Important Information on Three Speech Deficiencies

Speech

It is estimated by the National Institutes of Health that 8-10% of Americans are affected by a Communication Disorder. Articulation Disorders, Voice Disorders, and Fluency Disorders are the three speech deficiencies found in people worldwide and each of them requires a different mode of treatment. Speech therapy involves much more than simply teaching a child to correctly pronounce words. Educational and therapeutic software has been clinically proven to help patients improve speech & language.

Articulation Disorder makes the production of speech sounds more difficult. The four types of Articulation Disorder are: Omissions, Substitutions, Distortions, and Additions. Phonation and Resonance Disorder are the two types of Vocal Disorders. Phonation Disorder causes the patient to suffer from problems with pitch, loudness or the stress of on words with voice which starts from the vocal folds of the larynx. Resonance Disorder occurs when any part of the vocal tract is abnormal or is dysfunctional. Fluency in speech is a property to deliver information with expertise in a non-interrupted manner. In Fluency disorder one may struggle to find a particular word or sound. For more detailed information on the three speech deficiencies click here.

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Great Book- Understanding Developmental Language Disorders

UDLDUnderstanding Developmental Language Disorders by Courtenay Frazier Norbury, J. Bruce Tomlin and Dorothy V.M. Bishop is a book worth adding to your Christmas list if you don’t already own a copy. Children are diagnosed with Diagnoistic Language Disorders (DLD) when they fail to develop his or her native language without any apparent reason. This disorder is one of the most common reasons for parents for parents of preschool children to seek the advice of their family doctor. Many children rapidly improve while others have more persistent language difficulties. Long-term deficits can often adversely affect academic progress, social relationships, and mental well-being.

There is still a lot of work to be done on what causes DLDs and how best to intervene despite how common the disorder is. Understanding Developmental Language Disorders summarizes the recent research developments in genetics and neuroimaging studies,  assessment techniques and treatment studies to provide an overview of all the aspects of DLD. The book also investigates the possible genetic and biological causes of the disorder, how best to assess children’s language skills to identify when and where communication breakdown occurs, what the long-term outcomes are for children who grow up with DLD, overlaps between DLD and other childhood disorders such as dyslexia and autism and how best to treat children with the disorder. With a focus on both theory and practice, this book is an invaluable resource to students and researchers of speech-language pathology as well as SLP practitioners.

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WNBA Forward Tamika Catchings Talks About Attending Speech Therapy

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SLAM Online has provided a great profile of Indiana Fever Forward Tamika Catchings in which she discusses growing up with a hearing impairment and attending speech therapy. Though Catchings is now known as one of the most powerful players in the WNBA and has won countless rewards, she was teased constantly in school.

As she says: “Growing up I was in speech therapy, had a hearing aid, braces, glasses and my story really starts with dealing with all that — wanting to fit in and be normal…I didn’t understand why I was made fun of so much. Whether it was my difficulties hearing or the way I talked, getting pulled out of class for speech therapy, or other constant things kids made fun of me for. Sometimes I wanted to give up but my parents wouldn’t let me.” However, it was Catching’s determination to overcome these obstacles that led her to play even harder on the basketball court. To see the full article, click here. For more information on Tamika Catchings and her story, click here.

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Breakthrough Study Demonstrates Telerehabilitation Methods are Effective in the Assessment of Apraxia

apraxia assessmentA recent study conducted by Anne Jane Hill of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia  documents the advantages using telerehabilitation to assess apraxia of speech in adults. A number of prior studies have been conducted proving that the remote use of information technology and telecommunication systems are effective in assessing speech and language skills in people with neurogenic communication disorders. However, Hill’s study is one of the few that has addressed the use of telerehabilitation in the assessment of individuals suffering from apraxia of aspeech.

The aim of Hill and her staff was to determine if a valid and reliable assessment of apraxia of speech using a standardized assessment tool is feasible via telerehabilitation. The study focused on  the assessment of eleven participants with acquired apraxia of speech using traditional face-to-face and telerehabilitation methods on Apraxia Battery for Adults. Results revealed no significant differences between the subtest scores of the assessments obtained in the telerehabilitation and face-to-face test environments. These findings may have implications for the development of evidence-based guidelines  for the use of telerehabilitation techniques in the assessment of apraxia of speech. For more information on this groundbreaking discovery please click on this link.

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New Study Provides Insight into Human Capacity for Language

genes-lA new study has shown that a small mutation in the gene FOXP2 is responsible for the human capacity for language. The study, published in the November 12th edition of Nature, is the result of a collaboration between researchers at UCLA and Emory University‘s Yerkes Primate Research Laboratory. According to researchers, FOXP2 regulates the expression of other genes, meaning that different forms of FOXP2 result in different patterns of expression of the genes it regulates. In the case of humans and chimps, different forms of FOXP2 are the reason that we can talk and chimps cant.

It is believed that further research on FOXP2 will allow scientists greater insight into the causes of speech disorders, especially as a result of autism and schizophrenia. According to Genevieve Konopka, the first author on the study and a postdoctoral fellow in neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, “Genetic changes between the human and chimp species hold the clues for how our brains developed their capacity for language. By pinpointing the genes influences by FOX P2, we have identified a new set of tools for studying how human speech could be regulated at the molecular level” To read the UCLA press release, please click here.

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ASHA Convention 2009

2009_Convention_LogoWe’re excited to head down to New Orleans this week for the 2009 American Speech-Language Hearing Association‘s  Annual Convention. Telepractice is featured as one of the top issues at this year’s conference and we are looking forward to exchanging our ideas and research with some of the top speech-language patholgists in the country. These past few weeks have been a mad dash in preparation for the convention but now that it is finally upon us we could not be more excited to share our work on telepractice with the other ASHA attendees.

The 2009 convention theme, “Two Professions: Powerfurl Partners”, is a reminder that the 10,000 speech-language pathologists, audiologists, researchers and professors in New Orleans are collectively working on the advancement of our profession and the therapy we provide. What a humbling thought. For more information on this year’s convention click here and if you happen to see a Presence TeleCare name tag don’t be afraid to say hi.

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Blogger Offers Insights on the Evolution of Stuttering in Individuals

We have become fans of an interesting blog called Stuttering.Me that offers a stutterer‘s perspective on speech-Toddler_stutteringlanguage pathology and the intricacies of stuttering. The blogger Greg Snyder, an assistant professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, comes up with his own theories about why stuttering intensifies or changes in some individuals.

Greg’s latest posts include a review of digital speech aids and an article on how the brain repairs stuttering.

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Speech Pathologist Uses Technology to Make Therapy Fun

14834f4d-36cc-4d64-809f-27729ae97d4fCheck out this article and video on how speech and language pathologist Arnell Brady utilizes different forms of modern technology to make his therapy more effective and engaging. Brady initiates each session by performing and evaluation and assessment to determine each patient’s strength and weaknesses. Once having a proper understanding of his patient’s condition, he selects a treatment plan that will correct the disorders by providing therapy for both the body and the mind.

He uses playful computer programs to mask the technical approaches to diagnosis and treatment. His patients are excited about the  testing methods, because evaluations can be stressful. The programs also help him discover the person’s speech pathology, gauge their progress or instill in them techniques to treat their pathology. To read the entire article click here.

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Teletherapy Enables Medicine to Go Global

schapira_telemedicineTechnology is changing the way speech, language and hearing therapy is delivered and speech pathology graduate programs across the country are starting to incorporate therapy techniques via videoconferencing into their curriculum. Professor Gail Ramsberger, chair of the Speech, Language Hearing Sciences at the University of Colorado has taken steps to begin teaching graduate courses on how technology can provide treatment while also utilizing teletherapy to treat aphasia patients. Rambsberger is the resident expert on Aphasia at CU which is an acquired disorder of language processing that wreaks havoc on a person’s capability to create and understand sentences, phrases or even correct words.

Research suggests that the most effective treatment of aphasia patients are time intensive which require those affected to attend therapy sessions at a hospital for several hours a day 4-5 days a week. Ramsberger also recognizes the potential that telepractice has in helping to solve many of the health challenges around the globe. When people are unfortunate enough to have a disease or disability in an area where no expert resides, it used to be that they are merely out of luck. Now, “telemedicine makes treatment global” says Professor Ramsberger. For more information, view the entire article here.

Great Read- Workforce Crisis

Workforce Crisis BookIn the book, Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, authors Ken Dychtwald, Tamara J. Erickson and Robert Morison discuss how the aging boomer generation will soon lead to a shortage of skilled workers for companies in industrialized markets. The book argues that the future success of these companies will depend on their ability to adjust management and human resource practices to attract, accomodate, and retain workers of all ages and backgrounds.

This theories brought forth in this book pertain to what we’re trying to accomplish our network of SLPs at Presence TeleCare. It is no secret that our nation faces a severe shortage of speech-language pathologists most notably in rural areas. However, it is lesser known that there is a large population of SLPs that leave the workforce to start a family or begin retirement who want to work part-time but are unable to due so given the inflexible structure of many schools and business. Through speech therapy via telepractice, we believe that we can fill both of these voids. Schools in rural areas that have had difficulty finding SLPs to address their student’s needs will be able to access experienced speech pathologists over the internet using our interactive web platform. SLPs in our network will have the flexibility to work from home, determine their own hours, and eliminate all of the time spent driving to-and-from schools to provide therapy. To learn more about this book and the adjustments that many believe will determine the future of business, click here.

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