Abstract
Aphasia is a language disorder caused by focal brain injury. The Token Test is a tool to detect aphasic symptoms and measure aphasic severity in individuals who suffer brain damage causing language impairment. While Indonesia has a diagnostic test battery for aphasia (TADIR), it has yet to be able to quantify aphasic severity. In this study, we tested 49 individuals: 26 healthy adults, 7 non-aphasic post-stroke individuals, and 16 aphasic individuals. A series of tests were administered: the TADIR, Token Test, and the Verb and Sentence Test. The Token Test was sensitive enough to distinguish between the three groups and was also correlated with all other language tests including the TADIR.
Highlights
Aphasia is a language impairment caused by a focal brain damage that affects single or multiple channels of language, including the comprehension and production of language, as well as reading and writing (National Aphasia Association, 2017)
Compared to the two non-aphasic groups, the aphasic group has higher variance in terms of Token Test scores, which suggests that aphasic severity can be measured through this task
A bivariate correlation was conducted to see how the Token Test scores relate to the raw comprehension score of TADIR, and two other tests adapted from the Verb and Sentence Test (VAST, Bastiaanse, Edwards, Maas, & Rispens, 2003): the verb comprehension and the sentence comprehension tests
Summary
Aphasia is a language impairment caused by a focal brain damage (most commonly from stroke) that affects single or multiple channels of language, including the comprehension and production of language, as well as reading and writing (National Aphasia Association, 2017). Language deficiencies caused by aphasia depend on the area and extent of damage (Ibanescu & Pescariu, 2010). Stroke is considered a global burden due to the fact that it is a major cause of death and disability. According to the Ministry of health data, In Indonesia, stroke is considered as the leading cause of death, with stroke prevalence of 12.1/1000 recorded in 2013 (Pusdatin Kemenkes RI, 2014). Neurorehabilitation in Indonesia does not always include speech therapy. This is true especially in smaller hospitals or more remote areas where stroke is treated only with the primary care of physicians. Oftentimes, stroke patients may receive neither aphasia assessment nor intervention
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