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: Considerable evidence suggests that performance across a variety of cognitive tasks is effectively supported by the use of verbal and nonverbal strategies. Studies exploring the usefulness of such strategies in children with specific language impairment (SLI) are scarce and report inconsistent findings. Aims: To examine the effects of…

Background: Sentence repetition performance is attracting increasing interest as a valuable clinical marker for primary (or specific) language impairment (LI) in both monolingual and bilingual populations. Multiple aspects of memory appear to contribute to sentence repetition performance, but non-verbal memory has not yet been considered. Aims: To…

Background: Knowledge is scarce on what contributes to whether children with early language delay (LD) show persistent, recovering or sometimes late-onset LD without a prior history of early LD in subsequent preschool years. Aims: To explore whether an integrative model of vital risk factors, including poor early communication skills, family…

Background: There are no published data on typical phonological development for Singaporean children. There is therefore the risk that children's speech in Singapore may be misdiagnosed or that clinicians may set goals erroneously. Aims: This paper reports a preliminary study on the English phonology of typically developing 4;0-4;5-year-old…

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…

This study details the first ever investigation of narrative skills in a group of 17 deaf signing children who have been diagnosed with disorders in their British Sign Language development compared with a control group of 17 deaf child signers matched for age, gender, education, quantity, and quality of language exposure and non-verbal…

Background: Research in the last decades has clearly pointed to the important role of language and communicative level when trying to understand developmental trajectories in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Aims: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether (1) "core language skills", measured as…

Background: It is estimated that around 50-90% of people with learning disabilities experience difficulties in communicating. Previous research has linked communication difficulties and self-esteem in other populations, yet this relationship has not previously been investigated for people with Down syndrome. Aims: To explore the relationship…

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: Previous research suggests that speakers are especially likely to produce manual communicative gestures when they have relative ease in thinking about the spatial elements of what they are describing, paired with relative difficulty organizing those elements into appropriate spoken language. Children with specific language impairment…

Background: Many lines of evidence now suggest that inferencing plays a substantial role in text comprehension. However, inferencing appears to be difficult for children with language impairments, many of whom are also struggling readers. Aims: To assess the effects of a "think-aloud" procedure on inference generation and narrative text…

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,…