Practitioner Review: The assessment of language pragmatics

Adams, Catherine

doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00226

Cited by 248 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 94 publications

(117 reference statements)

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“…The assessment of pragmatic abilities emerged as a central issue in the evaluation of patients with communicative impairments and related disorders in the early 1980s (e.g., Prutting, 1982), and the influence of pragmatic variables in treatment plans and goals has been more fully appreciated in the last 30 years. Pragmatic ability refers to a wide range of communicative behaviors concerning the way language is used in context to convey meanings (Adams, 2002;Bates, 1976; Kempson, 1975), and in the population of individuals with cerebral lesions, numerous patients have been found to have difficulties that lie principally with pragmatics. Patients typically show poor turn-taking skills and difficulty with topic maintenance, have problems understanding discourse and non-literal meanings, and may find it difficult to interpret subtle meanings or idiomatic statements and make knowledge-based inferences in social scripts (e.g., Dennis & Barnes, 1990; Friedland & Miller, 1998; McDonald, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment battery for communication (ABaCo): normative data

et al. 2011

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The Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo) was introduced to evaluate pragmatic abilities in patients with cerebral lesions. In the present study we present normative data for individuals aged 15-75 (N = 300). The sample was stratified by age, sex and years of education, according to ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) indications in order to be representative of the general national population. As performance on the ABaCo decreases with age and lower years of education, the norms were stratified for both age and education.The ABaCo is a valuable tool in clinical practice; the normative data provided here will enable clinicians to determine different kinds and specific levels of communicative impairments more precisely. The assessment of pragmatic abilities emerged as a central issue in the evaluation of patients with communicative impairments and related disorders in the early 1980s (e.g., Prutting, 1982), and the influence of pragmatic variables in treatment plans and goals has been more fully appreciated in the last 30 years. Pragmatic ability refers to a wide range of communicative behaviors concerning the way language is used in context to convey meanings (Adams, 2002;Bates, 1976; Kempson, 1975), and in the population of individuals with cerebral lesions, numerous patients have been found to have difficulties that lie principally with pragmatics. Patients typically show poor turn-taking skills and difficulty with topic maintenance, have problems understanding discourse and non-literal meanings, and may find it difficult to interpret subtle meanings or idiomatic statements and make knowledge-based inferences in social scripts (e.g., Dennis & Barnes, 1990; Friedland & Miller, 1998; McDonald, 1993). Moreover, people with brain injury often demonstrate normal basic linguistic skills, but have difficulty adapting their communication to specific ABACO -NORMATIVE DATA 4 contexts (e.g., different social situations or different communicative partners) and managing complex pragmatic phenomena, such as irony and deceit (Angeleri et al., 2008;Bara, Tirassa, & Zettin, 1997; Cutica, Bucciarelli, & Bara, 2006). The recognition of pragmatic components as a crucial feature in rehabilitation programs thus led to the need to deal with the pervasiveness of these communicative disorders and the consequent social isolation suffered by brain-injured individuals. Importantly, in a two-year follow-up study, Snow, Douglas, and Ponsford (1998) showed that pragmatic disorders do not spontaneously improve over time, providing evidence that communicative difficulties do not resolve as a consequence of recovery over time or speech-language input. These findings suggest that careful efforts should be made to identify and manage pragmatic disorders early on following brain injury. Finally, normative data offer the opportunity to operationalize pragmatic functioning within a normal range, and obtain a precise evaluation of domains of impairment, a crucial step in planning clinical pathways of recovery. ABaCo -As...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment battery for communication (ABaCo): normative data

et al. 2011

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“…Detailed observation of pragmatic skills has been possible for many years, 21 but it is only with the development of the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC) that such data have been collected in population samples 22,23 and that such analyses have become feasible. Only 1 study, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, has combined both these measures, the CCC in middle childhood and the SDQ in adolescence.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Role of Pragmatics in Mediating the Relationship Between Social Disadvantage and Adolescent Behavior

Law

Rush

Clegg

et al. 2015

Journal of Developmental &Amp; Behavioral Pediatrics

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“…Speech-language therapists may be reluctant to assume roles regarding reading and writing for a variety of reasons such as their own perceptions, fear of change, and lack of training (Ehren & Ehren, 2001). In addition to this, standardised tests with adequate validity and norms are not always available for adolescents (Adams, 2002). In a more recent study Wellman (2006) of the University of Cincinnati (USA) suggested that educator collaboration with speech-language therapists exists in supporting secondary school learners with reading problems, but many educators still hold a more traditional view of speech-language therapists as working only with speech sound production.…”

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confidence: 99%

Speech-language therapy for adolescents with written-language difficulties: The South African context

Erasmus

Schutte

Merwe

et al. 2013

South African Journal of Communication Disorders

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Objective: To investigate whether privately practising speech-language therapists in South Africa are fulfilling their role of identification, assessment and intervention for adolescents with written-language and reading difficulties. Further needs concerning training with regard to this population group were also determined.Method: A survey study was conducted, using a self-administered questionnaire. Twenty-two currently practising speech-language therapists who are registered members of the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association (SASLHA) participated in the study.Results: The respondents indicated that they are aware of their role regarding adolescents with written-language difficulties. However, they feel that South-African speech-language therapists are not fulfilling this role. Existing assessment tools and interventions for written-language difficulties are described as inadequate, and culturally and age inappropriate. Yet, the majority of the respondents feel that they are adequately equipped to work with adolescents with written-language difficulties, based on their own experience, self-study and secondary training. The respondents feel that training regarding effective collaboration with teachers is necessary to establish specific roles, and to promote speech-language therapy for adolescents among teachers.Conclusion: Further research is needed in developing appropriate assessment and intervention tools as well as improvement of training at an undergraduate level.

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Practitioner Review: The assessment of language pragmatics

Cited by 248 publications

References 94 publications

Assessment battery for communication (ABaCo): normative data

Assessment battery for communication (ABaCo): normative data

The Role of Pragmatics in Mediating the Relationship Between Social Disadvantage and Adolescent Behavior

Speech-language therapy for adolescents with written-language difficulties: The South African context

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