Background: Ultrasound (US) is not widely used as part of the speech and language therapy (SLT) clinical toolkit. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified interest in US as an alternative to SLT instrumental tools such as the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and endoscopic evaluation of…

Background: Although previous research studies have defined several prognostic factors that affect cognitive-communication performance in patients with all traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity, little is known about what variables are associated with cognitive-communication impairment in complicated mild TBI (mTBI) specifically. Aims: To…

Background: People with aphasia (PWA) frequently present impairments in reading comprehension. Such impairments can be particularly debilitating due to the limitations and constraints they impose on everyday life. Recent technological advancements in the field of information and communication technologies offer many compensative tools for PWA.…

Background: People with aphasia rely on gesture more than healthy controls to get their message across, but use a limited range of gesture types. Gesture therapy is thus a potential avenue of intervention for people with aphasia. However, currently no gesture assessment evaluates how they use gesture. Such a tool could inform therapy targets and…

Background: Although discourse-level assessments contribute to predicting real-world performance in persons with aphasia (PWA), the use of discourse measures is uncommon in clinical settings due to resource-heavy procedures. Moreover, assessing function word use in discourse requires the arduous procedure of defining grammatical categories for…

Background: Surgical and respirator masks are worn to reduce the risk of droplet and airborne transmission of viral respiratory disease. As a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, mask wearing has been designated mandatory for healthcare professionals working in UK hospitals for the foreseeable future. It is thus timely to consider…

Background: Function words, and more specifically prepositions and prepositional locutions, are considered to be one of the most important difficulties for children with DLD. Aims: To examine the capacity of bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD) to comprehend different Spanish prepositions and prepositional locutions in a…

Background: More than 80% of people living with MND (plwMND) develop difficulties with their speech, affecting communication, self-identity and quality of life. Most plwMND eventually use an augmentative and alternative communication device (AAC) to communicate. Some AAC devices provide a synthesized voice for speech, however these voices are…

Background: Information is available about what predicts Lidcombe Program treatment time, but nothing is known about what predicts treatment prognosis. Aims: To investigate the predictors of treatment dropout and treatment outcome for children who were treated for early stuttering with the Lidcombe Program (N = 277). Methods & Procedures: A…

Introduction: Spelling difficulty is a common symptom of aphasia and can entail editing difficulties. Previous research has shown that extensive editing is related to a lower production rate in text writing for persons with aphasia, yet editing difficulty is not commonly examined. It is not known if editing difficulty is related to reading and…

Background: The emerging global issue of climate change has large-scale effects on health and well-being, including communication disorders. The broad range of the speech and language therapy profession's scope of practice incorporates prevention, advocacy and equality in service delivery. These act as a springboard for involvement in climate…

Background: Healthcare professionals without specialist training in communication disorders may not know how to identify and support patients with communication disabilities during mental capacity assessments. To meet this need, a novel communication screening tool was developed and tested as part of a mental capacity assessment support toolkit.…

Background: Language exposure is known to be a key factor influencing bilingual vocabulary development in typically developing (TD) children. There is, however, a lack of knowledge in terms of exposure effects in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and, especially, in interaction with age of onset (AoO) of second language…

Background: While evidence-based practice is widely endorsed by researchers, clinicians and professional bodies as a guiding framework for the provision of quality care to clients, the reliance on efficacy evidence may overshadow the benefits of other knowledge forms in supporting intervention design and evaluation. Due consideration needs to be…

Background: Simulation-based learning can be used in university programmes to provide speech-language pathology students with essential clinical experiences. However, limited research has explored the use of simulation to support students' development of skills in clinical practice with people who stutter. Aims: (1) To evaluate students' clinical…