Background: Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are strongly overrepresented in young offender populations, and there is growing commitment internationally to ensuring access to speech-language therapy services for such young people. However there is currently no framework in which such interventions might be conceptualized, delivered…

Background: Swahili is widely spoken in East Africa, but to date there are no culturally and linguistically appropriate materials available for speech-language therapists working in the region. The challenges are further exacerbated by the limited research available on the typical acquisition of Swahili phonology. Aim: To describe the speech…

Background: Communication difficulties are common in cerebral palsy (CP) and are frequently associated with motor, intellectual and sensory impairments. Speech and language therapy research comprises single-case experimental design and small group studies, limiting evidence-based intervention and possibly exacerbating variation in practice. Aims:…

Background: The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a popular augmentative communication system frequently used with "nonverbal" children with autism. Several studies suggested that PECS could represent an effective tool for promoting improvement of several social-communicative skills. Only sparse evidence is instead…

Background: Little evidence exists for the effectiveness of therapy for children with receptive language difficulties, particularly those whose difficulties are severe and persistent. Aims: To establish the effectiveness of explicit speech and language therapy with visual support for secondary school-aged children with language impairments…

Background: Many speech and language therapists (SLTs) work with patients who have a tracheostomy. There is limited information about their working practices and the extent to which recent publications and research have influenced the speech and language therapy management of the tracheostomized patient. Aims: This study reviews the current…

Background: Measuring or evaluating outcomes is a common activity for many speech-language therapists (SLTs). A major focus has been on external forces claiming outcome evaluation to optimize quality and the use of resources without integrating the viewpoints of SLTs. Aims: To identify the purpose of outcome evaluation by letting SLTs identify not…

Background: Overt stuttering is inhibited by approximately 80% when people who stutter read aloud as they hear an altered form of their speech feedback to them. However, levels of stuttering inhibition vary from 60% to 100% depending on speaking situation and signal presentation. For example, binaural presentations of delayed auditory feedback…

Background: Speech-language pathology students gain experience and clinical competency through clinical education placements. However, currently little empirical information exists regarding how competency develops. Existing research about the effectiveness of placement types and models in developing competency is generally descriptive and based…

Background: There has been little robust evaluation of the outcome of speech and language therapy (SLT) intervention for post-stroke dysarthria. Non-speech oro-motor exercises (NSOMExs) are a common component of dysarthria intervention. A feasibility study was designed and executed, with participants randomized into two groups, in one of which…

Background: Although many children with Down syndrome experience hearing loss, there has been little research to investigate its impact on speech and language development. Studies that have investigated the association give inconsistent results. These have often been based on samples where children with the most severe hearing impairments have…

This study examined vocabulary intervention--in terms of targets and techniques--for children with language impairment receiving speech-language therapy in public schools (i.e., non-fee-paying schools) in the United States. Vocabulary treatments and targets were examined with respect to their alignment with the empirically validated practice of…

Background: At present, percent syllables stuttered (%SS) is the gold standard outcome measure for behavioural stuttering treatment research. However, ordinal severity rating (SR) procedures have some inherent advantages over that method. Aims: To establish the relationship between Clinician %SS, Clinician SR and self-reported Speaker SR. To…

Background: It is known that people with dysphagia experience a number of negative consequences as a result of their swallowing difficulties following head and neck cancer management (HNC). However their perceptions and experiences of adjusting to dysphagia in the post-treatment phase, and the services received to assist this process, has not been…

Background: Bilingual children are under-referred due to an ostensible expectation that they lag behind their monolingual peers in their English acquisition. The recommendations of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) state that bilingual children should be assessed in both the languages known by the children. However,…