Letting the CAT out of the bag: A review of the Comprehensive Aphasia Test. Commentary on Howard, Swinburn, and Porter, “Putting the CAT out: What the Comprehensive Aphasia Test has to offer”

摘要

Background: For many years, aphasia batteries have been widely used to assess language difficulties associated with aphasia. Although many clinicians use aphasia batteries in their clinical evaluation, a gradual shift away from these tests has occurred in the last 10 years. Concerns about whether established aphasia batteries fulfil the purposes of assessment have resulted in the development and use of other measures to investigate the effects of brain injury on language function and communication. Recently, a new aphasia battery was published. The Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT; Swinburn, Porter, & Howard, 200547. Swinburn , K. , Porter , G. and Howard , D. 2005 . Comprehensive Aphasia Test , Hove, , UK : Psychology Press . View all references) is a standardised test designed to comprehensively assess processes concerned with the recognition, comprehension, and production of spoken and written language. In addition, it attempts to evaluate how any language‐processing difficulties identified by the test impact on the individual's everyday life and record the person's own perspective of his or her aphasia.