Search

Purpose: Search for reliability and validity evidence for the Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery (MEC B) for adults with right brain damage., Methods: Three hundred twenty-four healthy adults and 26 adults with right brain damage, aged 19-75 years, with two or more years of education were evaluated with MEC B. The MEC B Battery contains nine tasks that aim to evaluate communicative abilities as discourse, prosody, lexical-semantic and pragmatic process. Two sources of reliability evidence were used: internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and interrater reliability. Construct validity was evaluated comparing the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery (MEC), expanded version and MEC B tasks., Results: Internal consistence was satisfactory and the interrater reliability was considered excellent, as were correlations between MEC Battery and MEC B Battery tasks., Conclusion: The MEC B Battery showed satisfactory reliability and validity evidences. It can be used as outcome measure of intervention programs and assist speech therapists to plan rehabilitation programs.

Lexical-semantic impairments are common consequences of acquired neurological damage. However, little is known about the benefits of existing treatment methods for this type of language impairment., Objective: To evaluate current research into lexical-semantic interventions for adults with dementia, TBI or stroke., Methods: The PubMed, PsycInfo and SCOPUS databases were searched for studies related to rehabilitation, neurological conditions, communicative and lexical-semantic skills published between 2004 and 2014., Results: Twenty-eight of the 453 abstracts found were selected for the review based on the PRISMA method. Most of the studies described treatments for anomia. Semantic tasks were the most commonly used, followed by phonological and gestural strategies. Interventions were individual and involved formal tasks, although the number, frequency and duration of sessions varied between studies., Conclusion: Although lexical-semantic interventions lead to improvements in language abilities, they are still poorly described in the literature, and must be further investigated in terms of their efficacy, effectiveness and long-term effects., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Language impairments in patients with acquired brain injury can have a negative impact on social life as well as on other cognitive domains. Discourse impairments are among the most commonly reported communication deficits among patients with acquired brain damage. Despite advances in the development of diagnostic tools for detecting such impairments, few studies have investigated interventions to rehabilitate patients presenting with these conditions., Objective: The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of the methods used in the rehabilitation of discourse following acquired brain injury., Methods: The PubMed database was searched for articles using the following keywords: "rehabilitation", "neurological injury", "communication" and "discursive abilities"., Results: A total of 162 abstracts were found, but only seven of these met criteria for inclusion in the review. Four studies involved samples of individuals with aphasia whereas three studies recruited samples of individuals with traumatic brain injury., Conclusion: All but one article found that patient performance improved following participation in a discourse rehabilitation program.

Neuropsychological assessment reveals that certain cognitive changes that take place during the neural development process may be associated with biopsychosocial issues. A substantial body of research has focused on cognitive development in children and adults, but few such studies have been carried out on adolescents. Therefore, research into the processing of neuropsychological functions in adolescents, taking into account the role of major socio-cultural factors such as school type (public vs. private), is highly relevant. The present study sought to assess whether differences in neuropsychological development exist between adolescent students of public (government-funded) and private schools. A total of 373 grade-matched students between the ages of 12 and 18, 190 from public schools and 183 from private schools, took part in the study. All subjects had no self-reported neurologic or psychiatric conditions and sensory disorders. The NEUPSILIN Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery was administered to this sample. Comparison of mean scores (one-way ANCOVA with socioeconomic score and age as covariates) showed that adolescents attending private schools generally outperformed their public-school peers in tasks involving sustained attention, memory (working and visual), dictated writing, and constructional and reflective abilities. We conclude that school type should be taken into account during standardization of neuropsychological assessment instruments for adolescent and, probably, child populations.