INFLUENCE OF LITERACY ON KANNADA ADDENBROOKE’S COGNITIVE EXAMINATION (K-ACE) PERFORMANCE

Cognitive examination assessment is an important part of managing people with brain damage. Several tools are currently available for clinical use. However, the accurate interpretation of the test results relays heavily on certain extraneous variables such as literacy or educational levels among other variables like age, occupation, and gender differences. We investigated the impact of literacy on ACE performance in three groups of normal participants based on their educational (literacy) levels. Results showed significant difference among the three groups, necessitating the need to establish literacy-based normative data on this test to facilitate accurate interpretation of the test results in the clinical population. As a result, aphasia may be mislabeled as "anomic." In order to minimize false positive diagnoses of aphasia, this research strongly suggests collecting information on the client's reading level before administering the K-ACE and interpreting the performance in light of the client's literacy level.