LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Normative & Clinical Data on the Kannada Version of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB-K)

Shyamala K. Chengappa, Ph.D.
Ravi Kumar, M.Sc. (Speech and Hearing)

Abstract

The present study aimed to standardize the Kannada version of Western Aphasia Battery (hereinafter K-WAB) and to present the normative data of normal individuals and patients with aphasia. The K-WAB contains the same test contents and structure as the original WAB (Kertesz and Poole, 1974) which is a commonly used assessment tool by Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) for aphasia. The test is modified with the cultural and linguistic adaptations and the general test administration method was maintained. The K-WAB was administered on 22 normal (16 males and 6 females) and 90 aphasics in the age range of 30 -70 years. The Aphasia Quotient (AQ) was evaluated for different ages and gender groups. Based on the AQ., cut-off scores to optimally differentiate between the normal and aphasic individuals were provided. The present study revealed that there was no significant effect with respect to age and gender .But significant variation was found in normal and different categories of aphasics within themselves in all parameters of WAB (AQ, Spont.speech, repetition, comprehension, and naming). It is proved beyond doubt that WAB differentiates normal and aphasic performance, finding support from the well established trend in literature. Finer details however need to be studied in depth with larger data from our sample.

Keywords: Western Aphasia Battery, South Indian &Dravidian language of Kannada, Aphasia type.

Introduction

Human beings have the most elaborate, sophisticated, versatile and creative means of communication, made possible by their complex neurophysiologic mechanism. Language is a set of symbols and code, employed by human beings who are capable of making association between essential arbitrary representations and events to express their thought, their wishes, and their feelings.

Aphasia is defined as " the loss or deterioration of verbal communication due to an acquired lesion of the nervous system involving one or more aspects of the processes of comprehending and producing verbal messages"(Basso & Cubelli, 1999). Related disorders of articulation, reading and writing are usually included in the description of aphasia. Furthermore, it is a multimodality disorder (Helm- Estabrooks & Holland, 1998).

A number of methods have been used to classify language deficits of language - impaired groups. Goodglass and Kaplan (1972) outlined the major classification used for assessing adults with aphasia which can be seen in Table 1.

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