The assessment booklet has comprehensive instructions that facilitate ease of administration. It takes 30 mins to administer and 5-10 mins to score. A communication partner is involved in the assessment session and their communication skills are also evaluated in the conversation abilities section.

Purpose and Benefits

• can be administered by Speech & Language Therapists/Speech Pathologists and cognitive communication specialists
• profiles communication abilities and directs individualised advice, support and therapy
• Evaluates core competencies for everyday communication: auditory comprehension, verbal expression, reading, writing and conversation skills.
• These competencies then inform the communication profile.
• Helps determine the most effective communication support strategies
• Involves a short interview with the communication partner to identify communication strengths and challenges
• Identifies if the person needs minimum, moderate or maximum communication support
• Tracks changes in communication over time, measuring the impact of interventions

Validation Outcomes

• P-CAD has been validated with people with early, mid and late-stage dementia and their communication partners.
• It provides clinicians with a tool that can be used with all subtypes and at all stages of dementia.
• The participants with dementia (n=100) were assessed in a variety of setting and locations including care homes and domiciliary home settings representative of where people with dementia live and interface with SLTs.