Speech Disorders Research Articles

Preparing for a Diagnostic Interview of People with Mental and Speech Disorders, Using Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Case Study

Preparing for a Diagnostic Interview of People with Mental and Speech Disorders, Using Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Case Study

Keterlambatan Berbahasa dalam Aspek Fonologi pada Anak Usia 5 Tahun

The purpose of this study was to find out the causes of language delays in phonological aspects of five-year-old subjects. The problem that underlies this research is related to language disorders. Language disorder in children's speech development is one type of communication disorder which is indicated for children who experience disturbances in the process of using any symbols in language. In this study, it discusses speech sound pronunciation disorders experienced by 5 year old children, especially in the phonological aspect. The method used is qualitative with note-taking techniques and collecting data sources through interviews, subjects are given light questions so they are easy to understand.

Speech-language performance and comorbid disorders in children with perisylvian syndrome induced by viral encephalitis.

Viral encephalitis is one of the main causes of the perisylvian syndrome, which can cause damage to children's language-speech, feeding, and swallowing functions. Comprehensive assessment of language-speech and swallowing function and comorbidity research on these children will help children's rehabilitation workers to better understand the disease and strengthen the systematic management of comorbid disorders. To describe speech and language pathology and the occurrence of comorbid disorders in children with perisylvian syndrome induced by viral encephalitis. Twenty-two children with acquired perisylvian syndrome were recruited in this study. Language and speech functions, including oral motor function, swallowing function, language ability, and dysarthria were assessed in these patients. Craniocerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalogram examination, and intelligence evaluation were performed to determine brain lesions and comorbid disorders. All children exhibited different degrees of oral movement, dysphagia, and speech and language disorders. There was a significant difference between expressive and receptive language ability (P<0.05). There were 10, 8, and 12 children who had an intellectual disability, limb disability, and epilepsy, respectively. In addition to the damage of the peri-tegmental cortex found in MRI, thalamus lesions occurred in 19 cases and white matter involvement in six cases. Children with acquired perisylvian syndrome caused by viral encephalitis are characterized by persistent pseudobulbar dysfunction, speech and language impairment, and orofacial diplegia. They have a high probability of secondary epilepsy and are prone to motor and cognitive impairment, which need systematic management.

Improving children's communication: the impact of multidisciplinary support on children with speech disorders

Improving children's communication: the impact of multidisciplinary support on children with speech disorders

Effects of Sensory-Motor Perception and Movement Trainings in 2-6 Years Old Children Having Developmental Problems on Development Area and Emotional and Behavioral Problems

This study aimed to examine the effects of sensory-motor perception and movement training on the developmental areas and emotional and behavioral problems of children with neurodevelopmental problems. The sensory-motor perception and movement training program applied in this work focused on the personal and social, fine and gross motor, receptive and expressive language, emotion, and behavior issues of 15 children aged 2 to 6 years consisting of nine children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, three children having Speech Disorder, and three children having General Development Delay. The program was applied for 18 weeks, six days a week and two hours per day, for a total of 216 hours. The Denver-II development scale and the Child Behavior Checklists (separately for ages of 2-3 and 4-6) were used to create the pretest-posttest design. Using these data, the positive impacts of training on development areas as well as emotional and behavioral issues were measured. According to the Wilcoxon signed-rank test results, children’s Denver-II development scale and its sub-dimensions’ scores after sensory-motor perception and movement training improved significantly (p&amp;lt;0.05). When the pretest and posttest averages of Child Behavior Checklist for children aged 2-3 and 4-6 were compared, internalizing, externalizing, and overall scores decreased significantly after sensory-motor perception and movement training (p&amp;lt;0.05). In conclusion, children with developmental problems aged 2 to 6 who received sensory-motor, perception, and movement training showed significant decrease in anxiety levels, significant reduction in aggressive and destructive behavior, and significant improvement in fine- and gross-motor abilities as well as language and social skills.

Multifunctional, High-Strength Electronic Skin Based on the Natural Sheepskin Fiber Network for Multifaceted Human Health Monitoring and Management.

Inspired by the animal skin fiber network, we developed an electronic skin (e-skin) utilizing natural sheepskin as the primary substrate. This innovative design addresses the limitations of conventional e-skins, including inadequate mechanical strength, overly complex artificial network construction, and limited health monitoring capabilities. This e-skin successfully retains the structure and properties of natural sheepskin while exhibiting exceptional mechanical strength (with a breaking strength of 4.01 MPa) and high elongation (with an elongation at a break of 304.8%). Moreover, it possesses various desirable attributes such as electrical conductivity, antibacterial properties, biocompatibility, and environmental stability. In addition, this e-skin has the advantage of diverse data collection (joint movement, bioelectricity, foot health detection, and speech disorder communication systems). Therefore, this e-skin breaks the traditional construction strategy and single-mode application and is expected to become an ideal material for building smart sensor devices.

An automatic measure for speech intelligibility in dysarthrias-validation across multiple languages and neurological disorders.

Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder caused by muscle weakness or paralysis, severely impacts speech intelligibility and quality of life. The condition is prevalent in motor speech disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD), atypical parkinsonism such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), Huntington's disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Improving intelligibility is not only an outcome that matters to patients but can also play a critical role as an endpoint in clinical research and drug development. This study validates a digital measure for speech intelligibility, the ki: SB-M intelligibility score, across various motor speech disorders and languages following the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) V3 framework. The study used four datasets: healthy controls (HCs) and patients with PD, HD, PSP, and ALS from Czech, Colombian, and German populations. Participants' speech intelligibility was assessed using the ki: SB-M intelligibility score, which is derived from automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. Verification with inter-ASR reliability and temporal consistency, analytical validation with correlations to gold standard clinical dysarthria scores in each disease, and clinical validation with group comparisons between HCs and patients were performed. Verification showed good to excellent inter-rater reliability between ASR systems and fair to good consistency. Analytical validation revealed significant correlations between the SB-M intelligibility score and established clinical measures for speech impairments across all patient groups and languages. Clinical validation demonstrated significant differences in intelligibility scores between pathological groups and healthy controls, indicating the measure's discriminative capability. The ki: SB-M intelligibility score is a reliable, valid, and clinically relevant tool for assessing speech intelligibility in motor speech disorders. It holds promise for improving clinical trials through automated, objective, and scalable assessments. Future studies should explore its utility in monitoring disease progression and therapeutic efficacy as well as add data from further dysarthrias to the validation.

What is in a name: Taxonomy of speech sound disorders from a cross-linguistic perspective.

In response to the call for papers under the theme "What is in a name" proposed by the Scientific Child Speech Committee of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP), the current paper discusses taxonomy and its relation to speech sound disorders (SSD) from a cross-linguistic perspective. This paper starts with a brief description of specific SSD frameworks and nomenclature. The authors draw from international theoretical and clinical research which underscore the importance of taxonomy systems in SSD. The current papers stresses the importance of the contribution to differential diagnosis and prognosis of children with protracted speech profiles on the bases of taxonomy profiles and systems for SSD. The advantages and shortcomings of taxonomy in SSD are also discussed from a cross-linguistic context. The language of focus includes the Greek dialectal variation of Cypriot-Greek. The paper adds to the importance of taxonomy and SSD subsystems which allow differential diagnosis of SSD and the implementation of appropriate intervention methods. What is already known on this subject The use of various taxonomy systems regarding SSD are widely available for English-speaking populations. Such systems in the cross-linguistic framework remain underexplored. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The paper underscores the need for the development, adaptation and use of taxonomy systems that will add to the existing databases and taxonomy subsystems used in English What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Potential clinical implications include the development and implementation of taxonomy systems in profile SSD productions in children.

PAUSING IN THE ORAL SPEECH OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

The article examines the psycholinguistic analysis of pauses in the spontaneous oral speech of patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of speech pauses in patients with schizophrenia and compare them with pauses in the speech of mentally healthy individuals. The object of the study is the oral speech of patients diagnosed with "schizophrenia", and the subject is the peculiarities of speech pauses in these patients. The study employs general scientific methods (observation, quantitative, descriptive) and specialized methods of psycholinguistic analysis. The research material includes recorded fragments of the oral speech of patients with schizophrenia, totaling 36 minutes and 16 seconds, and the oral speech of mentally healthy individuals, totaling 45 minutes and 23 seconds. The scientific novelty of the research lies in presenting a psycholinguistic analysis of pauses in the speech of patients with schizophrenia and comparing the obtained results with the speech of mentally healthy individuals. The results showed that the average number of pauses in the oral speech of schizophrenic patients is nearly five times higher than the average number of pauses in the speech of mentally healthy individuals (3 pauses versus 14, respectively). It was also found that the speech of mentally ill individuals is quantitatively dominated by filled and unfilled pauses, with hesitation pauses being present only in the speech of schizophrenic patients. The average pause length in schizophrenic patients’ speech is 240 ms longer than in healthy individuals’ speech. The conclusions of the study may indicate difficulties in the organization and planning of speech activity in patients with schizophrenia. The research perspectives involve further study of the psycholinguistic aspects of speech disorders in schizophrenia, which may contribute to the development of diagnostic and speech correction methods for mentally ill individuals at the early stages of the disease.

Smartphone Voice Calls Provide Early Biomarkers of Parkinsonism in Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Speech dysfunction represents one of the initial motor manifestations to develop in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is measurable through smartphone. The aim was to develop a fully automated and noise-resistant smartphone-based system that can unobtrusively screen for prodromal parkinsonian speech disorder in subjects with isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) in a real-world scenario. This cross-sectional study assessed regular, everyday voice call data from individuals with iRBD compared to early PD patients and healthy controls via a developed smartphone application. The participants also performed an active, regular reading of a short passage on their smartphone. Smartphone data were continuously collected for up to 3 months after the standard in-person assessments at the clinic. A total of 3525 calls that led to 5990 minutes of preprocessed speech were extracted from 72 participants, comprising 21 iRBD patients, 26 PD patients, and 25 controls. With a high area under the curve of 0.85 between iRBD patients and controls, the combination of passive and active smartphone data provided a comparable or even more sensitive evaluation than laboratory examination using a high-quality microphone. The most sensitive features to induce prodromal neurodegeneration in iRBD included imprecise vowel articulation during phone calls (P = 0.03) and monopitch in reading (P = 0.05). Eighteen minutes of speech corresponding to approximately nine calls was sufficient to obtain the best sensitivity for the screening. We consider the developed tool widely applicable to deep longitudinal digital phenotyping data with future applications in neuroprotective trials, deep brain stimulation optimization, neuropsychiatry, speech therapy, population screening, and beyond. © 2024 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

The effective of a training program to improve self-concept among students with speech disorders in the primary school

This study aims to measure whether a training program for children with impairments in early stages is useful at enhancing their sense of self-concept. To accomplish research’s objective, two hypotheses were formulated; one alternative and the other one invalid. The empirical method was used in which the design was to select one group with pre and post-test. The procedure requires the presence of one group for which a pre-test is conducted and then exposed to the training program, after which a post-test and a follow up test are conducted one month after the end of the application. The research participants consisted of the students of the third, fourth, and fifth grades in the primary stage at the Emirati Dar Al-Ataa Center affiliated to the General Directorate of Education in the center of Erbil Governorate for the academic year (2021-2022). The study sample consisted of (5) students, with (4) males and one female, from the age groups (9-12) years. The researchers prepared the self-concept scale and the number of its items in its final form reached (34). The scale was applied to the main sample after calculating the validity and correlation coefficient for each dimension of the scale and its total score, extracting the discriminatory power, ensuring its stability by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of (0.850), and calculating the half- segmentation of it which was (0.827). The data was analyzed based on a fundamental sample, the statistical package program (SPSS) to reach the results of the research. According to the study’s findings, the post-test significantly improved self-concept compared to the pre-test, while there was no statistically significant difference between the two tests in terms of enhancing self-concept (post and follow up). The researchers made several recommendations and other ideas in light of the research findings.

Acquisition of Gutturals by Ammani-Jordanian Arabic-Speaking Preschoolers.

This study aims at investigating the phonological development of the six guttural consonants of Jordanian Arabic, /χ/, /ʁ/, /ħ/, /ʕ/, /ʔ/, and /h/. An articulation test is designed to involve two tasks: picture naming and repetition. The test includes 54 words for picture naming and 18 words for repetition, representing all possible positions of the targeted guttural sounds. Samples are collected from 40 typically developing Ammani-Jordanian Arabic-speaking monolingual children, living in Amman, Jordan. Respondents are equally divided into eight age-related trajectories: 2-2;6, 2;6-3, 3-3;6, 3;6-4, 4-4;6, 4;6-5, 5-5;6, and 5;6-6 (years;months). No child with a history of hearing, speech, or vision disorders is included. The data are analyzed using production accuracy, where the three developmental trajectories of production (customary, acquisition, and mastery) are determined for each guttural, and error analysis, addressed based on perceptual judgments, providing details of every mispronounced or deleted guttural. The results show that /χ/, /ħ/, /ʕ/, and /ʔ/ are acquired before the age of 6 years, while /ʁ/ and /h/ are still not acquired by this age. Respondents use relatively variant alternatives for the mispronounced cognates, including guttural, nonguttural sounds, and vowel substitution. The /ʁ/ is the guttural with the highest number of alternatives, while /ʔ/ gets the least. The analysis also reveals patterns of guttural deletion, with variations across different guttural sounds and positions. Despite errors/deviations made, respondents score accuracy percentages that gradually increase in correlation with age. The guttural /ʁ/ starts with the lowest accuracy percentages, while /ʔ/ and /ħ/ start with the highest. These findings illuminate on the developmental trajectory of guttural acquisition and enrich our understanding of children's evolving perception and production abilities. They offer valuable insights into the patterns of guttural sound production in Jordanian Arabic-speaking children, laying the groundwork for further research and the development of targeted assessment and intervention strategies to support phonological development in this population.

Infectious Cerebellitis Rare Entity About Two Cases

Introduction: Cerebellitis is an inflammatory pathology of cerebellar structures more common in children, frequently of post-infectious origin or following vaccination, seldom during a viral or bacterial infection. Ataxia is most frequently caused by dysfunction of the complex circuitry connecting the cerebellum, basal ganglia and cerebral cortex. Results: We report the case of 2 patients aged 3 and 10 years presenting acute cerebellitis of infectious origin: Ataxic syndrome associated with balance disorders and speech disorders and fever. The evolution was quickly favorable with corticosteroid therapy and proprioceptive physiotherapy. The absence of fatalities in our case report suggests early diagnosis, and steroid treatment can increase the chance of recovery. Discussion: Clinical presentations are deceptive and variable with cerebellar symptoms of acute kinetic and static ataxia with inflammatory signs. The treatment is based on steroids when symptoms are moderate to severe. Antimicrobial therapy should always be considered, because ataxia can be a presenting sign of both viral encephalitis and bacterial meningitis. The prognosis for acute cerebellitis is generally favorable. The courses vary from what is commonly a benign and self-limiting disease to what occasionally is fulminant disease resulting in several cerebellar damage or even sudden death. Conclusion: Recognizing ataxia in children can be difficult, which is why a lumbar punction should be considered if infectious cerebellitis is suspected. Most people fully recover, however there is a risk of lasting disability.

Automatic Speech Recognition of Conversational Speech in Individuals With Disordered Speech.

This study examines the effectiveness of automatic speech recognition (ASR) for individuals with speech disorders, addressing the gap in performance between read and conversational ASR. We analyze the factors influencing this disparity and the effect of speech mode-specific training on ASR accuracy. Recordings of read and conversational speech from 27 individuals with various speech disorders were analyzed using both (a) one speaker-independent ASR system trained and optimized for typical speech and (b) multiple ASR models that were personalized to the speech of the participants with disordered speech. Word error rates were calculated for each speech model, read versus conversational, and subject. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the impact of speech mode and disorder severity on ASR accuracy. We investigated nine variables, classified as technical, linguistic, or speech impairment factors, for their potential influence on the performance gap. We found a significant performance gap between read and conversational speech in both personalized and unadapted ASR models. Speech impairment severity notably impacted recognition accuracy in unadapted models for both speech modes and in personalized models for read speech. Linguistic attributes of utterances were the most influential on accuracy, though atypical speech characteristics also played a role. Including conversational speech samples in model training notably improved recognition accuracy. We observed a significant performance gap in ASR accuracy between read and conversational speech for individuals with speech disorders. This gap was largely due to the linguistic complexity and unique characteristics of speech disorders in conversational speech. Training personalized ASR models using conversational speech significantly improved recognition accuracy, demonstrating the importance of domain-specific training and highlighting the need for further research into ASR systems capable of handling disordered conversational speech effectively.

A Goal-Writing Framework for Motor-Based Intervention for Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

There are multiple frameworks for goal writing that are applicable to the practice of speech-language pathology. Motor-based speech disorders are a subset of speech sound disorders that are thought to require specific elements of intervention that are typically not addressed in the traditional frameworks used in the clinical setting. The purpose of this tutorial is to review general approaches of goal writing and suggest additional elements that may be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of treatment for childhood motor speech disorders, specifically childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Existing models of goal writing were reviewed to ascertain elements common to most of these models. A basic framework was chosen and modified to include behaviors, conditions, and approaches to goal measurement tailored to the clinical needs of children with CAS. A resource for clinical decision making for children with CAS was developed to inform goal writing at the onset of treatment and adaptations that occur over the course of treatment. Case studies are presented to demonstrate how the presented framework can be applied to writing goals for motor-based treatment for two different children with CAS. Children with CAS require a specialized approach to intervention, which requires goals to reflect the unique clinical needs of this population. This tutorial offers resources that use the best available research evidence and current understanding of effective treatment practices for CAS to guide clinical decision making for motor-based intervention and goal writing. This tutorial is intended to guide treatment planning across varied settings to facilitate progress and optimize treatment outcomes for children with CAS.

Sound pronunciation correction in patients after glossectomy. Сomparative prospective study

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of correction of sound pronunciation in patients after glossectomy without reconstructive surgery and glossectomy with reconstructive surgery. Material and Methods. The study included 56 patients with histologically verified stage III –IV oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer. All patients were divided into two groups: those undergoing reconstructive surgery after glossectomy and those not undergoing reconstructive surgery after glossectomy. Data on the dynamics of sound pronunciation correction were assessed during the rehabilitation period, as well as 6 and 12 months after completion of speech therapy. The parameters were scored from 0 to 4, where 0 indicated no speech sound disorders, and 4 indicated maximum disorders. Results. All patients showed absolute (4 points) speech sound disorders after surgery. Speech rehabilitation in patients, who underwent reconstructive surgery after glossectomy, resulted in a significant improvement in the pronunciation of posterior lingual sounds: [K], [G], [K’], [G’], whistling (lingual-dental) sounds: [S], [S’], [Z ], [Z’], front-lingual sounds: [T], [Т’], [D], [D’] and hissing sounds: [Sh, [Zh] (p&lt;0.05). In patients, who underwent glossectomy without reconstructive surgery, a statistically significant improvement in sound pronunciation was observed only after correcting posterior lingual hard sounds: [K], [G] (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion. The results obtained highlight the importance of reconstructive surgery after glossectomy to achieve better results of functional restoration and improve the quality of speech function of patients.

The S3 Guideline on the Treatment of Language Development Disorders: Summary of Recommendations

The S3 Guideline on the Treatment of Language Development Disorders: Summary of Recommendations Abstract: The German S3 Guidelines on the Treatment of Developmental Speech and Language Disorders (AWMF: No. 049-015) were published on the AWMF homepage at the end of 2022. The German Society for Phoniatrics and Paedaudiologie coordinated the work and developed the guideline text together with linguists and speech and language therapists. Many scientific medical societies consented to the respective recommendations. For the first time in the German-speaking area, the guideline group reviewed international research results on the treatment of various speech and language disorders and formulated evidence- or consensus-based recommendations for clinical care. The present article summarizes these recommendations and evaluates the guidelines from the perspective of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Analysis of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) on Speech Ability in Stroke Patients with Aphasia at Srondol Health Center

The Irreversible brain disorders that cause sequelae in the form of motor aphasia or speech disorders which are mostly clinical manifestations in post-stroke patients cause inability to move, speech problems, perspective, because there are problems with brain function. Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is the development of music as a therapeutic medium to improve language skills that use musical elements (intonation and beats) as therapy to improve language skills for people with aphasia. The purpose of this study is to analyze Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) on Speech Ability in Stroke Patients With Aphasia with the research stage based on field research in the Srondol community who experienced Stroke with speech difficulties/Aphasia. This research method uses an experimental quasy with a pre-post test with control group design with a sample of 30 respondents with the results of speech development of aphasia patients, international publications, and guidelines for the management of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) in Stroke Patients with Aphasia. Based on the results of the study, it was found that patients who experienced stroke of the families of stroke patients supported him because family support was very important to maintain and maximize physical and cognitive recovery.

A retrospective analysis of factors affecting speech production in school-aged children with cleft palate (+- cleft lip)

ObjectiveThe present investigation examined how factors such as cleft type, age of primary palatal surgery, diagnosed syndromes, hearing problems, and malocclusions could predict persistent speech difficulties and the need for speech services in school-aged children with cleft palate. MethodsParticipants included 100 school-aged children with cleft palate. Americleft speech protocol was used to assess the perceptual aspects of speech production. The logistic regression was performed to evaluate the impact of independent variables (IV) on the dependent variables (DV): intelligibility, posterior oral CSCs, audible nasal emission, hypernasality, anterior oral CSCs, and speech therapy required. ResultsSixty-five percent of the children were enrolled in (or had received) speech therapy. The logistic regression model shows a good fit to the data for the need for speech therapy (Hosmer and Lemeshow's χ2(8)=9.647,p=.291). No IVs were found to have a significant impact on the need for speech therapy. A diagnosed syndrome was associated with poorer intelligibility (Pulkstenis-Robinson's χ2(11)=7.120,p=.789). Children with diagnosed syndromes have about six times the odds of a higher hypernasality rating (Odds Ratio = 5.703) than others. The cleft type was significantly associated with audible nasal emission (Fisher’sexactp=.006). At the same time, malocclusion had a significant association with anterior oral CSCs (Fisher’sexactp=.005). ConclusionsAccording to the latest data in the Cleft Registry and Audit Network Annual Report for the UK, the majority of children with cleft palate attain typical speech by age five. However, it is crucial to delve into the factors that may influence the continuation of speech disorders beyond this age. This understanding is vital for formulating intervention strategies aimed at mitigating the long-term effects of speech disorders as individuals grow older.

Necessity of Studying Speech Pathology

The article argues for the need to study speech pathology in adults in order to improve communication in the field of health care and to overcome crises in the social and personal contacts of persons with speech disorders. A critical review of the state of research in our country in the field of neurolinguistics from the 1970s until now has been made. The emphasis is placed on the reception of world achievements in the diagnosis and therapy of aphasias, taking into account the specificity of the Bulgarian language.