| 1. |
- Ekström, Anna, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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It depends on who Im with: How young people with developmental language disorder describe their experiences of language and communication in school
- 2023
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : WILEY. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 58:4, s. 1168-1181
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThe risks of developmental language disorder (DLD) for both educational progress and socio-emotional development are well documented, but little is known about how children and young people with DLD experience and describe their language and communication. The need to complement experimental and quantitative studies with qualitative perspectives of the lived experience of individuals with DLD for speech and language therapists (SLT) practice has recently been foregrounded. AimsTo understand further the experiences of young people with DLD focusing on language and communication in a school context, and thereby contribute to the improvement of the communicative situation in school for this group. The study is guided by the following research question: How do young people diagnosed with DLD describe their experiences of language and communication in school? Methods & ProceduresThe study is based on data generated from qualitative semi-structured interviews with 23 participants diagnosed with DLD (age 13-19 years old) living in Sweden. All participants attended mainstream schools. To enable data to be collected during COVID-19 restrictions, all interviews were conducted using Zoom. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Outcomes & ResultsFour main themes related to experiences of language and communication in school were constructed from the interviews: (1) feelings of inadequacy and comparisons with others; (2) feelings of being misjudged and misunderstood; (3) the importance of feeling safe and comfortable; and (4) the significance of the social and communicative context. The results bear witness of difficult and challenging aspects related to language and communication in school, including educational, social and emotional dimensions. An important outcome of this study is how young people diagnosed with DLD describe their language and communication functioning to be dependent on both individual characteristics and abilities, as well as situational, contextual and social factors. Conclusions & ImplicationsThe results from this study show that young people with DLD can have persisting problems related to language and communication in school, including educational, social and emotional dimensions. SLT services may therefore be needed throughout the school years to ensure that students with DLD receive adequate support. In addition, support that goes beyond language abilities and targets social, contextual and emotional aspects should be considered. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDSWhat is already known on this subjectChildren and young people have unique knowledge about their language and communication which is instrumental for designing interventions and support strategies. Qualitative analyses of interview data have been able to identify both risk factors and protective strategies in relation to the well-being of individuals with DLD. Despite this, children and young people with DLD are rarely heard in research or clinical discussions. What this paper adds to existing knowledgeIn this study we listen to the voices of young people with DLD as they describe their experiences of language and communication in school. The participants describe a condition that makes them struggle to keep up with peers and puts them at risk of being misjudged by teachers, but also give examples of situations where negative consequences are hardly felt. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?DLD is a complex and dynamic disorder where contextual and social factors interact with individual abilities in creating the end result. The results of the study indicate that DLD can cause persisting problems related to language and communication in school, with impact on educational, social and emotional dimensions. To counteract these effects, SLT services may be needed throughout the school years, and support that goes beyond language abilities must be considered.
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| 3. |
- Klintö, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Phonology in Swedish-speaking 3-year-olds born with cleft lip and palate and the relationship with consonant production at 18 months.
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 49:2, s. 240-254
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Approximately 50% of children born with cleft palate present speech difficulties around 3 years of age, and several studies report on persisting phonological problems after palatal closure. However, studies on early phonology related to cleft palate are few and have so far mainly been carried out on English-speaking children. Studies on phonology related to cleft palate in languages other than English are also warranted.
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| 4. |
- Klintö, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Verbal competence in narrative retelling in 5-year-olds with unilateral cleft lip and palate.
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 50:1, s. 119-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research regarding expressive language performance in children born with cleft palate is sparse. The relationship between articulation/phonology and expressive language skills also needs to be further explored.
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| 5. |
- Lavesson, Ann, et al.
(författare)
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Development of a language screening instrument for Swedish 4-year-olds
- 2018
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 53:3, s. 605-614
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThe Swedish Program for health surveillance of preschool children includes screening of language and communication abilities. One important language screening is carried out at age 4 years as part of a general screening conducted by health nurses at child health centres. The instruments presently in use for this screening mainly focus on expressive phonology. This may result in both over-referral of children with phonological difficulties and under-referral of children with language disorders (LDs), involving difficulties with vocabulary, grammar and/or language comprehension. Previous research has proposed non-word repetition as a clinical marker for LD. It has also been found that higher predictive power is achieved when non-word repetition is combined with the assessment of lexical/semantic skills. Taking these findings into account, the construction of a language screening instrument may yield more adequate referrals to speech-language therapists (SLTs). AimsTo construct a new standardized language screening instrument for 4-year-olds and to test its properties. Methods & ProceduresAn instrument was developed and revised after piloting. A population of 352 children was screened at the regular 4-year check-up by 11 health nurses. The final sample consisted of 328 children aged 46-53 months (23% multilingual). Children performing below a preliminary cut-off were referred to an SLT (n = 52). Five SLTs carried out an assessment on average within 5 weeks using a gold standard language test battery. Children who screened negatively were followed up with a parent questionnaire at age 5;6. Outcomes & ResultsThirty-one true-positives and 11 false-positives were identified after SLT assessment. A further six children were identified as false-negatives (two through referral to an SLT and four through parent questionnaire at age 5;6). A receiver-operating characteristics curve with a C statistic of .94 was calculated. Based on optimal cut-off, the sensitivity of the screening instrument was found to be .84, and specificity was .96. Multilingual children performed similar to monolingual children; boys performed significantly lower than girls; and children with a family history of language-related problems performed lower than those without. Interrater reliability was high, as was Cronbach's alpha. Conclusions & ImplicationsThe screening instrument seems sufficiently valid for its purpose to identify children who need further assessment by an SLT. A follow-up study including SLT assessment for all children to check for false-negatives would be interesting in future, as would studies comparing results from the 4-year screening with those from earlier screens.
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| 6. |
- Sandgren, Olof, et al.
(författare)
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A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of teacher continued professional development on student language outcomes
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 58:3, s. 879-891
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Continued professional development (CPD) is required for updated skills and knowledge. This study evaluates the efficacy of a CPD programme for mainstream school teachers.AIMS: In an 11-week intervention programme, speech-language therapists (SLTs) presented the participating teachers with whole-class teaching techniques aimed at creating a language and communication-supporting classroom environment. The effects of the intervention on the language development of the students in the teachers' classes were assessed.METHODS & PROCEDURES: A total of 211 first- and second-year students (M age = 7;6, range = 6;5-8;9) underwent standardized language assessments of receptive and expressive language abilities before and after their teachers' participation in the CPD. The students were divided into intervention and delayed intervention groups to enable randomized intervention allocation. Linear mixed modelling was used to estimate the individual and interaction effects of group, time and demographic factors. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Significant effects of time, group and school, respectively, but no interaction between time and group indicates that while all students advanced between assessments, the progress was not attributable to the teachers' participation in the CPD.CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Results are discussed in light of those of recent studies of universal services to support optimal language development.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Although inconclusive, previous research indicates that intervention delivered to teachers by SLTs has the potential to improve the language abilities of the students in the teachers' classrooms. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study explored the language development of first- and second-year mainstream school students whose teachers took part in a CPD programme aimed at establishing language and communication-supporting teaching techniques. Results indicate that the development of the students' language abilities could not be attributed to the teachers' participation in the CPD. What are the potential or actual implications of the work? SLTs are often asked to guide teachers and teaching staff rather than themselves conduct individual assessments and interventions. The results of this trial can be used to inform the discussion on how to prioritize between tasks.
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| 7. |
- Forsgren, Emma, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Person‐centred care in speech‐language therapy research and practice for adults: A scoping review
- 2022
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 57:2, s. 381-402
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Person-centred care (PCC) has shown positive effects in various health-care settings and therefore is desirable in clinical work. However, as PCC is still being developed, the literature reflects a heterogeneous use of both terminology and conceptualisation. This lack of consistency hinders the implementation or adaptation of PCC in general and in select fields of practice such as speech-language therapy (SLT). Aims: To describe how the concept of PCC manifests in current speech and language therapy research and practice for adult patients. Methods & Procedures: Searches for published literature were conducted in five databases (PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and Linguistics and Language Behaviour Abstracts) using search terms related to PCC and SLT. Records were included if they involved an adult population, were written in English, and focused on PCC and SLT irrespective of year of publication. Main Contribution: A total of 134 records published 1996–2020 were included in this review. Many of these records were discussion papers that described how speech-language therapists (SLTs) can or should work in a person-centred way. The search did not find any records that explore the implementation, effects, or patients’ views of person-centred SLT. This literature review revealed that person-centred SLT practice mainly relates to the International Classificationof Functioning, Disability, and Health framework, and the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia. Studies incorporating exploration of proposed clinical routines of PCC demonstrate specific context dependant aspects including barriers to eliciting a patient narrative, involving patient and family members, and documenting SLT. Conclusions & Implications: This study provides information that can beused to implement person-centred care in SLT education, clinical practice, and research by providing an inventory of the current knowledge and the existing gaps.
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| 8. |
- Hedman, Eli, et al.
(författare)
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Word-finding difficulties in Parkinson's disease: Complex verbal fluency, executive functions and other influencing factors
- 2022
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 57:3, s. 565-577
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) frequently report word-finding difficulties. Many of the established tests are, however, insufficient in detecting mild cases of such symptoms. Results from earlier research have suggested that controlled oral word association tests (COWATs) with high demands on cognitive processing resources could prove helpful in detecting the more subtle (language-related) problems seen in neurological disorders such as PD. Aims First, to examine whether persons with PD (PwPD) differ in performance on different types of COWATs compared with non-brain-damaged controls. Second, to investigate possible relationships between executive functions and the novel complex oral semantic fluency (COSEF) task performance scores in the PwPD group. Third, to investigate whether age, years of education, severity of motor symptoms and self-perceived severity of word-finding difficulties influenced the COSEF task results. Methods & Procedures A total of 17 PwPD participated in the study. Their results were compared with a matched control group (n = 17) at both group and individual levels. One phonemic and two types of semantic COWATs were used. Correlations between the COSEF task and executive function results, age, education and severity of motor symptoms were analysed in the PwPD group. Outcomes & Results The PwPD group had significantly lower scores on the COSEF task compared with the control group, but not on the other COWATs. A variation in the results was seen on an individual level. In the PwPD group, large significant correlations were seen between the COSEF task and verbally based tasks measuring working memory and cognitive flexibility. Both age and education, but neither self-perceived severity of word-finding difficulties nor motor symptoms, were correlated with the COSEF task result in the group of PwPD. Conclusions & Implications The results are in line with the predictions that a relatively more cognitive demanding COWAT such as the COSEF task could prove valuable when assessing word-finding difficulties in PD in research and clinical assessment. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Varying degrees of word-finding difficulties are a common symptom in PD and may affect everyday communication. Discreet word-finding difficulties can be hard to detect with the established language assessment tools. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study adds insights into how PwPD perform on different types of COWATs compared with a control group. It also sheds light on the relationships between a novel, more cognitive complex COWAT and executive functions in PD. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? More cognitively complex COWATs can contribute significantly to the assessment of discreet word-finding difficulties, but it is important to include a thorough anamnesis regarding language and communication in PwPD.
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| 9. |
- Johansson-Malmeling, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Aphasia and spelling to dictation: Analysis of spelling errors and editing
- 2021
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 56:1, s. 145-160
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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 writing skills or to aspects of the word. Aims To analyse spelling and editing processes as well as errors in a dictation task performed by Swedish-speaking adults with post-stroke aphasia. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify any relationships between spelling and editing difficulties and characteristics of individual words. Finally, relationships between successful edits and reading and phonological ability were investigated and specific editing strategies or behaviours identified. Correlation analyses were performed between measures of spelling and editing and word frequency and length as well as participants' scores on tests of reading, phonological spelling and phonological decoding. Methods & Procedures A total of 16 Swedish speaking participants with post-stroke aphasia wrote a word-dictation task in a keystroke logging program and were tested for phonological spelling, phonological decoding and reading ability. Spelling errors were categorized and analysed. Outcomes & Results The most common error type was omission of letter(s) and there was evidence of aphasia-specific writing errors. Both spelling and editing difficulty were related to word frequency and word length. Successful editing was related to participants' scores on the phonological spelling task, but not to phonological decoding or reading ability. Specific editing strategies could be identified, and some strategies were individual, while others were more commonly used. Conclusions & Implications Word length and word frequency should be taken into consideration in spelling tests for persons with aphasia, and the presence of editing difficulty should be taken into account when assessing spelling difficulties. Treatment for writing difficulties in aphasia should include training in successful editing strategies and individual fitting of digital writing aids. What this paper adds What this paper adds to existing knowledgeWhat is already known on the subject What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Post-stroke aphasia often causes writing and spelling difficulties. Spelling difficulties may entail editing difficulties, in turn causing extensive and/or unsuccessful editing. Extensive editing is known to impede productivity in text writing. Still, editing behaviour, abilities relating to editing or what features of a word that causes editing difficulty has not been investigated for persons with aphasia. This study adds an in-depth analysis of spelling ability, spelling errors and editing behaviour for persons with aphasia, using keystroke logging and a single-word dictation task. Results showed that both features of the target word (frequency and word length) and the individual abilities of the person with aphasia (score on a phonological spelling task) related to spelling and editing difficulty, editing behaviour and successful editing. Specific editing strategies were analysed and described. Word length and word frequency should be taken into consideration when testing single-word spelling for persons with aphasia. When assessing spelling difficulties, both correctness of spelling as well as the presence and nature of any editing difficulties should be taken into account and treatment for writing difficulties in should include training in successful editing strategies. The fitting of digital writing aids for persons with aphasia should be individual, since many of the editing strategies used were individual.
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| 10. |
- Johansson-Malmeling, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Using a digital spelling aid to improve writing in persons with post-stroke aphasia: An intervention study
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 57:2, s. 303-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Intervention studies aimed to improve the written production of single words by persons with aphasia have yielded promising results and there is growing interest in interventions targeting text writing. The development of technical writing aids offers opportunities for persons with aphasia, and studies have shown that using them can have a positive impact on written output. Aims: The aim was to investigate what impact training to use a computerised spell checker had on text writing in persons with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: The study had a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design replicated across six male Swedish participants with mild-to-moderate post-stroke aphasia. The participants received training twice a week during 8weeks, learning how to use the spell checker. At baseline and before every session, the participants wrote two texts which were logged in a keystroke-logging tool. Dependent variables were continuously measured in the texts, and the participants performed tests of language function and answered questionnaires on reading and writing habits and health-related quality of life before and after the intervention. The participants were also interviewed about how they had experienced the training. The results were evaluated on individual and group level. Results: The study showed that systematic individual training involving a spell checker was experienced as positive by the participants and that they all described their writing ability in more positive terms after the intervention. Evaluation showed statistically significant improvements on group level for the dependent variables of spelling accuracy, rated syntax, writing speed and proportion of unedited text during text writing when using the spell checker. The intervention also had a generalising effect on writing speed and editing during text writing without the spell checker and on spelling accuracy in a dictation test. The participants who had the greatest spelling problems were the ones who showed the most progress, but participants with only minor writing difficulties at baseline also improved. Conclusions & Implications: The study shows that a digital spelling aid constitutes effective support for people with aphasia and may also affect levels other than spelling. The training had a generalising positive effect on text writing and spelling in a test. Although writing difficulties is a persisting symptom in aphasia, it can be supported and improved through use of digital spelling aids. Hence, treatment of writing ability should always be included in the rehabilitation of people with aphasia. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Use of a technical writing aid can have a positive impact on the written output of persons with aphasia. Using a digital spell checker may improve spelling as well as other levels of writing, but it has not been investigated using a keystroke-logging tool in combination with language-test scores and results from questionnaires. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Through analyses on both individual and group level, this study shows that a digital spelling aid constitutes effective support for people with aphasia and also affects levels other than spelling. The training had a generalising positive effect on text writing and spelling in a test. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Digital spelling support, which is a relatively simple and inexpensive technology, can support and improve text writing in persons with post-stroke aphasia.
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