Raira Fernanda Altmann

Graduated in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Passo Fundo - UPF (2017). Masters (2019) and Ph.D. (2023) in Human Communication Disorders from the Federal University of Santa Maria, in the research line of Clinical and Linguistic Aspects in Language Acquisition, Development, and Disorders. Currently, she is the Coordinator and Lecturer of the undergraduate course in Speech-Language Pathology at the Community University of the Chapecó Region - UNOCHAPECÓ. She works in the following areas: child language and speech, adult and elderly language, language assessment and therapy, neuropsychology, acquired disorders, human cognition, and human aging. She is a member of the Laboratory of Neuropsychology of Language - LabNeuroLin (UFSM). She is a founding partner of the Communication Rehabilitation Center (Centro Cléo).

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Speech and Hearing

Scopus Publications

Clustering and switching in verbal fluency: a comparison between control and individuals with brain damage
Karina Carlesso Pagliarin, Eduarda Giovelli Fernandes, Maryndia Diehl Muller, Caroline Rodrigues Portalete, Rochele Paz Fonseca, and Raira Fernanda Altmann
FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
ABSTRACT Purpose The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the performance and strategies used by control subjects and patients with unilateral brain damage on phonemic and semantic Verbal Fluency tasks. Methods The sample consisted of 104 participants divided into four groups (26 with left hemisphere damage and aphasia- LHDa, 28 with left hemisphere damage and no aphasia- LHDna, 25 with right hemisphere damage- RHD and 25 neurologically healthy control subjects). All participants were administered the phonemic (“M” letter-based) and semantic (animals) verbal fluency tasks from the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR). Results Patients in the LHDa group showed the worst performance (fewer words produced, fewer clusters and switches) in both types of fluency task. RHD group showed fewer switching productions when compared with controls and LHDna had fewer words productions than controls in the first 30 seconds block. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the LHDa group obtained lower scores in most measures of SVF and PVF when compared to the other groups.


Correction to: Brief Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: adaptation and content validity (Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, (2020), 33, 1, (18), 10.1186/s41155-020-00157-6)
Raira Fernanda Altmann, Karin Zazo Ortiz, Tainá Rossato Benfica, Eduarda Pinheiro Oliveira, and Karina Carlesso Pagliarin
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.


Brief Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: adaptation and content validity
Raira Fernanda Altmann, Karin Zazo Ortiz, Tainá Rossato Benfica, Eduarda Pinheiro de Oliveira, and Karina Carlesso Pagliarin
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract Background Evaluating patients in the acute phase of brain damage allows for the early detection of cognitive and linguistic impairments and the implementation of more effective interventions. However, few cross-cultural instruments are available for the bedside assessment of language abilities. The aim of this study was to develop a brief assessment instrument and evaluate its content validity. Methods Stimuli for the new assessment instrument were selected from the M1-Alpha and MTL-BR batteries (Stage 1). Sixty-five images were redesigned and analyzed by non-expert judges (Stage 2). This was followed by the analysis of expert judges (Stage 3), where nine speech pathologists with doctoral training and experience in aphasiology and/or linguistics evaluated the images, words, nonwords, and phrases for inclusion in the instrument. Two pilot studies (Stage 4) were then conducted in order to identify any remaining errors in the instrument and scoring instructions. Results Sixty of the 65 figures examined by the judges achieved inter-rater agreement rates of at least 80%. Modifications were suggested to 22 images, which were therefore reanalyzed by the judges, who reached high levels of inter-rater agreement (AC1 = 0.98 [CI = 0.96–1]). New types of stimuli such as nonwords and irregular words were also inserted in the Brief Battery and favorably evaluated by the expert judges. Optional tasks were also developed for specific diagnostic situations. After the correction of errors detected in Stage 4, the final version of the instrument was obtained. Conclusion This study confirmed the content validity of the Brief MTL-BR Battery. The method used in this investigation was effective and can be used in future studies to develop brief instruments based on preexisting assessment batteries.


Montreal communication evaluation brief battery-MEC B: Reliability and validity
Fabíola Schwengber Casarin, Karina Carlesso Pagliarin, Raira Fernanda Altmann, Maria Alice de Mattos Pimenta Parente, Perrine Ferré, Hélène Côté, Bernardette Ska, Yves Joanette, and Rochele Paz Fonseca
FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
ABSTRACT Purpose Search for reliability and validity evidence for the Montreal Communication Evaluation Brief Battery (MEC B) for adults with right brain damage. Methods Three hundred twenty-four healthy adults and 26 adults with right brain damage, aged 19-75 years, with two or more years of education were evaluated with MEC B. The MEC B Battery contains nine tasks that aim to evaluate communicative abilities as discourse, prosody, lexical-semantic and pragmatic process. Two sources of reliability evidence were used: internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and interrater reliability. Construct validity was evaluated comparing the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery (MEC), expanded version and MEC B tasks. Results Internal consistence was satisfactory and the interrater reliability was considered excellent, as were correlations between MEC Battery and MEC B Battery tasks. Conclusion The MEC B Battery showed satisfactory reliability and validity evidences. It can be used as outcome measure of intervention programs and assist speech therapists to plan rehabilitation programs.