Rating communication behaviours in the head-injured adult

Evaluation of certain communication skills in head-injured adults has generally been limited to informal clinical impressions. A rating scale has been developed which addresses several of these communication abilities in a behaviourally based model. Preliminary data based on a sample of four head-injured adults and four trained raters revealed robust inter- and intra-rater reliability. Statistical relationships between the scale and three linguistic measures for a group of 20 head-injured adults were addressed with negative results. Individually the items selected appear to quantify aspects of complex communication behaviour.