A comparison of the performance of five aphasic patients on different tests of language ability

Abstract

The performance of five aphasic patients was rated on three tests of language ability: The Minnesota Test for Differential Diagnosis; Luria's Tests of aphasia; and a Test of expressive language based on graded stimuli from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. In order to assess communicative-ability of the subjects, each expressive language sample was administered to four judges and a score of communicative success was computed. The study aimed at comparing each subject's performance on these tests of aphasia and its relationship to the degree of communicative success, in an attempt to ascertain which test is the most accurate predictor of "amount" of aphasic impairment. It also aimed at extracting those variables most useful and appropriate in the diagnosis of the impairment found in aphasic patients. Inter-test correlations revealed that tests of aphasia appear to be accurate predictors of "amount" of communicative success. Inter-item comparison revealed fourteen sub-tests which indicated greatest difference in the performance of all the subjects.