Successful management of the elderly patient is related in part to how effectively he and members of the health care team can communicate with each other. If comprehension and/or expressive abilities are impaired, as they frequently are in the geriatric population, then efficient patient management becomes difficult. Unfortunately, this difficulty is often compounded by the staff members' lack of understanding about the extent of the patient's communication deficits. Consequently, the patient's communication abilities are either underestimated or overestimated, resulting in a number of problems which tend to increase management difficulties. In order to minimize these problems, the speech pathology service at the St. Boniface Hospital has implemented a training program designed to teach members of the health care team how to do a quick, simple and reliable assessment of their patients' basic comprehension and expressive skills for management purposes. This assessment procedure will be described with respect to its administration and practical interpretation. (Author)