Influence of brain lesion and educational background on language tests in aphasic subjects

In language assessment, several socio-demographic variables must be taken into account. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the performance of aphasic patients with different educational background on language tasks and to compare their performance to that of individuals with no language disorders. METHODS: Thirty aphasic patients and 30 healthy individuals were selected. Patients were divided into two groups according to educational level: A (1–4 years) n=15 and B (5–11 years) n=15. Age ranged from 27 to 78 years. All subjects were submitted to the Montreal Toulouse language assessment protocol. The pertinent statistical tests were applied. RESULTS: Educational level interfered in the linguistic performance of normal subjects but not in that of aphasic subjects, whose performance was influenced more by the lesion. CONCLUSIONS: The present study can contribute toward greater understanding of the influence of lesions and educational background on the language performance of aphasic subjects.