International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology最新文献

Purpose: This study, conducted virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed to assess children's vocabulary, grammar, communicative participation, and phonology skills targeted during the virtual parent-implemented Target Word program.

Method: Forty children between 16 and 27 months who were considered late-to-talk were assigned to immediate treatment or delayed treatment groups using a 1:2 ratio and assessed at four points. Of the 20 children in the immediate treatment group, 16 completed the entire study. Of the 20 children in the delayed treatment group, five completed entire study.

Result: Across assessment points, most scores in vocabulary (p = 0.17; p = 0.28; p = 0.40), grammar (complexity: p = 0.65; mean length of utterance: p = 0.21; p = 0. 77; p = 0.29) and communicative participation (p = 0.88; p = 0.12; p = 0.98) were not statistically different between groups. However, children made clinically meaningful gains in communicative participation during their Target Word programs (16 and 25 points of average change on the FOCUS-34). Statistically significant differences in phonology were observed during Target Word (p< .01, p = 0.02, p = 0.15). Statistically significant differences in grammar complexity were observed (p< .01; p = 0.02), but not aligned with intervention periods.

Conclusion: Further research is needed to support interpretation of these results, including additional research to explore the most appropriate service pathways for children who are late-to-talk.

Purpose: Ethiopia is the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa. While Ethiopia's health care system includes primary health centres, general, and specialised hospitals, allied health care like speech-language pathology was not available until 2003. This article was written with the aim of sharing the experience of establishing speech-language pathology as a profession and the first speech-language pathology training program in Ethiopia.

Method: In this paper, we retrospectively examine how the leadership of local stakeholders, a multidisciplinary team, and the development of a professional infrastructure led to the success of the program. The authorship group, who were involved in the program from inception to implementation, share their experiences.

Result: The speech-language pathology undergraduate program at Addis Ababa University graduated its first class in 2019. Plans to grow the training program at the graduate level are ongoing.

Conclusion: This novel program, grown from several international partnerships, is an example of how low- and middle-income countries can improve access to the service providers necessary to treat their populations.

Purpose: To evaluate a parent-delivered expressive vocabulary intervention using focused stimulation for young children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: A single case A-B design was used. Use of expressive target words was evaluated during the baseline (A) and intervention (B) phases. Untrained expressive words were used as control behaviour. Four 2- to 3-year-old boys with CP and their parents participated. All participants had an expressive vocabulary of less than 50 words at study intake. Following training, parents delivered the intervention daily at home for 5 weeks. Generalisation of the intervention was measured with a parent-rated vocabulary checklist.

Result: Two participants showed clear gains and one participant showed a smaller gain in target words. Two of these three participants did not improve on control words, but one participant increased his use of both target and control words. One participant did not increase his use of either control or target words. All participants improved on parent-reported expressive vocabulary, and for two children, improvements were large.

Conclusion: Parent-delivered focused stimulation may lead to gains in expressive vocabulary in children with CP and speech and language difficulties. The intervention would be suitable for larger single-case studies with more experimental control.

Purpose: Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are increasingly used to inform value-based healthcare. Within speech-language pathology (SLP), there is no synthesis of validated PROMs to guide professional practice. This scoping review systematically identifies and evaluates condition-specific PROMs across adult SLP practice.

Method: A literature search was performed to identify studies published until 18th February 2022 from MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Scopus, Cochrane Collaboration, and Web of Science. Abstracts and full texts were screened in Covidence. Relevant studies that validated PROMs in English were extracted and assessed using the "Checklist to operationalise measurement characteristics of PROMs" by two independent reviewers.

Result: Ninety-seven articles provided validation data for 71 PROMS across seven SLP practice areas. These included voice (n = 18), swallowing (n = 14), language (n = 11), fluency (n = 8), speech (n = 4), laryngectomy (n = 3), and cognitive-communication (n = 2). No PROMs were identified for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) (n = 0). Quality ratings were variable on the Francis et al. checklist.

Conclusion: A range of validated PROMs were identified to guide SLP practice in measuring patient perceptions across a range of practice areas in adults. Opportunities for further development in SLP practice areas with limited PROMs, such as speech, cognitive-communication, and AAC are also highlighted.

Purpose: Many children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) show poorer auditory word-learning skills than children with typical hearing (TH). The goal of this study was to test the effect of retrieval practice on word learning in children who are hard of hearing (HH).

Method: Twenty-six TH children and 16 children who are HH completed a speech perception and a vocabulary test, and a rapid word-learning game to learn new words under no retrieval, immediate retrieval, and spaced retrieval conditions.

Result: Linear mixed-effect models revealed that learning condition and time predicted 48% of the variance in word recognition, and age predicted 15% of word recall variance. We observed no differences in word recognition and recall between TH children and children who are HH. Children learned and remembered more words in the immediate and spaced retrieval practice conditions than in the no retrieval condition.

Conclusion: Retrieval practice is more effective for word learning and retention than passive exposure (no retrieval). Clinical and educational practices for children who are DHH could combine explicit instruction using targeted exposures and retrieval of new words with naturalistic approaches. Future studies should assess retrieval practice in real-life interventions to inform clinical and educational practices.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate lexical psycholinguistic properties (i.e. age of acquisition, concreteness, imageability, and familiarity) in English spoken discourse by persons with aphasia. It is hypothesised that persons with aphasia are more likely to use words with lower age of acquisition and higher concreteness, imageability and familiarity compared to the control group of neurologically intact adults, reflecting their lexical retrieval difficulties.

Method: Language samples of picture descriptions, story narratives, and procedural discourse were extracted from AphasiaBank. Words in the samples were cross-referenced with lexical items in large-scale psycholinguistic norms.

Result: Persons with aphasia tend to use words with lower age of acquisition in the story narrative task and higher familiarity in both the story narrative and procedural description task compared to the control group, demonstrating difficulties in retrieving later-acquired, and less familiar lexical items. Story narratives were particularly effective in distinguishing the two groups in terms of lexical psycholinguistic properties.

Conclusion: Distinctive patterns of lexical psycholinguistic properties were found in persons with aphasia discourse production compared with the control groups. These findings hold significant clinical implications for speech-language pathologists, as they underscore the value of integrating psycholinguistic measures into assessment protocols to enhance diagnosis accuracy and inform targeted therapeutic interventions.

Purpose: The study aimed to understand how bilingual children with typical language development (TLD) and those with developmental language disorder (DLD) use frequent word co-occurrences in their narratives.

Method: We studied the change over time in the word co-occurrences used by 30 Spanish-English bilingual children with and without DLD (experimental group). An additional normative group consisted of 98 TLD Spanish-English bilingual first graders. Children narrated two Spanish and two English stories in kindergarten and first grade. Employing a Python program on the transcribed narratives, we extracted all adjacent two-word and three-word co-occurrences. From the normative group, the 90 most frequently occurring two-word and 90 most frequently occurring three-word co-occurrences were extracted. The type and tokens of word co-occurrences each child in the experimental group produced out of the 180 identified word co-occurrences were analysed.

Result: Overall, children at first grade produced more word co-occurrences types than in kindergarten. Children with DLD used fewer types of word co-occurrences but produced them as often as than their TLD peers. Children with DLD increased their word co-occurrences from kindergarten to first grade at the same rate although at a lower frequency. Children in both groups produced similar types and tokens of word co-occurrences in both Spanish and English, except tokens of two word co-occurrences. Children produced two word co-occurrences more often in English than in their Spanish narratives.

Conclusion: The results shed light on children with DLD's deficits in production of word co-occurrences, indirectly reflecting possible deficits in statistical pattern detection.

Purpose: To examine the lived experiences of adults who have received community-based rehabilitation (CBR) services in Australia or New Zealand for cognitive-communication disorders (CCDs) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their support people. Participants' recommendations for future models of care were also explored to enhance rehabilitation services for people with TBI.

Method: A qualitative descriptive approach grounded in phenomenology was used, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. A total of 28 interviews were completed, four in-person and 24 via video conferencing. Two participant groups were recruited: Adults with TBI; and their support people. Sixteen adults with a self-reported diagnosis of cognitive-communication disorder (CCD) following TBI who had received CBR and 12 support people were included. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Result: Four themes were identified by the participant groups indicating the core pillars of CBR models of care. They included the importance of: (a) accessible and inclusive CBR services; (b) specialised clinical skills and treatment approaches; the acknowledgment that (c) knowledge is power; and the significance of (d) peer networks and support.

Conclusion: This study further advances the evidence base of how services can be optimised to meet the complex needs of adults with CCDs following a TBI. Clinicians, researchers, and service providers should endeavour to incorporate the four core pillars outlined to enhance future CBR models of care for this clinical population.

Purpose: To examine the characteristics of speech-language pathology (SLP) consumers prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, with respect to the mode of service delivery within a local health district in New South Wales, Australia, to inform future health service planning.

Method: Observational study examining SLP occasions of service data pre-COVID-19 (2019-2019; n = 6413) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021; n = 6908). Spatial mapping and multilevel models were used to examine associations between sociodemographic characteristics, telehealth utilisation, and videoconferencing.

Result: During COVID-19, SLP occasions of service increased by 7.7% compared to pre-COVID-19. Model 1 found odds of adopting telehealth (telephone or videoconference) during COVID-19 were significantly higher for those aged 0-4 and 5-17 years compared to older age groups. Consumers in inner regional areas were significantly less likely to adopt telehealth than in major city areas, whereas females were significantly more likely to adopt telehealth. Those living in areas experiencing higher relative disadvantage were less likely to use telehealth. Model 2 found odds of adopting videoconferencing only were also significantly higher for the younger age groups (0-4 and 5-17 years) and females.

Conclusion: A rapid transition to a virtual model of care was critical to the successful delivery of SLP services during COVID-19. Immediate prioritisation and integration of targeted models of care, where suitability is high and benefits most likely to be experienced, is feasible.

Purpose: Translation of research is requisite for speech-language pathologists; however, barriers have been reported. This review aimed to identify the extant literature published on communication for autistic children, and examine the replicability and translatability of communication interventions for speech-language pathologists providing services to children with autism.

Method: A scoping review was conducted using a six-stage protocol. Following initial database searching and screening, data were extracted from included studies for demographic characteristics and Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist elements. Stakeholder consultation interviews with 13 speech-language pathologists who work with autistic children were also undertaken.

Result: The database search revealed 4719 studies on the topic of communication in autistic children, of which 762 were communication intervention studies. Of these included intervention studies, 30% were considered replicable according to the TIDieR checklist. Stakeholder consultation revealed that poorly described intervention studies hindered translation efforts.

Conclusion: The vast amount of autism communication intervention literature and the variable quality of intervention description reporting are barriers to accessing high quality literature for translation to practice. Improved reporting of intervention descriptions in autism communication intervention studies would support research translation into clinical settings.