School of Kinesiology professor Jürgen Konczak, PhD, co-authored an article published in the journal Neurological Research and Practice entitled “Validation of a German version of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective/ Schmahmann Syndrome Scale: preliminary version and study protocol.” This article was a part of a large group effort to translate and validate a clinical scale inventory from English into German for use by German neurologists and neuropsychologists. In order for the instrument to be relevant for practitioners and patients in Germany, a German version needed to be adapted from the English language version. 

Konczak collaborated with a team of German neurologists on this project. He was a unique contributor in this article as a bilingual speaker who works in the field and assisted in making sensible translations. 

“It was actually a quite laborious process,” Konczak noted. “We translated English to German, and then the German version was translated back into English by another person and then the U.S.-based clinical scientists examined by the original creators of the inventory.”

The Cerebellar Cognitive Affective/Schmahmann Syndrome (CCAS) scale is a short and easy applicable bedside test to screen for cerebellar diseases that might also be associated with deficits in motor control and motor learning. It is currently only available in American English, this article presents a German version of the scale and the study protocol of its ongoing validation in a German-speaking patient cohort.

Konczak is also the director of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory.