Biography:

Yusuf Al-Bustanji is an assistant professor at United Arab Emirates University. He is a licensed and certified speech language pathologist specializing in Neurogenic Communication Disorders from The Ohio State University. He has over 20 years of experience in providing clinical evidence-based therapy services to individuals diagnosed with communication and swallowing disorders in acute care and rehabilitation centers at hospital settings.

Abstract:

Although scientists have systematically studied neurogenic-communicative disorders for well over a century, very little information is available for neurogenic –communicative disorders in Arabic. For example, although aphasia (an acquired expressive and / or receptive language disorder) was recently investigated in Arabic population, there are only four published studies that investigated this disorder in Arabic. These studies have examined Palestinian Arabic (Friedmann, 1998, 2002), Algerian Arabic (Mimouni & Jarema, 1997), Moroccan Arabic (Diouny, 2007), and Jordanian Arabic (Albustanji, 2008). To date, there have been no published studies examining Emirati Arabic (EA). This is also true for cognitive-linguistic deficits associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and dementia.rnrnThese scale measurements are highly demanded to assist in differential diagnosis, guide treatment, discharge planning, and, more importantly, evaluate the efficacy of treatment for individuals as well as broad programs of service. Developing such evaluation measurements, therefore, have important indications for patients, clinicians, and health care policy. rnrnThe specific aims of this project is to explain how the clinicians can design an Arabic assessment tool that is:rn1- An Arabic-linguistically specific and culturally appropriatern2- Reliable test that meet basic psychometric standards rn3- Extends the comprehensiveness of current tests by tapping a broad range of cognitive-linguistic deficits.rn4- Measures both impairment and functional ability.rn5- Can be administered in approximately 30 minutes.rn