Research & Publications

• The Mapping Functional Communication Measurements for Traumatic Brain Injury to the WHO-ICF article in the Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology - Vol. 31, No. 3, Fall 2007 discusses findings from a mapping analysis of three functional communication measures to the components of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning and Disability's (ICF) conceptual framework.  The Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES) was listed as one of the three functional communication measures. 
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• A normative study comparing the performance of adults with ABI to that of adults with no history of brain injury is published in Brain Injury. Key findings of the study were that “FAVRES scores clearly differentiated the performances of individuals with and without ABI. Individuals with ABI were slower and less accurate in reasoning and presented fewer adequate rationales for their decisions.” To read more about the study, see the Taylor and Francis website. MacDonald, S. and Johnson, C. Assessment of subtle cognitive-communication deficits following acquired brain injury: A normative study of the Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning. Brain Injury 19(11), 2005.
  

• Two subtests of the FAVRES, the scheduling task and planning an event task, were used in a study, which investigated cognitive-communication performance and return to work. The study indicated that the FAVRES tasks were among the most discriminating in differentiating individuals who had and had not returned to work. Isaki, E. and Turkstra, L: Communication abilities and work re-entry following traumatic brain injury Brain Injury 14; 441-53, 2000.
  
  
• The manual of the FAVRES summarizes additional research. Of particular interest were the findings analyzing the results of the post hoc analysis called Reasoning Subskills. Statistical analysis revealed highly significant differences between performance of adults with and without ABI in terms of such reasoning subskills as “Getting the Facts” and “Generating Alternatives”.
  MacDonald, S. and Melnichouk, O , Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies: Standardization Chapter. CCD Publishing; Guelph, Ontario, 2005.