Western Aphasia Battery

The Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) is a standardized neuropsychological test used to assess language functions in individuals with suspected aphasia. It was developed by Andrew Kertesz in the 1980s and has since been widely used in clinical and research settings.

Pronunciation

Western Aphasia Battery: /ˈwɛstərn əˈfeɪʒə ˈbætəri/

Etymology

The term "Western" refers to the Western world, where the test was developed. "Aphasia" comes from the Greek "aphatos" meaning "speechless", and "Battery" in this context refers to a series of tests.

Description

The Western Aphasia Battery is a comprehensive test that assesses a wide range of language skills. These include fluency, comprehension, repetition, and naming. The test also includes a brief neurological examination and an assessment of apraxia, a motor speech disorder.

The WAB yields an Aphasia Quotient (AQ), which is a measure of the severity of the aphasia. The AQ is based on performance in the language tasks and ranges from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating more severe aphasia.

Related Terms

Aphasia: A condition that robs you of the ability to communicate. It can affect your ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written.
Neuropsychological test: These tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway.
Fluency: The smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are joined together when speaking quickly.
Comprehension: The ability to understand spoken, written, or signed language.
Repetition: The action of repeating something that has already been said or written.
Naming: The ability to provide the correct name for objects, people, places, etc.
Neurological examination: A series of tests that can provide information about the nervous system and nervous function.
Apraxia: A motor disorder caused by damage to the brain (specifically the posterior parietal cortex) in which the individual has difficulty with the motor planning to perform tasks or movements when asked.

External links

Medical encyclopedia article on Western Aphasia Battery
Wikipedia's article - Western Aphasia Battery

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Western Aphasia Battery