ABSTRACT
The lack of a standardized Thai Language aphasia test raises difficulties not only with the assessment and treatment planning for the clinical but also with the accurate diagnosis and the reliable incidence for research on aphasiology in Thailand. This study aimed to use the Thai version of German Aachen aphasia (THAI-AAT), which is systematically adapted according to well-defined linguistic criteria and psychometric requirement, to assess the language deficit of Thai aphasic patients. The subjects participating in this study were 125 aphasia patients, 60 non-aphasic brain damaged patients and 120 normal subjects. The result revealed that the THAI-AAT is linguistically parallel in test design and fulfills the same psychometric properties as the original. The THAI-AAT obtains the goals: to differential diagnosis of aphasia distinguishing it from non-aphasic disturbance and to identify the type of aphasic syndrome.
Subject(s)
Aphasia/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests/standards , ThailandABSTRACT
The Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT), originally developed as a test for aphasia language disorders in Germany, consists of six spontaneous speech rating scales and five subtests: Token Test, Repetition, Written Language, Confronting Naming and Comprehension. The study aimed to describe the linguistic properties of the AAT Thai version and to investigate the test performances of the normal subjects. In this study some problems of linguistic changes in the construction of the Thai version were discussed. The results revealed that the normal subjects' performances on the test were independent of age, sex and education level. Therefore, the Thai version of AAT is applicable to the differential diagnosis of the communicative abilities of Thai aphasic patients.