Nine aphasia tests were reviewed using seven psychometric criteria appropriate to standardized tests. The need for test manuals to contain a wide range of psychometric information is discussed, and, in particular, the role of subject description in test standardization is emphasized. (Author/CL)

Three methods for evaluating change in the spontaneous language of aphasic subjects were compared. Clinical judgments of experienced speech language pathologists showed excellent agreement with the Shewan Spontaneous Language Analysis (SSLA) and less agreement with the Western Aphasia Battery. The SSLA was found to provide the most comprehensive…

Nonfluent and fluent dysphasic subjects (N=22) and nondysphasic subjects (N=20) were assessed on tasks of word fluency and picture-naming. Results showed that clinical language examinations should utilize contexts other than naming tasks for detecting the presence of word retrieval problems and for differentiating the two polar types of dysphasia.…

An adaptation of the Fluency in Controlled Association subtest of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination was administered to language-disordered (N=123) and non-disabled (N=286) kindergarten through ninth-grade students. Lack of significant differences on this task suggests that it may not be an appropriate screening device for identifying…

Because it generally took over an hour to administer the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA), a shorter but comparable version of the test was developed. The original test was designed to quantify aphasic patients' ability level on common communicative tasks and consisted of 18 ten-item subtests. Each item resulted in a proficiency rating,…

The report presents information from a survey of the needs and characteristics of children with severe communication disorders in Ontario and the programs available to serve them. It is explained that information was gathered from structured interviews with principals, teachers, and 28 parents of language handicapped children, as well as visits to…

This book provides a comprehensive review of the major areas of applied linguistics with original contributions by fourteen scholars. The following chapters are included: (1) "What is Applied Linguistics?" by H. Douglas Brown; (2) "Language Development," by Lois Bloom; (3) "First Language Teaching," by Jean Malmstrom (discusses the teaching of…

WRITTEN FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGY STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONAL WORKERS, THE BOOK BEGINS BY DEFINING LANGUAGE AND SPEECH AND TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE FROM THE INFANT THROUGH THE 4-YEAR OLD. CAUSAL FACTORS OF DELAYED DEVELOPMENT ARE GIVEN, INCLUDING CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM IMPAIRMENT AND ASSOCIATED BEHAVIORAL CLUES AND LANGUAGE…