Stress and Anxiety Among Parents of Children With Communication Disorders

Parenting is a wonderful and rewarding experience, but in the case of parents of children with communication disorder, this experience is often accompanied with high levels of stress, due to difficulties, frustrations, and challenges that these parents face in everyday life. This chapter was carried out to find the status of stress in parents of children with communication disorder and also to find the levels of stress among mothers as well as fathers, and the level of support system available. The results revealed that most of the parents experience stress and anxiety in bringing up their child with communication disorder, although the stress being more in the mothers. Gender of the child also played a crucial role in determining the levels of stress. The results highlighted the fact that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder have a higher level of stress followed by parents of children with intellectual disability, multiple disability, and hearing impairment.

Is the Provision of Art. 301 of the Bulgarian Code of Administrative Procedure Just Legislative Logorrhea?

Logorrhea (from Ancient Greek λόγος logos ‘word’ and ῥέω rheo ‘to flow’) is a communication disorder that causes excessive wordiness and repetitiveness which can lead to incoherence. The article justifies the assumption that, without legal guarantees, Article 301 of the Bulgarian Code of Administrative Procedure (CAP) could be a meaningless flow of words. When the administrative act is revoked after commencement of the enforcement, the administrative authority should restore the violated right within one month, or satisfy the injured party in another legal manner when this is possible. Insofar as there are no legal mechanisms to oblige the authority to perform its public duty, the person concerned is entitled only to compensation, which is not always an effective remedy. Based on the litigation, conclusions and recommendations are made for improving the restoration and compensation measures of Art. 301 of the CAP.

Evolution of Telehealth Technology, Evaluations, and Therapy: Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology Services

Purpose: Telehealth services experienced exponential growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey examined the resulting evolution in the technology, connectivity, implementation of services, and attitudes of pediatric speech-language pathology clinicians using synchronous videoconferencing. Method: The Telehealth Services: Pediatric Provider Survey participants were 259 speech-language clinicians in a variety of employment settings from across the country and abroad. Analyses identified telehealth barriers eliminated and those that persisted during the pandemic, advantages, and disadvantages of remote delivery of evaluation and treatment services, the most common telehealth technology used by clinicians and their clients to access care, and clinicians' predictions about the optimization and future of telehealth. Results: Elimination of regulatory and insurance hurdles allowed children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds living in rural, suburban, and urban areas access to telehealth. Telehealth technology shifted from computers with external hardware and specialized software to commercially available equipment, such as handheld portable devices with built-in audiovisual components and publicly available videoconferencing platforms. However, connectivity of these devices continued to be problematic, and lack of technology prevented some children from accessing care. Judgments about the appropriateness and effectiveness of evaluations and treatments varied based on the age and communication disorder of a child. Although some participants expressed uncertainty about the effectiveness of telehealth compared with in-person care, telehealth was widely recognized as a viable delivery method. Conclusions: Although clinicians reported many advantages of telehealth, some barriers identified reported prior to COVID-19 still persist. Clinicians anticipate that new developments have the potential to continue improving telehealth service delivery, bolstering the viability of telehealth long after the COVID-19 pandemic is gone. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16959361

The DSM-5 introduction of the Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder as a new mental disorder: a philosophical review

The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) included the Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (SPCD) as a new mental disorder characterized by deficits in pragmatic abilities. Although the introduction of SPCD in the psychiatry nosography depended on a variety of reasons—including bridging a nosological gap in the macro-category of Communication Disorders—in the last few years researchers have identified major issues in such revision. For instance, the symptomatology of SPCD is notably close to that of (some forms of) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This opens up the possibility that individuals with very similar symptoms can be diagnosed differently (with either ASD or SPCD) and receive different clinical treatments and social support. The aim of this paper is to review recent debates on SPCD, particularly as regards its independence from ASD. In the first part, we outline the major aspects of the DSM-5 nosological revision involving ASD and SPCD. In the second part, we focus on the validity and reliability of SPCD. First, we analyze literature on three potential validators of SPCD, i.e., etiology, response to treatment, and measurability. Then, we turn to reliability issues connected with the introduction of the grandfather clause and the use of the concepts of spectrum and threshold in the definition of ASD. In the conclusion, we evaluate whether SPCD could play any role in contemporary psychiatry other than that of an independent mental disorder and discuss the role that non-epistemic factors could play in the delineation of the future psychiatry nosography.

Social communication disorder and behavioural addiction: Case report and clinical implications

BackgroundSocial communication disorder (SCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that includes communication difficulties. Literature linking SCD and addictions is scarce, and there are only a few case reports regarding the co-occurrence of addiction and autism disorder spectrum, and only one of them addressed behavioural addictions.Case presentationWe report MC’s case, who displayed an SCD and sexual addiction (SA). Clinical and neuropsychological evaluations suggested an alteration of social cognition, especially of affective theory of mind. This article also presents the adaptation made of the usual treatment.DiscussionThis case report illustrates the importance of social cognition abilities in the development and maintenance of behavioural addictions, and specifically SA. It also highlights the possible comorbidity of these two disorders and the possibility to work on social cognition as an alternate therapy in the treatment of behavioural addictions.ConclusionsThe co-occurrence of SCD and a behavioural addiction triggered clinical adaptations and implications that may affect a patient’s treatment presenting one of these disorders.

Pervasiveness of Communication Disorders and Fatigue in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Scoping Review

After a stroke, it is highly likely that an individual will experience substantial fatigue that can significantly affect recovery and function; stroke survivors also have more than a 50% chance of having at least one communication disorder. Current reviews of post-stroke fatigue have not provided evidence focused on communication disorders or the potential influence they may have on post-stroke fatigue and related recovery. The aim of this review was to determine how communication disorders are represented in post-stroke fatigue research and to catalogue methods used to identify communication disorders and measure fatigue. A systematic scoping review was conducted to identify studies measuring post-stroke fatigue. To identify these studies, a comprehensive literature search was conducted using relevant databases and grey literature sources, followed by several stages of review that adhered to PRISMA guidelines. We evaluated these studies using pre-established eligibility criteria and extracted data regarding the inclusion/exclusion of persons with communication disorders and the assessment methods used. The scoping review analysis was conducted on 161 studies. Of these, 41 (26%) excluded all communication disorders, 71 (44%) excluded severe communication disorders, and 49 (30%) included participants with communication disorders. Of the 120 studies that did not explicitly exclude all communication disorders, only 34 were confirmed to report data from at least one person with a communication disorder. Further, only 5 studies reported data that could be used to determine a relationship between these co-morbidities. Persons with communication disorders are underrepresented in post-stroke fatigue research and very few studies have examined the relationship between post-stroke fatigue and communication disorders, limiting conclusions that can be drawn. This is problematic because medical professionals relying on this evidence to guide clinical practice are likely to be treating individuals with co-occurring fatigue and communication disorders and the current research does not provide enough information about the potential impact of fatigue on communication disorders or vice versa. To bridge this gap, we suggest methods of assessment that could provide ways to more accurately 1) reflect the real patient population in post-stroke fatigue studies, and 2) measure and document fatigue in post-stroke communication disorder studies.