title: Peer group training of pragmatic skills in adolescents with acquired brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To empirically evaluate a method of treating adolescents with cognitive communication disorders, including pragmatic deficits, secondary to acquired brain injury (ABI) in a group setting by objectively measuring outcomes before treatment and immediately after treatment and at 6 months posttreatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A before-after trial with follow-up in a consecutive sample, with no control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescents who demonstrated pragmatic deficits and scored a rating of 3 or less on each subdomain of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Rating Scale of Pragmatic Communication Skills (RICE-RSPCS) were eligible for the study. Eight subjects were recruited into the study, and two subjects were lost to follow-up. Thus, six of the eight completed the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  RICE-RSPCS, Communication Performance Scale (CPS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clinically relevant and statistically significant (P <.01) changes occurred during the treatment and were maintained at follow-up for the four RICE-RSPCS subscales and the CPS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the potential and often typical long-term pragmatic and subsequent social difficulties associated with ABI can possibly be lessened through effective intervention.
authors.affiliation: NeuroRehabilitation Program, Bloorview MacMillan Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiseman-Hakes
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schuller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D010379:Peer Group; D012951:Socialization; D016896:Treatment Outcome