Development and Validation of the Arabic Aphasia Battery (ARABY): Pilot Study

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Development and Validation of the Arabic Aphasia Battery (ARABY): Pilot Study AREEJ ASEERI1* 1 Dar Al-Hekma University, Saudi Arabia Practice guidelines for adults with aphasia require the assessment of language skills using a valid and reliable assessment tool to determine the nature and severity of aphasia. Such an assessment tool is not available for Arabic speakers in Saudi Arabia, despite previous efforts to develop such a tool. The purpose of this study is to develop an aphasia assessment tool to evaluate the language skills of Arabic-speaking adults; and to judge its validity and reliability. The paper gives an overview of previous attempts at translating well-known English tools into Arabic, as well as other attempts to develop aphasia assessment tools for Arabic. We then introduce the process of developing the Arabic Aphasia Battery (ARABY), which is a linguistically- and culturally-appropriate tool that assesses the language skills of Arabic speakers with stroke-induced aphasia. The study presents the framework on which the tool is based and the theoretical underpinnings of the assessment process. The ARABY follows the general structure of commonly-used English assessment batteries, which include tests of Auditory Comprehension, Spontaneous Speech, Naming, Repetition, Reading, and Writing. Two additional tests were developed including Recitation and Functional Communication. Test items were selected based on specific features and unique characteristics of the Arabic language, in consultation with prominent Arab linguists. For example, morphological features were considered in selecting word derivations and inflections; syntactic features were considered in creating sentences that progressively increase in complexity; semantic features were considered in selecting synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; and orthographic features were considered in selecting letter-sound matching items. A graphic designer was recruited to create visual representations of test items for consistency of style. Inter-rater reliability of 89% was obtained by presenting the test items to three clinicians who have expertise (i.e., at least two years of clinical experience) working with Arabic-speaking individuals with aphasia. A pilot study was carried out by administering the ARABY to ten Arabic-speaking adults with typical language and five adults with aphasia. Preliminary results indicate that the tool gives a cursory impression of language strengths and weaknesses. However, further refinement is required to modify problematic test items and fine-tune scoring procedures. We discuss challenges faced in creating the ARABY, such as concerns with variations of the Arabic language (i.e., using standard Arabic versus dialectal variations). The paper concludes with forthcoming steps in modifying test items and validating the tool. Keywords: Arabic, Aphasia, Assessment tools, Auditory comprehension, Naming deficits Conference: Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 21 Oct - 23 Oct, 2018. Presentation Type: poster presentation Topic: not eligible for a student prize Citation: ASEERI A (2019). Development and Validation of the Arabic Aphasia Battery (ARABY): Pilot Study. Conference Abstract: Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.228.00085 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 01 May 2018; Published Online: 22 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. AREEJ ASEERI, Dar Al-Hekma University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, areejaseeri@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers AREEJ ASEERI Google AREEJ ASEERI Google Scholar AREEJ ASEERI PubMed AREEJ ASEERI Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.