The Inter-rater Reliability of the Turkish Version of Aphasia Rapid Test for Stroke
The Inter-rater Reliability of the Turkish Version of Aphasia Rapid Test for Stroke
The Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) is a bedside aphasia screening test developed originally in
 French. The purpose of this study is to assess the inter-rater reliability of the Turkish
 version of the ART in stroke patients.
The Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) was developed and validated originally in French to evaluate
 language skills in post-stroke patients (Azuar et al., 2013). It is a 26-point scale that
 takes less than 3 minutes to administer. The simplicity of the ART allows it be used bedside
 in acute post-stroke patients with little to no training needed. The items needed to
 administer the ART are also easy to access in healthcare settings (e.g., watch, pen, doctor's
 coat). Although the ART is not a diagnostic test, it is beneficial for tracking progress and
 determining prognosis in stroke patients.

 The original ART was designed similar to the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), a widely-used test in
 stroke patients. The NIHSS which assesses many areas of functioning (level of consciousness,
 gaze, visual ability, facial palsy, motor and sensory ability, limb ataxia, language,
 dysarthria, and extinction and inattention) was chosen because of its sensitivity to early
 changes in neurological status and high prognostic accuracy (http://www.nihstrokescale.org).
 The ART is an expanded version of the language section of the NIHSS. The total possible
 points on the ART is 26, which indicates the highest level of impairment. The test begins
 with the patient being asked to follow two one-step commands (up to two points each), a
 complex command (up to 3 points), repeat three nouns (up to 6 points), repeat a simple
 sentence (up to 2 points), and name three simple objects (up to 6 points). The next item
 requires a rating of dysarthria by the examiner (up to 3 points). On the final item, the
 patient is asked to name as many animals as they can think of in one minute (up to 4 points).
 With the exception of items 1a, 1b, and 6, there are no time restrictions on the test.

 The purpose of the present study is to translate the original ART into Turkish to provide an
 efficient method for the evaluation of language skills in post-stroke Turkish-speaking
 patients and to assess its inter-rater reliability.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Left MCA infarct due to CVA

 -  Right hand dominant

 -  Turkish as first language

 -  CVA within the last 10 days

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Right or bilateral brain lesion

 -  Previous stroke

 -  Psychiatric disorder

 -  Other neurological disorder

 -  Cognitive impairment

 -  Endotracheal entubation prohibiting responses to test