Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination
Purpose: Designed as a comprehensive measure of
aphasia.
Population: Adults.
Time: (180) minutes.
Description: Determines disorders of language function
and neurologically recognized aphasic syndromes. Contains
a short form for rapid access to diagnostic classification and
quantitative assessment.
Materials Included:
- Stimulus Cards
- Record Booklets
- Video (Demonstrating test procedures and
scoring)
Evaluates various modalities:
- Perceptual Modalities
- Auditory and visual.
- Comprehension, analysis, problem-solving
- Response Modalities
- Writing, articulation, and manipulation
1. Conversational
and expository 3. Oral Expression
speech
2. Auditory
Comprehension
Conversational and
expository speech
.
1.Free conversation
Start w/ familiar topic ,3 minutes of
conversation, using open-ended questions
(What type of
work did you
do before your
illness?)
2.Picture
Description
Cookie theft picture is
presented (“Tell me
everything you see
going on in this
picture”) Point to
neglected features in
picture and ask for
expansion.
3.Story retell
Lay out first set of pictures;
examiner read text pointing
to relevant pictures.
Examiner asks client to retell
story.
Scores :
- Assess client on
Aphasia Severity
Rating Scale from 0-5
(see record booklet pg 8)
Auditory
Comprehension
2.Commands: Give
1.Word Discrimination: client a series of commands
3 Stimulus card containing pictures increasing in complexity.
Clinician: “Show me in what picture
the person is _______________”
two points for correct
identification.
4.Body-Part Identification
The patient is asked to point on his
3.Complex Ideational own body to the part named by
Material Test: Closed-ended the examiner, with the command,
questions Starting with simple "Show me your (slight pause) __ .“
facts ("Will a stone sink in
water?")
Oral Expression
2.Naming:
* Responsive: Patient tells examiner one-word
response to stimulus question , The response words
nouns, colors , verbs and a number . the score include
depends on the time interval required to produce the
response.
* Boston Naming Test: Separate booklet is used
(Boston Naming Test Record Booklet) Stimulus cards are
used
* Screening of special categories: Letters,
numbers and colors; use stimulus cards ,
Scoring: 1 point for each correct response.
* Naming in categories: Actions, animals
and tools; (What is this/it/he doing),
Scoring: 1 point for each correct response .
3.Oral Reading:
- Basic Oral Word Reading: Client given list of
words to read one at a time.
- Oral Reading of Sentence Comprehension:
Client reads sentences.
- Reading Comprehension Sentences and
Paragraphs: Given a phrase, the client must finish
the sentence given choices;
*Scoring: 1 sentence
point for eachcomplexity
correct
increases.
4. Writing :
- Mechanics of Writing: Perform nine numbered
writing tasks; such as signature, printed name etc.
- Basic Encoding Skills: Clinician dictates words and
client writes them.
- Oral Spelling: Clinician is instructed to spell six
words aloud.
- Written Picture Naming: Shown picture cards of
actions or objects and asked to spell words.
Scoring: 1 point for each correctly spelled word
Article
Lesion localization in aphasia with cranial computed tomography and the
Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Exam
MARGARET A. NAESER, Ph.D. and
ROBERT W. HAYWARD, M.D
ABSTRACT
Nineteen stable left-hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia were
evaluated by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) and the
Token Test (TT), and by cranial computed tomography (CT). The types of
aphasia included Broca (three patients), Wernicke (four patients),
conduction (four patients), transcortical motor (four patients), and global
(four patients). The lesions, as localized by CT scan, were superimposed
onto five composite lesion localization maps for these five aphasia
syndromes. There was good correlation between BDAE aphasia type and
lesion localization. On CT scans, the locations of cortical language areas lie
in a specific relationship to parts of the ventricular system.
1.http://www.neurology.org/conte
nt/28/6/545.short
2.https://sites.google.com/site/amel
iataylorsadultresourcesite/diagnosti
c-language-assessments/the-boston-
diagnostic-aphasia-examination
3. Book : The Assessment of Aphasia
and Related Disorders .
By :HAROLD GOODGLASS, Ph.D.
with the collaboration of
EDITH KAPLAN, Ph.D.
