METHODS: Eighty volunteers were selected. Schooling was stratified into three bands: A (1-4 years), B (5-8 years) and C (nine years and over). The age range was from 17 to 80 years. All the subjects underwent the Montreal Toulouse (Modified MT Beta-86) language assessment protocol.RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found in relation to schooling levels, in the tasks of oral comprehension, reading, graphical comprehension, naming, lexical availability, dictation, graphical naming of actions and number reading. Statistically significant age-related differences in dictation and lexical availability tasks were observed. CONCLUSIONS:The Montreal Toulouse (Modified MT Beta-86) test seems to be sensitive to variations in schooling and age. These variables should be taken into account when this test is used for assessing patients with brain damage. RESULTADOS:Foram verificadas diferenças estatisticamente significantes segundo a escolaridade nas tarefas de compreensão oral, leitura, compreensão gráfica, denominação, disponibilidade lexical, ditado, denominação gráfica de ações e leitura de números. Em relação à idade, verificamos diferenças estatisticamente significantes nas tarefas de ditado e disponibilidade lexical. CONCLUSÕES:As provas do teste Montreal Toulouse (MT Beta-86 Modificado) parecem ser sensíveis à variação de escolaridade e idade. Estas variáveis devem ser levadas em consideração quando o teste é utilizado para avaliação de sujeitos com lesão cerebral.

In language assessment, several socio-demographic variables must be taken into account.ObjectivesTo characterize the performance of aphasic patients with different educational background on language tasks and to compare their performance to that of individuals with no language disorders.MethodsThirty aphasic patients and 30 healthy individuals were selected. Patients were divided into two groups according to educational level: A (1–4 years) n=15 and B (5–11 years) n=15. Age ranged from 27 to 78 years. All subjects were submitted to the Montreal Toulouse language assessment protocol. The pertinent statistical tests were applied.ResultsEducational level interfered in the linguistic performance of normal subjects but not in that of aphasic subjects, whose performance was influenced more by the lesion.ConclusionsThe present study can contribute toward greater understanding of the influence of lesions and educational background on the language performance of aphasic subjects.