Development of a screening instrument for language in older people (BarnesLanguage Assessment)

Language changes are associated with several types of age-related degenerat ive processes and are known to be particularly stressful for carers. Managi ng language and communication difficulties in older people has been shown t o be an important aspect of dementia care. A test such as the one described here, might be a useful tool for health professionals planning care for ol der people with possible diagnoses of dementia. The information gained coul d be used as part of multi-disciplinary team assessment. This paper describ es the development of a clinically viable assessment tool for the assessmen t of language and associated cognitive skills in the older population. Data on 43 normal older people were used to establish preliminary means and low er normal limits, as a guide to distinguishing performance associated with normal age-related change from performance associated with pathology. In th e next phase data was collected from 43 older people with possible dementia who were attending clinics and hospital departments. The results suggest t hat the Barnes Language Assessment can profile language skills and difficul ties and may be a useful diagnostic tool to contribute to language assessme nt of older people. Indications for further research are discussed.