Main Concept Coding
Main concepts are provided in the following pages for a variety of discourse tasks:
Procedural Discourse
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Picture Description
- Cookie Theft
- Broken Window
- Cat in the Tree
- Refused Umbrella
Story Narrative
- Cinderella
Scoring procedures vary. Examples include:
1. Nicholas and Brookshire (1995)
- AC -- # of accurate and complete concepts -- all essential information is accurate and complete
- AI -- # of accurate but incomplete concepts -- part of the essential information is accurate, but one or more essential parts are missing
- IN -- # of inaccurate concepts – one or more parts of the essential information are inaccurate
- AB -- # of absent concepts – none of the essential information is given
2. Kong (2009) added 2 newly devised measures to Nicholas and Brookshire (1995) measures
- Main concept score (MC) = (3 x AC) + (2 x AI) + (1 x IN)
- # of AC per minute
3. Richardson and Dalton (2015) modified Kong (2009) formula
- Main concept score (MC) = (3 x AC) + (2 x AI) + (2 x IC) = (1 x II), where IC statements contain at least one incorrect piece of information but mentioned all essential elements and II statements contained at least one incorrect essential element and also failed to include at least one essential element
Stimulus: Procedural Discourse -- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Richardson & Dalton, Aphasiology, 2015
92 controls (stratified into 4 age groups) from AphasiaBank database
10 main concepts – relevant concepts produced by 33.3% of all controls
Instructions for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness are here
Essential information in bold
1. Get bread out of the pantry/cupboard/refrigerator/freezer/etc.
2. Get two slices of bread
3. Get the peanut butter
4. Get the jelly
5. Get a knife
6. Put the bread on the plate
7. Put peanut butter on bread
8. Put jelly on bread
9. Put the two pieces together
10. Cut the sandwich in pieces
Stimulus: Picture Description -- Broken Window
Richardson & Dalton, Aphasiology, 2015
92 controls (stratified into 4 age groups) from AphasiaBank database
8 main concepts – relevant concepts produced by 33.3% of all controls
Instructions for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness here
Essential information in bold
1. A/the boy was outside
2. A/the boy was playing soccer
3. The ball breaks the man's/neighbor's window
4. The man is sitting in a chair and/or inside the house
5. The man was startled
6. The ball broke a lamp
7. The man picked up the ball
8. The man looked out of the window
Stimulus picture: Picture Description – Cat Rescue
(Nicholas Brookshire, 1993)
Tanaka, Branch, Dalton, & Richardson,ASHA Convention poster, 2016
92 controls (stratified into 4 age groups) from AphasiaBank database
9 main concepts – relevant concepts produced by 33.3% of all controls
Instructions for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness here
Essential information in bold
1. The little girl was riding her tricycle.
2. The cat was stuck in the tree because the dog chased/scared it.
3. The dog was barking at the tree.
4. The man climbed up the tree to get the cat.
5. The ladder fell down.
6. The father is stuck in the tree with the cat.
7. Someone called the fire department.
8. The fire department comes with a ladder.
9. The fire department rescues them.
Stimulus picture: Picture Description – Cat Rescue
(Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993)
Hameister & Nickels, 2016
50 controls, 50 PWA
Randomly selected from AphasiaBank database
10 main concepts produced by 60% of controls
1. The man climbed/is in/is stuck in the tree
2. The man wants to get the cat [* motivation to climb the tree]
3. Any mention of the girl [* concerned/playing/wants the cat back]
4. The cat climbed/is in/is stuck in the tree
5. The ladder was lost
6. Any mention of the dog [* comes/barks/is worried]
7. The fire brigade comes
8. The fire brigade rescues/helps them
9. The fire brigade brings a ladder
10. Someone called the fire brigade
Stimulus picture: Picture Description – Refused Umbrella
(Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993)
Richardson & Dalton, Aphasiology, 2015
92 controls (stratified into 4 age groups) from AphasiaBank database
Main concepts – relevant concepts produced by 33.3% of all controls
Instructions for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness here
Essential information in bold
1. The mother says it is going to rain today.
2. The mother says you need to take the umbrella.
3. The boy doesn’t want (or actively refuses) the umbrella.
4. The boy walks to school.
5. It is raining.
6. The boy gets soaking wet.
7. The boy runs back and goes into the house.
8. The mother is [negative emotional state].
9. The boy gets the umbrella.
10. The boy goes back to school/with the umbrella.
Stimulus picture: Picture Description – Cookie Theft
Goodglass & Kaplan, 1983
Nicholas & Brookshire, JSHR, 1995
20 controls, 20 PWA
7 main concepts from control responses listed by 7 of 10 SLP judges
Instructions and examples for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness in here
1. The woman (mother) is doing dishes.
2. The sink (water) is overflowing (running over).
3. The boy is on a stool.
4. The boy (kids) is getting (stealing) cookies (getting into the cookie jar).
5. The stool is tipping. (The boy is falling.)
6. The girl is reaching for a cookie. (The boy hands the girl a cookie.) (Or some mention of a plausible action by the girl or location of the girl.)
7. The woman (mother) is not noticing (paying attention).
Stimulus: Narrative Discourse -- Cinderella
Richardson & Dalton, Aphasiology, 2015
92 controls (stratified into 4 age groups) from AphasiaBank database
34 main concepts – relevant concepts produced by 33.3% of all controls
Instructions for scoring presence, accuracy, and completeness in here (link to MCrules-Cinderella.docx)
Essential information in bold
1. Dad remarried a woman with two daughters.
2. Cinderella lives with stepmother/stepsisters.
3. Stepmother/stepsisters were mean to Cinderella.
4. Cinderella was a servant to the stepmother and stepsisters.
5. Cinderella has to do the housework.
6. The king thinks the prince should get married.
7. King announces there is going to be a ball in honor of son who needs to find a wife.
8. They got an invitation to the ball.
9. They are excited about the ball.
10. Cinderella is told by the stepmother she cannot go to the the ball unless/because (insert reason).
11. The stepsisters tore Cinderellaa’s dress.
12. Stepmother/stepsisters went to the ball.
13. Cinderella was upset.
14. A fairy godmother appeared to Cinderella.
15. The fairy godmother makes {item(s)} turn into {items}.
16. The fairy godmother makes Cinderella into a beautiful princess.
17. Cinderella went to the ball in the coach.
18. She knew she had to be home by midnight because everything will turn back at midnight.
19. The prince and Cinderella danced around the room/all night/with no one else.
20. Prince falls in love with Cinderella.
21. Cinderella realized it is midnight.
22. She ran down the stairs.
23. As she was running down the stairs she lost one of the glass slippers.
24. Prince finds Cinderella’s shoe.
25. Everything turns back to its original form.
26. She returned home in time.
27. The prince searched door to door for Cinderella.
28. Prince comes to Cinderella’s house.
29. The stepsisters try on the glass slipper.
30. The slipper didn’t fit the stepsisters.
31. He put the slipper on Cinderella’s foot.
32. The slipper fits Cinderella perfectly.
33. Cinderella and the prince were married.
34. Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after.