Seminars in Speech and Language最新文献

This was a retrospective study that aimed to provide a first estimate of the prevalence of developmental language disorder (DLD) in Mexico, where there is currently a lack of epidemiological data on this disorder. Children aged 4;0 to 6;11 years in the cities of Mexico, Queretaro, and Monterrey were classified into two groups: those with DLD (N = 46) and those with typical language development (N = 497). The diagnosis of DLD was based on standardized norm-referenced assessment and language sample analyses. Children with other disabilities were excluded from the final sample. The final sample consisted of 543 children (55% male; 45% female) aged 4;0 to 6;11 years. The estimated prevalence of DLD was 8.5%. The study has clinical implications given that the prevalence of DLD in Mexico may raise awareness of this long-lasting disorder and may help health and educational authorities establish a system to early identify and diagnose children with DLD.

To better understand speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') pre-service and in-service training experiences in literacy and the relationship between their literacy training experiences and current practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs regarding their roles in literacy assessment and treatment, a web-based survey of SLPs was conducted (n = 444). Responses revealed that 60% of respondents completed at least one literacy course in their graduate programs: 55% took courses that embedded content in literacy assessment or treatment, and 23% took courses dedicated to literacy. These results varied based on the decade of graduation. Although 73.5% of respondents felt that their graduate programs trained them well or very well to assess and treat spoken language, only 8.5% felt the same about literacy. Most respondents (80%) reported completing in-service literacy training, and 89% reported wanting more literacy training. Completion of in-service training was positively, significantly related to respondents' current literacy-related clinical practice, self-efficacy, and beliefs regarding their roles; however, pre-service literacy training was not significantly related to any of these. Though in-service training appears to play a role in helping SLPs deliver literacy services, more emphasis on increasing the quantity and quality of pre-service and in-service training in the assessment and treatment of literacy is needed.

Treatment for people with aphasia mainly concentrates on facilitating the communication of needs or providing facts. This focus is in danger of downplaying the significance of the expression of attitudes and emotion. Evaluative expression is critical for recreating identity and social interaction. However, the linguistic expression of emotions following aphasia has been insufficiently explored. This study aimed to determine which semantic-lexical devices people with aphasia used to express their opinions and views about their clinicians and rehabilitation. In-depth interviews with 50 people with aphasia describing their emotions during their rehabilitation were analyzed using the appraisal framework comprising appreciation, affect, and judgment. Speakers also graded their attitudes toward people, things, or events. Almost half of instances expressed appreciation, over one-third expressed judgment, and about 16% expressed affect. Amplification of emotions was used frequently, in over 40% of instances. Affective difficulties following aphasia and other brain injuries are among the most important factors for rehabilitation, social reintegration, and the burden on family members. To ameliorate these issues, the focus of rehabilitation in aphasia needs to shift from expressing needs toward facilitating the expression of opinions and feelings and providing people with aphasia with the opportunities and means to express their views on their healthcare.

The successful implementation of early interventions (EIs) within families is crucial in mitigating language and developmental delays in young children. Considering that language acquisition primarily occurs through interactions between caregivers and children, parental involvement plays a significant role in EI services. Working within families where one parent interferes with the involvement of the child's other parent or caregiver can be challenging for service providers. This article examines parental gatekeeping-a concept from the family science literature that can have a significant impact on services provided by speech language pathologists (SLPs). We outline and provide examples of family dynamics that may pose challenges to SLPs working with young children and their families as well as provide strategies for effectively navigating and working within these dynamics.

Abductor laryngeal dystonia (ABLD) is a rare neurological voice disorder which results in sporadic opening of the vocal folds during speech. Etiology is unknown, and to date there is no identified effective behavioral treatment for it. It is hypothesized that LSVT LOUD®, which was developed to treat dysphonia secondary to Parkinson's disease, may have application to speakers with ABLD to improve outcomes beyond that with botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) treatment alone. The participant received one injection of BoNT in each vocal fold 2 to 3 months prior to initiating intensive voice therapy via teletherapy. Objective measures of vocal loudness (dB sound pressure level), maximum phonation time, and high/low pitch frequency (Hz) were recorded in all treatment sessions and follow-up sessions. Over the course of treatment, the participant showed steady gains in phonation time, volume, pitch range, and vocal quality with a substantial reduction in aphonic voice breaks by the end of the treatment program. Perceptual symptoms of ABLD were nearly undetectable by the participant and the clinicians up to 12 months posttreatment, with no additional BoNT injections. The results suggest that LSVT LOUD® following BoNT was effective, with long-lasting improvement in vocal function, for this speaker with ABLD.

This study aimed to explore the effects of an integrated phonological awareness intervention on phonological errors and phonemic awareness among young school-age children. Three children with at least one phonological error pattern and below-average phonological awareness skills participated in a non-concurrent multiple baseline single-subject design across participants' investigation. The integrated phonological awareness intervention consisted of completing blending and segmenting activities using 20 trained words, with a dose of 70 to 100 productions of the targeted phonological error pattern for 10, 30-minute sessions. All participants showed improvement in the primary dependent variable of percent consonants correct for their targeted error pattern for trained words. Results for percent phonemes correct showed gains for both blending and segmenting for all participants. All the participants transferred targeted skills to untrained words with their error pattern and generalized blending and segmenting to consonant-vowel-consonant words that did not contain their target error pattern in a pretest/posttest. Integrated phonological awareness intervention was an effective method of simultaneously improving speech production and phonemic awareness skills for young school-age children across 5 hours of treatment. The intervention was designed to be replicable by school-based speech-language pathologists seeking to efficiently support students with phonological errors and phonological awareness deficits.

Persons with communication disabilities including persons with post-stroke aphasia (PWAs) possess a vulnerability to climate change as a result of their communication impairments. The disproportionate effects of climate change are likely to exacerbate preexisting inequities in social determinants of health. Communication disability intersecting with other characteristics subject to discrimination (e.g., race, age, sex, income) may lead to inequities in climate-related adaptive capacity. This article echoes earlier concerns related to climate change and further educates healthcare professionals about the impact of climate change on the global human population, with particular consideration of PWAs. The aims of this article are the following: (1) to broaden the understanding of aphasiologists and clinicians caring for PWAs about climate change and the contributions of human activity (anthropogenic) to this crisis; (2) to describe climate change and its impact on health; (3) to detail the intersectionality of climate and health; (4) to explore climate change and its potential effects on PWAs; and (5) to offer hope through emissions reduction, adaptation, resilience, and immediate change.

Awareness of the intersectionality of a person's religious and spiritual belief system with their mental and physical health is slowly being elevated within the Western healthcare system. There are many opportunities for better understanding and incorporation of religious and spiritual beliefs into aphasia rehabilitation. To extend the recognition of religion and spirituality's importance in healthcare to persons living with post-stroke aphasia while emphasizing the diversity of beliefs, the current article seeks to provide a brief overview of the global religions; explain the intersection of religion, spirituality, and health; review the existing literature in the area of aphasia and religion, spirituality, and spiritual care; discuss the clinical importance and implications of religion and spirituality; and finally, lay out a forward view of the direction this area of exploration may take within aphasiology.