The difference between speaking and communicating. Functional communication in patients with cognitve communication disorders

Language and cognition influence each other and cognitive disorders can be thecause of communicative problems named cognitive communication disorders. Traditional language tests are not capable of diagnosing these problems as they appear in pragmatic language use rather than in linguistics and grammar. The limitations in functional communication imply a negative influence on social life. Internationally, screening instruments for cognitive communication disorders have been developed but so far no diagnostic instrument is available. Within the Dutch-speaking area, there is only the Amsterdan Nijmegen Everyday Language Test (ANELT) to test the functional communication abilties of a patient but it is meant for patients with aphasia. However, the ANELT is a valid, reliable and standardized test and builds the starting point for this research.The items, everyday scenarios, were combined with new measures which are based onscientific evidence for existing problems of patients with cognitive communication disorders.The results show that the scenarios of the ANELT in combination with the newmeasures are valid as a test for cognitive communication disorders. Therefore, the consequencesof functional communication problems can be pointed out and can now bemeasured quantitatively. This outcome is an important step towards a pragmatic andevidence-based diagnostic instrument for patients with cognitive communication disorders