International journal of language & communication disorders
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Mar 2007
Comparative Study Clinical TrialAddressing the needs of speakers with longstanding dysarthria: computerized and traditional therapy compared.
In clinical practice, it is common for speech and language therapists to discontinue dysarthria treatment when a plateau in spontaneous recovery is reached. However, there is some evidence from single-case research studies that people with chronic dysarthria can improve their speech with intervention several years after the onset of the disorder. If this is so, it can be argued that speech treatment should still be an option available to them. Motor learning principles suggest that in order to be effective, treatment needs to involve frequent, consistent practice with feedback. ⋯ The participants with longstanding dysarthria in this study made improvements to their speech with treatment using both traditional and computer-based techniques. Computers could provide a method of delivering an effective dysarthria treatment service without placing high demands on therapy resources.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Mar 2007
Evaluation of the clinical decisions made for 2-year-olds referred for speech and language therapy: a follow-up study.
Clinicians in the UK rely mainly on informal observations and structured and semi-structured tasks rather than standardized testing in their assessments of pre-school children referred with speech and language difficulties. The informal nature of the clinical decision-making process at this age is unsurprising given the dearth of research on early clinical referrals. Evidence of outcome for young children referred with speech and language problems typically begins in the early school years. ⋯ This study illustrates the potential of this kind of approach to inform the process of decision-making and reflective clinical practice with very young children. Limitations of the study and implications for future action research are discussed.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Jul 2006
Educational provision for children with specific speech and language difficulties: perspectives of speech and language therapy service managers.
Children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD) pose a challenge to the education system, and to speech and language therapists who support them, as a result of their language needs and associated educational and social-behavioural difficulties. The development of inclusion raises questions regarding appropriate provision, whether the tradition of language units or full inclusion into mainstream schools. ⋯ The implications of the study are discussed with reference to SLT practice, including consultancy models, and the increasingly prevalent policy in local education authorities of inclusion of children with special educational needs.
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This study investigated the phonological disorders of French-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) in production. ⋯ This finding highlights the importance of having a developmental perspective and needs to be confirmed through a longitudinal study. Second, deficits were much more significant at the phoneme level than at the syllable level. This may be explained by the fact that the pronunciation of syllables in French is very homogenous, making them easier to segment.
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Int J Lang Commun Disord · Mar 2006
Parents' and professionals' perceptions of Quality of Life in children with speech and language difficulty.
The true impact of speech and language difficulties (SaLD) on children's lives and the effectiveness of intervention is unknown. Within other fields of paediatric healthcare, clinicians and policy-makers are increasingly emphasizing the utility of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) studies and measures. SaLT has a variety of measures to assess and treat children's 'quantity' of life, but also requires measures that allow it to measure and even target their Quality of Life. ⋯ These are encouraging results, indicating that children with SaLD experience HRQoL issues associated with their communication impairments. The results support the suggestion that speech and language therapists should ensure that their assessments and interventions account for both a child's impairment and also factors related to well-being reflected in the themes presented here. However, this was also a small-scale study and consequently further research of this type, with a larger and more varied population, is necessary so that HRQoL issues for all clinical sub-groups of children with SaLD can be explored.