Speech characteristics of parkinson disease

Objective: Parkinson Disease (PD) is known the second most frequent neurodegenerative age-related disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Although over the six million people worldwide suffer from PD, the main cause of the disease remains are unknown. Speech and language impairments have emerged in most patients with PD during the course of the disease. However, clinical profiles or characteristics that might differentiate individuals with PD who are predisposed to speech and language deficits are generally overlooked. Moreover, factors that expedite language disability have still been remained elusive. It is thought that the awareness of speech and language impairments in PD can significantly help to maintain language abilities as the disease progresses and also may contribute to improving communication skills with patients. For this reason, the present study aims to constitute a comprehensive frame for the speech and language characteristics of individuals with PD

Inclusive Education Opportunities in Punjab Pakistan: A Locale Based Comparison

Purpose: The constitution of Pakistan firmly stated that no discrimination of opportunities will be tolerated among the citizens of Pakistan on behalf of color, creed, language, disability etc. But unfortunately, the dream of equality could not become reality. Inclusive education has been taking significant importance for the education of persons with disabilities (PWD’s) for a few decades. But, without equal opportunities, the seed of inclusion can never be fertiled. This study is an effort to depict the difference of existing inclusive education opportunities between rural and urban secondary schools of Punjab Pakistan. Design/Methodology/Approach: Survey method was used to collect data from 196 male and female teachers serving in rural and urban secondary schools of conveniently selected five districts viz Okara, Lahore, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, and, kasur with a self-reporting questionnaire named Research Questionnaire on the Condition of Available Inclusive Education Opportunities in Secondary Schools of Punjab. For cross-validation, an interview schedule was made to take data from 17 students with disabilities. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Findings: The study found that there was no significant difference of inclusive education opportunities in rural and urban secondary schools of Punjab. Implications/Originality/Value: However special students denied various opportunities claimed by the inclusive education teachers.

Male as the Disadvantaged Sex for Childhood Disabilities: Analysis of Data From the National Disability Registry of Taiwan

Background: Many studies have examined sex differences in specific types of childhood disability, but data on the full range of disability are limited. Such data allow comparisons among disabilities and are valuable to the inference of etiology. To provide benefits and services, the Taiwanese government certifies disabled citizens and maintains a registry. We used the registry to evaluate sex differences in childhood disability and assess changes over time.Methods: We analyses the registry data from 2000 to 2011 and included all children who were at least 3 years of age, because certification before 3 years of age was discouraged by the government. We calculated the male-to-female rate ratios (RRs) for all disabilities combined and nine major disability categories, namely autism spectrum disorders (ASD), hearing impairment (HI), intellectual disability (ID), loss of function of major organs (LFMO), motor disability (MD), multiple disabilities, speech and language disability (SLD), visual impairment (VI), and other disabilities. In addition, we assessed the changes in the RRs over time.Results: The total number of cases between 3 to 17 years of age registered each year ranged between 49242 and 61717. Males generally had higher prevalence than females, and disabilities due to primarily neurodevelopmental conditions (ASD, ID, and SLD) had higher male-to-female RRs than disabilities due to primarily physical conditions (HI, LFMO, MD, and VI). The RRs of all disabilities combined increased over time, but the sex differences in ID, MD, and “other disabilities” decreased over time, while those in ASD, SLD, and multiple disabilities increased. The RRs of all disabilities combined decreased with age in most years, but the trends were different across individual disabilities.Conclusions: Male is the disadvantaged sex for childhood disabilities. The sex differences in disabilities due to primarily neurodevelopmental conditions were more prominent than those in disabilities due to primarily physical conditions. With the decreasing number of children given birth and growing awareness of sexual disparity during the study period in Taiwan, the RRs had an increasing time trend, instead of decreasing, which suggested that genetic causes have larger contributions to the sex differences in childhood disability than environmental causes.

“Now I Am Myself”: Exploring How People With Poststroke Aphasia Experienced Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Within the SOFIA Trial

Aphasia, a language disability, can profoundly affect a person’s mood and identity. The experiences of participants who received Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, a psychological intervention, were explored in the Solution-Focused brief therapy In poststroke Aphasia (SOFIA) Trial. Thirty participants with chronic aphasia, 14 with severe aphasia, participated in in-depth interviews that were analyzed using framework analysis. Two overarching themes emerged: valued therapy components (exploring hopes, noticing achievements, companionship, sharing feelings, and relationship with therapist) and perceptions of progress (mood, identity, communication, relationships, and independence). Participants were categorized into four groups: (a) “changed,” where therapy had a meaningful impact on a person’s life; (b) “connected,” where therapy was valued primarily for companionship; (c) “complemental,” where therapy complemented a participant’s upward trajectory; and (d) “discordant,” where therapy misaligned with participants’ preference for impairment-based language work. This study suggests that it is feasible to adapt a psychological therapy for people with aphasia, who perceive it as valuable.

Arterial Ischemic Stroke—Peculiarities of Clinical Presentation and Risk Factors in Indian Children

There are not enough recent studies on arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in Indian children. We retrospectively reviewed data on 95 children (69 boys), aged 3 months to 17 years, with AIS. Focal signs were noted in 84 (88%) with hemiparesis in 72 (76%). Diffuse signs were present in 33 (35%) with fever in 22 (23%), altered mental status in 20 (21%), and headache in 12 (13%). Seizures occurred in 29 (31%) children. Arteriopathy was observed in 57 (60%) children with mineralizing lenticulostriate vasculopathy (mLSV) in 22 (23%) being the most common, followed by moyamoya in 14 (15%), arterial dissection in 9 (10%), and focal cerebral arteriopathy (FCA) in 8 (8%). Preceding head/neck trauma was present in 27 (28%) children: 23 had minor head trauma (MHT), 3 neck trauma, and 1 unspecified. Other common risk factors (RFs) were iron deficiency in 10 children, homocysteinemia in 8 children, and tuberculous meningitis in 5 children. Complete or nearly complete recovery occurred in 42 (44%). Nine children developed epilepsy and five cognitive and language disability. Stroke recurrences occurred in nine children. Overall, arteriopathies accounted for majority of the cases of childhood AIS in our study with mLSV and moyamoya being the most frequent. Compared with data from Western countries, FCAs, postvaricella arteriopathy, and arterial dissections were less common. Of the nonarteriopathic RFs, MHT, iron deficiency, homocysteinemia, and neuroinfections were most frequent in our cohort in contrast to cardioembolic diseases and inherited procoagulant conditions, which are common in developed countries.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review on how Diagnosis, Treatment, and Etiology have been considered in Brazil

ABSTRACTAutism spectrum disorder is a group of developmental disorders whose clinical characteristics include socialization impairment, language disability, and unusual behavior. This review aimed to analyze how the Brazilian community researches autism, seeking answers surrounding its treatment, etiology, and diagnosis. The search for publications was based in Elsevier’s Scopus Database in June 2019 and was focused on the study of autism in Brazil or with Brazilian data. We categorized publications on diagnosis, treatment, and etiology. The majority of the publications found after inclusion/exclusion criteria sought to validate and adapt pre-existing scales to the Brazilian Portuguese. Instead, the groups performing these studies have had little background in the biochemical, genetic, or environmental aspects of the disease in the country.

Evidence-Based Practices for Working with Learners with Speech and Language Disabilities

Communication is about working together to create shared meaning. It usually requires at least two people (one acting as the sender, and one or more acting as the receiver), uses a particular code (which may involve either conventional or unconventional signals), may take linguistic or nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through speech or other modes. In the classroom context, spoken language is typically the preferred mode of communication and the primary medium through which teaching and learning takes place. For learners with speech and langue disabilities, this is problematic. Communication does not develop in a vacuum. Cognitive and social routes are both important and therefore evidence-based practices (EBP) that impact on both need to be considered. In an attempt to delineate evidence-based strategies from assumptions or commonly accepted practices that have become “teaching folklore,” three aspects should be considered: (a) the best available research evidence that should be integrated with (b) professional expertise (using for example observation, tests, peer assessment, and practical performance) as well as (c) the learner’s and his/her family’s values. EBP thus recognizes that teaching and learning is individualized and ever-changing and therefore will involve uncertainties. Being aware of EBP enriches service delivery (in this case teaching practice) and enables teachers to support their learners to achieve high-quality educational outcomes. Research has shown that high expectations from teachers have a significant influence on the development of academic skills for children with speech and language disability. Teachers should therefore be empowered to understand how they can set up the environment in such a way that responsive, enjoyable interaction opportunities can be created that will enable learners to develop a sense power and control which are important building block for learning. They also need to understand the important role that they play in shaping behavior through the provision of consistent feedback on all communication behaviors and that communication entails both input (comprehension) and output (expression). Four teaching approaches that have some evidence base for learners with significant speech and language disabilities include: a) communication passports: this is a means through which idiosyncratic communication attempts can be captured and shared enabling everyone in the learner’s environment to provide consistent feedback on all communication attempts; b) visual schedules: a variety of symbols (ranging from objects symbols to graphic symbols) can be used to represent people, activities, or events to support communication. Visual schedules signal what is about to happen next and assists learners to predict the sequence of events, to make choices, and to manage challenging behavior; c) partner training: as communication involves more than one person, communication partner (in this case teachers) training is required in order to ensure responsivity; d) aided language stimulation: this classroom-based strategy attempts to provide a strong language comprehension foundation by combining spoken language with pointing to symbols, thereby providing learners with visual supplementation.