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ABSTRACT Purpose: to perform the transcultural adaptation and translation of the ABaCo battery for the Portuguese population and check its psychometric properties. Methods: initially, the translation and retroversion of ABaCo was done. A total of 40 participants without pathology were recruited. Two equivalent Forms (Form A and Form B) were used, consisting of linguistic, extralinguistic, paralinguistic and context scales. The instrument was also applied to 12 people who were in the chronic phase after severe or moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). For statistical analysis the following tests were used: Mann-Whitney U test, Student t test for independent samples, Pearson's correlation (the value is considered significant when p ≤ 0.05) and Cronbach's alpha (the value is considered minimally acceptable when superior to 0.65). Results: TBIs’ participants showed lower results as compared to those without neurological pathology. The evidence was discriminatory for the population with TBI, although, on some scales, it was not, due to the ceiling effect. Differences were not found between the two Forms. The results also showed the existence of correlation of schooling and age with some of the components of ABaCo, as verified in the original version. No differences in gender-conditioned responses were found. The battery showed good metrical qualities with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.90 (Form A) and 0.71 (Form B), for the total sample. Conclusion: ABaCo has proved to be an appropriate instrument for assessing communication in the Portuguese adult population. Despite the limitations, this instrument is expected to be useful in the evaluation of the communication, following TBI.

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Objective: The present study intends to assess the effects of a Pragmatics rehabilitation programme on communication skills. Method: We have recruited 12 participants who had suffered from severe or moderate Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), with more than two years post-onset, who were randomly divided into two groups, an Experimental Group (EG) and a Control Group (CG). The EG followed a specific programme for the rehabilitation of Pragmatic Communication and the CG followed a programme of communication stimulation through group conversation. Each programme consisted of 24 one-hour, thirty-minute sessions, twice a week, for 12 weeks. In order to verify the efficacy of the programme, both groups were assessed before and after using the two equivalent forms of the same scale, Forms A and B, of The Assessment Battery of Communication (ABaCo). Results: Improvements were observed in both groups, although much more evident in the EG. Both groups obtained better results regarding Extralinguistic Comprehension and Production (questions, assertions, commands, requests and ironies by using gesticulation). In the EG there was also an improvement in Paralinguistic Production (facial expressions and intonation). Conclusion: The results demonstrate the effectiveness and relevance of establishing rehabilitation programmes for communicative pragmatic disorders after TBI. The study shows how a simple conversation intervention programme can be beneficial when more elaborated therapies cannot be executed.