---
abstract: "\r\nHuman communication is\r\none of the most complex social\r\nactivity: it is a process of meaning\r\nconstruction which cooperatively\r\ninvolves all participants taking\r\npart in the interaction. Various\r\nclinical conditions may lead to\r\nimpairments of communicative\r\nabilities: developmental disorders\r\n(e.g., autism, specific language\r\nimpairment, Down syndrome),\r\nbrain pathologies (e.g., closed\r\nhead injury, right hemisphere\r\ndamage, aphasia), psychiatric disorders\r\n(schizophrenia), disorders\r\nof old age (e.g. dementia). The\r\nassessment of a patient’s abilities\r\nand disabilities is the crucial starting\r\npoint for planning an efficient\r\nrehabilitation path, where\r\nresidual capacities are strengthen\r\nand, whenever possible, impaired\r\ncomponents are restored. However,\r\nwhile the phonological,\r\nsyntactic and semantic components\r\nof language can be assessed\r\nby numerous tests, instruments\r\nfor the evaluation of pragmatic\r\naspects of communication are\r\nscarce (see Sacco et al., 2008 for a\r\nmore detailed analysis of the existing\r\ninstruments for the assessment\r\nof communication).\r\nThe Assessment Battery for\r\nCommunication (ABaCo) has\r\nbeen created to be a theoretically\r\ngrounded, wide-range clinical\r\ninstrument. Its theoretical bases\r\nstem from Cognitive Pragmatics\r\ntheory (Airenti, Bara & Colombetti,\r\n1993; Bara, 2010), a theory of\r\nthe cognitive processes underlying\r\nhuman communicative exchanges,\r\nframed within the inferential\r\nmodel of communication (Grice,\r\n1975) and the speech acts perspective\r\n(Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969).\r\nThe theory has been shown to\r\nbe able to make predictions on\r\ntypically developing children (Bucciarelli,\r\nColle & Bara, 2003; Bosco,\r\nBucciarelli & Bara, 2004; 2006;\r\nBosco & Buciarelli, 2008; Bosco,\r\nVallana & Bucciarelli, 2012), atypically\r\ndeveloping children (Bara,\r\nBosco & Bucciarelli, 1999; Bara,\r\nBucciarelli & Colle, 2001; De\r\nMarco, Colle & Bucciarelli, 2007),\r\npatients with traumatic brain injury\r\n(Bara, Tirassa & Zettin, 1997;\r\nBara, Cutica & Tirassa, 2001; Angeleri\r\net al., 2008), patients with right\r\nand left focal brain lesions (Cutica,\r\nBucciarelli & Bara, 2006), patients\r\nwith Alzheimer’s disease (Bara,\r\nBucciarelli & Geminiani, 2000)\r\nand patients with schizophrenia\r\n(Bosco, Bono & Bara, 2012). In\r\nthis view, communication is the\r\nability to comprehend and produce\r\nlinguistic and extralinguistic\r\ncommunication acts, accompanied\r\nby suitable paralinguistic features,\r\nappropriate with respect to discourse\r\nand social norms, and fluently\r\nintegrated within the conversation.\r\nThe ABaCo assesses each of\r\nthese components, encompassing\r\nthe major aspects involved in communication.\r\nIn this paper, we will\r\nbriefly describe the features of the\r\nbattery, and summarize its psychometric\r\nproperties, providing some\r\nsuggestions for clinical application."
altloc: []
chapter: ~
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creators_id:
  - katiuscia.sacco@unito.it
  - romina.angeleri@unito.it
  - livia.colle@unito.it
  - ilaria.gabbatore@unito.it
  - bruno.bara@unito.it
  - francesca.bosco@unito.it
creators_name:
  - family: Sacco
    given: Katiuscia
    honourific: Ph.D
    lineage: ''
  - family: Angeleri
    given: Romina
    honourific: Ph.D.
    lineage: ''
  - family: Colle
    given: Livia
    honourific: Ph.D.
    lineage: ''
  - family: Gabbatore
    given: Ilaria
    honourific: Ph.D.
    lineage: ''
  - family: Bara
    given: Bruno G.
    honourific: Prof.
    lineage: ''
  - family: Bosco
    given: Francesca M.
    honourific: Prof.
    lineage: ''
date: 2013
date_type: published
datestamp: 2015-02-21 14:36:33
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/97/24
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eprintid: 9724
fileinfo: /9724/1.hassmallThumbnailVersion/Afasi_BpA%20268g.pdf;/9724/1/Afasi_BpA%20268g.pdf
full_text_status: public
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keywords: ~
lastmod: 2015-04-20 11:42:49
latitude: ~
longitude: ~
metadata_visibility: show
note: ~
number: 268
pagerange: 55-58
pubdom: FALSE
publication: Bollettino di Psicologia applicata
publisher: ~
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: ~
relation_type: []
relation_uri: []
reportno: ~
rev_number: 14
series: ~
source: ~
status_changed: 2015-02-21 14:36:33
subjects:
  - appl-cog-psy
  - psy-ling
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
sword_depositor: ~
sword_slug: ~
thesistype: ~
title: 'ABaCo: Assessment Battery for Communication'
type: journalp
userid: 21324
volume: ~
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