Comprehension

External

%WMI		CRITERIA
	HEARING*	READING
5	Understands speech in most	Reads books and magazine
	situations, BUT has	articles, BUT does not
	difficulties in groups or	understand details
	when fatigued
10	Understands speech in one	Can get the gist of simple
	to one situations, BUT	articles, for example
	cannot cope in group	newspapers, but has great
	situations	difficulty with details
20		Restricted to simple sentences
25	Understands simple sentences
	although repetition is
	sometimes needed
30		Able to read single words only
35		Unable to read at all
40	Able to understand single
	words only
50	Unable to understand any
	language

Note:

Hearing refers to the ability to comprehend spoken language ie. with the ability to interpret auditory signals not to receive such signals. It does not refer to hearing impairment which is assessed using Table 8.1

TABLE 12.3

Expression

(Percentage Whole Person Impairment)

%WMI		CRITERIA
	VERBAL	WRITTEN
5	Can sustain conversation, BUT	Can write simple letters, BUT
	has minor word retrieval	cannot write complex documents
	problems and/or hesitancy
10	Can converse in simple	Can write postcards and
	sentences only and may have	letters of about 5 lines
	difficulty with word finding	(spelling and grammatical
	and expressing complex ideas	errors may be apparent, BUT
		cannot write longer documents
15		Can write only short simple
		sentences (spelling errors may
		be evident)
20	Only able to respond in short	Cannot write sentences, BUT
	sentences or phrases	can write single words
25		Able to write or copy only a
		family sequence of letters,
		for example own name
		OR
		Unable to write at all
30	Limited to single words
	and/or social or stereotyped
	phrases
35	No useful speech (includes
	unintelligible speech and
	speech limited to swearing)

Notes:

Cognitive function has two components - memory and reasoning ability. These functions are affected where there is neurological damage eg, from head injury, cerebro-vascular accident etc. Difficulties with memory or reasoning ability consequent to some other process eg, psychiatric illness should not be assessed using these tables. Instead Table 6.1 should be used.