The Inter-rater Reliability of the Turkish Version of Aphasia Rapid Test for Stroke

The Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) was developed and validated originally in French to evaluate language skills in post-stroke patients (Azuar et al., 2013). It is a 26-point scale that takes less than 3 minutes to administer. The simplicity of the ART allows it be used bedside in acute post-stroke patients with little to no training needed. The items needed to administer the ART are also easy to access in healthcare settings (e.g., watch, pen, doctor's coat). Although the ART is not a diagnostic test, it is beneficial for tracking progress and determining prognosis in stroke patients.

The original ART was designed similar to the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), a widely-used test in stroke patients. The NIHSS which assesses many areas of functioning (level of consciousness, gaze, visual ability, facial palsy, motor and sensory ability, limb ataxia, language, dysarthria, and extinction and inattention) was chosen because of its sensitivity to early changes in neurological status and high prognostic accuracy (http://www.nihstrokescale.org). The ART is an expanded version of the language section of the NIHSS. The total possible points on the ART is 26, which indicates the highest level of impairment. The test begins with the patient being asked to follow two one-step commands (up to two points each), a complex command (up to 3 points), repeat three nouns (up to 6 points), repeat a simple sentence (up to 2 points), and name three simple objects (up to 6 points). The next item requires a rating of dysarthria by the examiner (up to 3 points). On the final item, the patient is asked to name as many animals as they can think of in one minute (up to 4 points). With the exception of items 1a, 1b, and 6, there are no time restrictions on the test.

The purpose of the present study is to translate the original ART into Turkish to provide an efficient method for the evaluation of language skills in post-stroke Turkish-speaking patients and to assess its inter-rater reliability.

Inclusion criteria

• Left MCA infarct due to CVA
• Right hand dominant
• Turkish as first language
• CVA within the last 10 days

Exclusion criteria

• Right or bilateral brain lesion
• Previous stroke
• Psychiatric disorder
• Other neurological disorder
• Cognitive impairment
• Endotracheal entubation prohibiting responses to test