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Abstract

To provide accurate diagnostic screening of deaf people who use signed communication, cognitive tests must be devised in signed languages with normative deaf samples. This article describes the development of the first screening test for the detection of cognitive impairment and dementia in deaf signers. The British Sign Language Cognitive Screening Test uses standardized video administration to screen cognition using signed, rather than spoken or written, instructions and a large norm-referenced sample of 226 deaf older people. Percentiles are provided for clinical comparison. The tests showed good reliability, content validity, and correlation with age, intellectual ability, and education. Clinical discrimination was shown between the normative sample and 14 deaf patients with dementia. This innovative testing approach transforms the ability to detect dementia in deaf people, avoids the difficulties of using an interpreter, and enables culturally and linguistically sensitive assessment of deaf signers, with international potential for adaptation into other signed languages.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology following peer review. The version of record Atkinson, J., Denmark, T., Marshall, J., Mummery, C. & Woll, B. (2015). Detecting cognitive impairment and dementia in Deaf people: The British Sign Language Cognitive Screening Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 30(7), pp. 694-711, is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acv042
Publisher Keywords:	Sign language; Deaf; Dementia; Cognitive assessment; ACE-R; MMSE
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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