Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups

PURPOSE: The teaching profession is a high-voice use occupation at elevated risk for developing voice disorders. Continued research on teachers' vocal demands is necessary to advocate for and establish vocal health programs. This study quantified ambulatory vocal dose measures for teachers during both on- and off-work periods, comparing their occupational voice use to that in other studies that have reported percent phonation ranging from 17% to 30%. METHOD: Participants included 26 full-time, female school teachers between 23 and 55 years of age across multiple grades and subjects, including individuals with and without a voice disorder...

PURPOSE: Training in cultural competence is an accreditation requirement for graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD; Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, 2020). Cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD) instruction within CSD programs and current instructional models may not provide students with effective training in this area (Hammond et al., 2009; Higby et al., 2021; Stockman et al., 2008). In this paper, we present active learning as an instructional approach that may provide students with stronger training in the assessment and treatment of individuals with unfamiliar cultural and linguistic backgrounds...

PURPOSE: For bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD), language treatment response is the degree to which an individual child progresses in both of their languages. Understanding what predicts language treatment response for an individual child can help clinicians plan treatment more effectively. METHODS: This study is a retrospective analysis of data from Ebert et al. (2014). Participants included 32 school-age Spanish-English bilingual children with DLD who completed an intensive language treatment program...

BACKGROUND: We discuss a free software system (Computerized Language Analysis [CLAN]) that can enable fast, thorough, and informative language sample analysis (LSA). METHOD: We describe methods for eliciting, transcribing, analyzing, and interpreting language samples. Using a hypothetical child speaker, we illustrate use KidEval to generate a diagnostic report. RESULTS: Given LSA results suggestive of expressive language delay, we analyze further using CLAN's Developmental Sentence Score and Index of Productive Syntax routines, and outline the child's use of Brown's morphemes...

PURPOSE: This study examined relationships among family characteristics, caregiver change in use of strategies, and child growth in spoken language over the course of a parent-implemented language intervention (PILI) that was developed to address some of the challenges associated with the fragile X syndrome (FXS) phenotype. METHOD: Participants were 43 parent-child dyads from two different PILI studies, both of which taught parents various language facilitation strategies to support child language...

Purpose: Community aphasia groups serve an important purpose in enhancing the quality of life and psychosocial well-being of individuals with chronic aphasia. Here, we describe the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee, a community aphasia group with a 17-year (and continuing) history, housed within Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Method: We describe in detail the history, philosophy, design, curriculum, and facilitation model of this group...

PURPOSE: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) rely on auditory perception to form judgments on child speech. This can be challenging for graduate student clinicians with limited clinical experience as they often need to judge children's speech errors using their auditory perception. This study examined how consistently graduate student clinicians used a 3-point perceptual rating scale to judge child speech. METHOD: Twenty-four graduate student clinicians rated single words produced by children with typically developing speech and language skills and children with speech sound disorders...

PURPOSE: We review the evidence regarding barriers to hearing health care for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. BACKGROUND: There are considerable data to suggest that hearing health care disparities constitute a major factor in loss to follow-up or documentation for children going through the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention process. Families are affected by a combination of factors underlying these disparities, resulting in delayed care and suboptimal developmental outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing...

Purpose: The aims of this study were, in a cohort of children with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), (a) to report 1-year neurodevelopmental outcomes and specifically characterize speech, language, and hearing outcomes and (b) to report the prevalence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Method: This prospective observational cohort study includes newborns with confirmed in utero opioid exposure who received pharmacological treatment for NOWS. During 1-year-old developmental visits, we administered standardized assessments (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition [Bayley-III] or Developmental Assessment of Young Children-Second Edition [DAYC-2]-due to COVID-19 restrictions)...

Purpose: The ultimate aim of an assessment is to help examiners make valid conclusions about an individual's skill given their performance on a particular measure. Yet, assessing the language abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse individuals requires researchers and practitioners to carefully consider the appropriateness of traditional parameters of test psychometrics (e.g., reliability, or consistency of assessments as measurement) plus the intersectional identities that inform the generalizability of these parameters...

PURPOSE: The goal of this review article is to provide a summary of the progression of altered auditory feedback (AAF) as a method to understand the pathophysiology of voice disorders. This review article focuses on populations with voice disorders that have thus far been studied using AAF, including individuals with Parkinson's disease, cerebellar degeneration, hyperfunctional voice disorders, vocal fold paralysis, and laryngeal dystonia. Studies using AAF have found that individuals with Parkinson's disease, cerebellar degeneration, and laryngeal dystonia have hyperactive auditory feedback responses due to differing underlying causes...

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between judged speech sound distortions and spectral moment metrics in speakers with Class III malocclusion. Methods: A quantitative online survey was distributed to 30 speech specialists (clinicians and/or students) and 100 lay listeners to judge the clarity of the sounds /s/, /ʃ/, /t/ and /k/ using a visual analog scale (VAS) from recordings of 11 Class III (underbite) Dentofacial Disharmony (DFD) patients and eight Class I controls...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize the communication needs of older adults in group care environments and understand the factors that foster engaged communication. Method: This mixed methods study provides an in-depth analysis of communication and engagement for older adults at two Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) sites. Seventy-two PACE participants ( M age = 74 years) completed a hearing test, cognitive screener (MOST™ ), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Measures of Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health Questionnaire, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale...

Purpose: High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) has become an increasingly common means of noninvasive respiratory support in pediatrics and is being used in infants and children with respiratory distress both inside and outside of the intensive care units. Despite the widespread use of HFNC, there remains a paucity of data on optimal flow rates and its impact on morbidity, mortality, and desired outcomes. Given the scarcity of information in these critical areas, it is not surprising that guidelines for initiation of oral feeding do not exist...

PURPOSE: This study sought to determine if children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) plus another major diagnosis (CAS+) are equivalent in communication and motor profiles to those with a primary diagnosis of CAS and no indication or report of any other diagnosis (CAS-Primary). METHOD: This retrospective case-control study included a chart review of 143 children who were suspected of having CAS at Children's Hospital-Wisconsin between 1998 and 2004. Participants were between 30 and 127 months old and included 107 males...

Purpose: This clinical focus article presents a review of literature supporting the importance of fostering positive peer interactions for students with complex communication needs. A resulting template is included to help guide educational teams, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs), in planning for paraeducator training specific to supporting peer interactions for children with CCN. This article summarizes the current literature available on inclusion and peer relationships for students with CCN in general education classrooms, and paraeducator roles and training...

PURPOSE: This retrospective study investigated the impact of age, sex, and swallow task on bolus hold location during cued liquid swallows in healthy, community-dwelling adults. Furthermore, we investigated the association between bolus hold location and Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile (MBSImP) Components 2 (bolus hold) and 4 (lingual transport) scores. METHOD: Cued swallows of standardized barium liquids (thin, nectar-thickened, honey-thickened) observed during videofluoroscopy in 195 participants were judged as either tipper or dipper bolus hold type...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if students (clinicians-intraining) and clinicians of speech-language pathology assess cough during clinical swallow evaluations. We also sought to determine if participants received background education and training regarding implementation of clinical cough assessment. Finally, we aimed to identify participant interest in a cough assessment training program. Method: A clinician-researcher panel developed a 20-question survey to address specific aims...

Objective: The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine if cleft type and/or history of otitis media with effusion (OM) contribute to backing of /t/ and/or /s/ in young children with and without repaired cleft palate. Method: Participants were 39 children (mean age=36 months, range 34 to 41). Ten children had repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate (CLP), nine had repaired cleft palate only (CP), twelve had no clefts but histories of OM, and eight were typically-developing (TD) without clefts or OM history...

Purpose: Individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) experience loss of communication abilities in the context of neurodegenerative disease. Consequently, many individuals with PPA endorse negative psychosocial effects, including social isolation, reduced communication confidence, and depression. Incorporating communication-centered counseling early and often within the speech-language pathology treatment framework is a vital component in holistically addressing the multifaceted ramifications of living with this devastating disorder...