10

Conversational speech

Picture description

Question 11

Provide two examples of different auditory comprehension tasks typically included in an informal language assessment

Answer 11

Following commands

Yes/No questions

Question 12

Provide two examples of different verbal expression tasks typically included in an informal language assessment

Answer 12

Automatic speech

Repetition

Question 13

Provide two examples of different reading comprehension tasks typically included in an informal language assessment

Answer 13

Single word level

Sentence level

Question 14

Provide two examples of different written expression tasks typically included in an informal language assessment

Answer 14

Automatic writing

Writing to dictation

Question 15

Name two commercially available language screening assessments used with people who have aphasia.

Answer 15

Frenchay Aphasia Screening test

Acute aphasia screening protocol

Question 16

Provide two examples of functional communication tasks you could use in an acute hospital setting with a patient who has moderate or severe aphasia to informally gain an understanding of the patient’s language abilities

Answer 16

Check reading by having PWA read get well cards
Ask PWA to complete hospital meal menu and read what was selected
Ask PWA to name a few objects in the room
Follow a few commands and answer yes/no questions

Question 17

Name four comprehensive formal language assessments commonly used with people who have aphasia that assess language impairments. Write the name of the assessments in full

Answer 17

Comprehensive Aphasia Test
Western Aphasia Battery - Revised
Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination
Boston Naming Test

Question 18

Name four functional communication assessments commonly used with people who have aphasia

Answer 18

A. In-Patient Functional Communication Interview
B. Communication Activities of Daily Living
C. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Functional Assessment of Communication Skills
D. The communicative effectiveness scale

Question 19

The Communication Activities of Daily Living - Second Ed (CADL-2) assess communication activities in seven areas. List four of these areas

Answer 19

A. Reading, writing and Using numbers
B. Social interaction
C. Divergent communication
D. Contextual communication

Question 20

Provide one example of a confrontation naming task

Answer 20

Name pictures

Question 21

Provide one example of a responsive naming task

Answer 21

What do you drink with?

Question 22

Provide one example of a verbal fluency task

Answer 22

Name as many animals as you can in 60 seconds

Question 23

Provide one example of an automatic writing task

Answer 23

Have patient write name and address

Question 24

Name two communication related Quality of Life (QoL) scales commonly used with people who have aphasia. Write the name of the scales in full

Answer 24

Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life scale

Burden of Stroke scale

Question 25

According to Murray & Clark (2006), informal measures of Quality of Life often take the form of an interview that focus on the person with Aphasia’s emotional responses to impairments, activity limitations. Provide two examples of relevant questions to include in an informal assessment on quality of life

Answer 25

A. How well are you able to perform your job?

B. Do you do the things you used to do for enjoyment?

Question 26

List four overlapping domains in the Living With Aphasia: framework for Outcome Measurement (A-FROM)

Answer 26

A. Participations in life situations
B. Personal, identity, attitudes and feelings
C. Language and related impairments
D. Communication and language environment

Question 27

What communication disorder frequently occurs with Broca’s aphasia and why

Answer 27

Apraxia of speech - both caused by damage to the motor area of the brain

Question 28

List two pieces of information you will typically aim to access from the medical chart or family, prior to your initial patient interview and b) state why you require this information

Answer 28

History of previous strokes -> more than one stroke can affect their symptoms -> more lesions confuse things
Premorbid language abilities -> we need to know how much the stroke has changed their language

Question 29

What is differential diagnosis?

Answer 29

A process of asking a series of questions aimed at reaching a diagnostic conclusion

Question 30

List two ways you would differentially diagnose between dementia and aphasia

Answer 30

A. Dementia patients are unlikely to produce errors in language form
B. Dementia patients may be forgetful, disoriented for time, short and long term memory affected

Question 31

List four places here you might typically report your findings after completing your initial evaluation of a stroke patient

Answer 31

A. Information for patient and family
B. Patient’s chart
C. Progress notes
D. Case conference

Question 32

Provide four examples of questions you could ask a person with aphasia to prompt goal setting at the impairment level of the International classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

Answer 32

A. How would you like your talking to improve?
B. What types of things are difficult for you to communicate?
C. How would you like your reading to improve?
D. How would you like your writing to improve

Question 33

Provide four examples of questions you could ask a person with aphasia to prompt goal setting at the participation level of the International classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

Answer 33

A. What was a typical day like before your stroke?
B. What leisure activities were you involved in before your stroke? What do you do now? What do you miss?
C. What do you do during an average week?
D. Tell me about your role in…the golf club.

Question 34

Provide four examples of questions you could ask a person with aphasia to prompt goal setting at the Activity level of the International classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

Answer 34

A. Who do you like to talk to?
B. Who do you need to talk to during a day?
C. Do you need to use the telephone?
D. Do you need to read?

Question 35

What does the acronym SMARTER stand for when describing the process of setting goals?

Answer 35

A. Shared
B. Monitored
C. Accessible
D. Relevant
E. Transparent
F. Evolving
G. Relationship-centred

Question 36

List and briefly describe the five steps in the Functional Communication Therapy Planner

Answer 36

A. Information gathering -> use a questionnaire and an interview to gather information about the client
B. Collaborative goal setting -> uses the principle of shared decision making, inclusive view of the client, goals prioritised
C. Pre-treatment evaluation -> goals are broken down into activities, which are observed in real life or practiced in clinic
D. Treatment -> client oriented! relevant, tailored! holistic, empowering
E. Post-treatment evaluation -> reevaluate the same activities rated earlier

Question 37

Provide  the definition of description of the following abbreviations commonly used by speech-language pathologists and other members of the health care team
A. HTN
B. WFL
C. h/o
D. LOC

Answer 37

A. HTN - hypertension
B. WFL - within functional limits
C. h/o - history of
D. Loss of consciousness

Question 38

Provide  the definition of description of the following abbreviations commonly used by speech-language pathologists and other members of the health care team
A. CVA 
B. Hx 
C. RUE
D. RLE

Answer 38

A. CVA - Cerebrovascular accident
B. Hx - History
C. RUE - Right Upper Extremity
D. RLE - Right Lower Extremity