Formal language assessment in low-educated persons with aphasia: can the lesion effect be distinguished from the education effect?

ABSTRACT Background: Language tests are important in the assessment and follow up of people with aphasia (PWA). However, language assessment in the low literacy population is still a challenge. Objective: To investigate whether a formal evaluation of aphasia is able to distinguish the neurological effect from the effect of low educational level in people with post-stroke aphasia. Methods: The sample consisted of a group of 30 aphasic subjects (AG) and a control group (CG) of 36 individuals, both with an educational level of 1-4 years. The Brazilian Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment battery was applied to all subjects. Results: There were statistically significant differences between the groups in 19 out of the 20 tasks analyzed. Conclusions: These results suggest that formal evaluation procedures are able to detect language disorders resulting from stroke, even in subjects with low educational level.

摘要
背景：语言测试对失语症患者（people with aphasia, PWA）的评估与随访至关重要。然而，针对低识字人群的语言评估仍是一项学界挑战。
研究目的：探究针对卒中后失语症患者的正式失语症评估，能否区分神经损伤引发的语言障碍效应与低受教育水平带来的表现差异。
方法：本研究纳入30名失语症受试者（失语症组，AG）与36名对照个体（对照组，CG），两组受教育年限均为1~4年。所有受试者均接受巴西版蒙特利尔-图卢兹语言评估成套测验（Brazilian Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment battery）。
结果：在所分析的20项任务中，两组间有19项存在统计学显著差异。
结论：本研究结果表明，正式评估流程能够检测出卒中所致的语言障碍，即便针对受教育水平较低的受试者。