Aphasia is a motor disorder in which proper assessment, goal plan, and treatments are critical to a client’s improvement. Research on how to assess and treat clients with aphasia has been published as guidelines for professionals; however, there is not one specific method that can be used repetitively with all clients. Assessment is a complex process and so, therefore, so is language assessment. This being said, one complication within assessing language is that there are many reasons to administer these language assessments, each of which may require different methods and goals. Being able to determine which method and goal to use in therapy can become perplexing. Whether the therapist is treating Broca’s, Wernicke’s, or Global aphasia, there …show more content…
This issue has become more prevalent today with the increasing number of methods of assessment available for therapists. The focus of this literature review will be to examine different research that has been done while assessing aphasia and the issues that result from different testing strategies. This literature will also discuss the efficiency and limitations of those approaches. Chris Westbury (2010) gives an example of a popular exemplar approach to aphasia assessment called the Psycholinguistic Assessment of Language Processing in Aphasia (PALPA) instrument. The PALPA consists of sixty subtests arranged in four sections: Auditory Processing, Reading and Spelling, Semantic Access, and Sentence Processing. Though beneficial in many areas, like all assessment tools, this one has its weaknesses. One limitation this study recognizes is that because the PALP is a pencil and paper format, a sufficient amount of relevant data will be thrown out during assessment. This also provides the administrator a great deal of control over the outcome which can be hurtful to a client’s scores. Another setback is that because this test is closed format, collecting a large database of results is not possible. Due to numerous limitations, The Alberta Language Function Assessment Battery (ALFAB; Westbury, 2006) was designed. This computerized system was created in an attempt to address all of the PALP’s problems. The program ensures a standardized presentation of auditory and randomized stimuli resulting in faster