Who's the "expert"? Amateur and professional judgment of aphasic communication

Partners of aphasie individuals knew them before they suffered a stroke and have ample opportunity to observe their everyday functional communication. Therefore, at first glance, partners seem to be potentially valid judges of disability assessment. However, the literature depicts the partner mainly as a person in need of support. Twenty-eight partners were asked to rate the verbal communicative abilities of aphasie individuals. The results clearly establish partners as accurate judges of verbal communicative disabilities. It is argued that assessment of a partner's knowledge about aphasie disabilities should be assessed by means of concise, condition-specific tools.