Background: Recent evidence suggests that pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) and expressive language difficulties are at a higher risk of ongoing communication and literacy needs in comparison with children with these difficulties in isolation. However, to date there has been no systematic or scoping…

Background: Dutch is a West-Germanic language spoken natively by around 24 million speakers. Although studies on typical Dutch speech sound development have been conducted, norms for phonetic and phonological characteristics of typical development in a large sample with a sufficient age range are lacking. Aim: To give a detailed description of the…

Background: There is increasing recognition of the impact that dementia has upon swallowing and at mealtimes, and the significant effect this can have on people with dementia's health and well-being. However, there remains a paucity of evidence for assessment and intervention practices for dysphagia and mealtime difficulties. Furthermore, there is…

Background: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that occurs secondary to brain injury, such as stroke. It causes communication difficulties that have a significant impact on quality of life and social relationships. Although the efficacy of speech-language therapy has been clearly demonstrated in this population, long-term services are…

Background: Functional neurological disorder (FND) is common across healthcare settings. The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" states that speech and swallowing symptoms can be present in FND. Despite this, there is a dearth of guidelines for speech and language therapists (SLTs) for this client group. Aims: To…

Background: Multiple interventions have been developed to address speech sound disorder (SSD) in children. Many of these have been evaluated but the evidence for these has not been considered within a model which categorizes types of intervention. The opportunity to carry out a systematic review of interventions for SSD arose as part of a larger…

Background: Information from speech and gesture is often integrated to comprehend a message. This integration process requires the appropriate allocation of cognitive resources to both the gesture and speech modalities. People with aphasia are likely to find integration of gesture and speech difficult. This is due to a reduction in cognitive…

Background: Effective co-practice is essential to deliver services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The necessary skills, knowledge and resources are distributed amongst professionals and agencies. Co-practice is complex and a number of barriers, such as "border disputes" and poor awareness of respective…

Background: Preliminary studies of inter-professional education (IPE) among student speech-language therapists (SLTs) and student teachers suggest that workshop-based applications are beneficial in preparing participants for elements of collaborative practice. Situating IPE within the students' professional practice placements may provide another…

Background: Gesticulation (gestures accompanying speech) and pantomime (gestures in the absence of speech) can each be comprehensible. Little is known about the differences between these two gesture modes in people with aphasia. Aims: To discover whether there are differences in the communicative use of gesticulation and pantomime in QH, a person…

Background: Recent research shows that parental sensitivity can explain a significant and unique amount of growth in speech and language outcomes in children with cochlear implants. In this intervention study we explored the impact of an intervention designed to support parental sensitivity on children's communication development. Aims: This…

Background & Aims: A recent systematic review of conversation training for communication partners of people with aphasia has shown that it is effective, and improves participation in conversation for people with chronic aphasia. Other research suggests that people with aphasia are better able to learn communication strategies in an environment…

Background: The speech disorder associated with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is classically described as ataxic dysarthria. However, variable neuropathology beyond the cerebellum, which may include the corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts, means that the dysarthria can be mixed rather than a pure ataxic dysarthria. Aims: To characterize…

Background: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) working with adults who have multiple learning disabilities and complex communication needs often deliver their care via indirect therapy where SLTs train carers to communicate with their clients. Yet, very little is known about how SLTs assess the carers' communication skills prior to the training…

Background: Phonological representations are important for speech and literacy development. Mispronunciation detection tasks have been proposed as an appropriate measure of phonological representations for children with speech disorder. There has been limited analysis, however, of the developmental complexity of task stimuli. Further, the tasks…