The Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT) is a test for people who have acquired aphasia and can be completed over one or two assessment sessions. The battery contains a cognitive screen, a language battery and a disability questionnaire. The cognitive section assesses people's abilities across a range of task that can affect rehabilitation. Forming the main body of the test, the language battery provides a profile of performance across all modalities of language production and comprehension. An optional innovative disability questionnaire explores the impact of aphasia from the perspective of the person with aphasia. In addition the CAT helps the therapist to track changes over the course of recovery, and provides a guide to likely outcomes on the basis of an early assessment. It is supported by normative data on people both with an without aphasia, and extensive data on reliability and clinical validity. The CAT allows users to:
- Identify underlying impairments
- Find where to focus assessments using PALPA and other batteries
- Ascertain the practical, psychological and social impact of aphasia
- Create a profile of strengths and weaknesses to guide therapy.
Structured around fully up-to-date models of language processing from cognitive neuropsychology this test is an indispensable resource for speech and language therapists and researchers. It provides as much information about people's language ability as possible in a relatively brief test designed to be completed in 90-120 minutes.
The Scoring Software for the Comprehensive Aphasia Test is available at http://www.languagedisordersarena.com/9781848720640 .
