Original Research

Speech-language evaluation of closed head injured subjects in South Africa: Cultural applicability and ecological validity of a test battery

Nola Watt, Claire Penn, Dilys Jones
South African Journal of Communication Disorders | Vol 43, No 1 | a241 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajcd.v43i1.241 | © 2019 Nola Watt, Claire Penn, Dilys Jones | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 14 October 2016 | Published: 31 December 1996

About the author(s)

Nola Watt, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Claire Penn, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Dilys Jones, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

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Abstract

This paper addresses the communicative outcome of a group of closed head injured (CHI) subjects in South Africa. Communicative outcome is evaluated on one test battery currently used for medico-legal assessments in South Africa. It was found that a number of the tests were sensitive to breakdown in this sample, but that the demographic factors of first language and pre-injury education significantly affected performance on some tests. Many test performances were significantly related to return to work, thus confirming the importance of communicative skills in the workplace, and the speech-language pathologist's role in vocational assessment and rehabilitation.

Keywords

closed head injury; communicative outcome; return to work

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