Measuring Vocal Fatigue in Sports Coaches

Objective: This study explores the immediate impact of prolonged voice use by professional sports coaches. Method: Speech samples including sustained phonation of vowel /a/ and a short read passage were collected from two professional sports coaches. The audio recordings were made within an hour before and after a coaching session, over three sessions. Perceptual evaluation of voice quality was done using the GRBAS scale. The speech samples were subsequently analyzed using Praat. The acoustic measures included fundamental frequency (f0), jitter, shimmer, Harmonics-to-Noise ratio and Cepstral Peak Prominence. Main results: The results of perceptual and acoustic analysis suggest a slight shift towards a tenser phonation post-coaching session, which is a likely consequence of laryngeal muscle adaptation to prolonged voice use. This tendency was similar in sustained vowels and connected speech. Conclusion: Acoustic measures used in this study can be useful to capture the voice change post-coaching session. It is desirable, however, that more sophisticated and robust and at the same time intuitive and easy-to-use tools for voice assessment and monitoring be made available to clinicians and professional voice users.

Speech and Language Therapy Students’ Perspectives on Ethical Dilemmas

Objective: Ethical dilemmas continue to be an extremely complex area of health and social care practice and concerns have been expressed that ethics teaching is often not sufficiently adequate in preparing students. A particular criticism has been that didactic teaching methods privilege the assessment of knowledge over assessment of the ability to apply that knowledge. In response, a range of approaches to teaching ethics have been proposed. This study investigated the use of an innovative online platform – the Values-Exchange™(VX™) – to explore the manner in which speech and language therapy students approached cases focused on an ethical dilemma, which they are likely to encounter in practice. Method: Participants (n=37) were Year Two and Year Four students enrolled on a four-year BSc Speech and Language Therapy programme, who completed two case studies through the VX™. Main results: The results indicate that Year Two students tended toward an absolutist approach, while Year Four students appreciated the nuances of the ethical considerations that practitioners must grapple with. Conclusion: The encouraging of peer-learning across programme years and the incorporating of opportunities for help-seeking may contribute to reducing absolutist approaches, and online platforms such as the VX™ may prove useful for collaboration and structured reflection.

Parent-led Articulation Therapy in Cleft Palate Speech: A Feasibility Study

Objective: To test the feasibility of trained parents undertaking cleftrelated articulation therapy, supervised by a Specialist Speech & Language Therapist using Connected Health, with a view to a full trial. Method: There were five components: (1) to identify the number of 3âĂŠ4-year-olds who could potentially benefit from this programme, through reviewing the charts of children with cleft palate in one cleft centre; (2) to develop an appropriate speech assessment protocol identifying the primary and secondary outcome measures; (3) to evaluate Connected Health for interacting with children and parents; (4) to develop the parent-training course; and (5) to test the feasibility of the parent training and implementation of the intervention programme with four parent/child diads. Main results: Approximately 25% of 3-year-olds might be eligible. The assessment protocol was largely successful, with minor adaptations recommended. Audio/video quality, using FaceTime, was reported as good most of the time by parents and the SLT. The parents showed evidence of learning from the 2-day parent training course. Post-intervention assessments indicated that all four children showed progress. Conclusions: Results indicated that PLAT should be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial, with adaptations to the age range, inclusion/exclusion criteria and parental support.

Target Selection Practices of Speech and Language Therapists Working with Children with Speech Sound Disorders in Ireland

Objective: To investigate speech and language therapists’ current practice in the selection of intervention targets for children with speech sound disorders. Method: Questionnaires were used to elicit information from 88 speech and language therapists working in the Republic of Ireland about their selection of intervention targets in the treatment of speech sound disorders. Main results: The majority (73%) of therapists placed a high priority on selecting stimulable sounds as intervention targets. Around half (52%) placed a high priority on earlier developing sounds with a minority prioritizing later developing sounds (10%) and non-stimulable sounds (14%). Speech and language therapists’ years of experience did not have a significant impact on their selection practices. However, the amount of continuing professional development a speech and language therapist had in the area of speech sound disorders did have a significant effect on target selection. Conclusion: The speech and language therapists in this study used clinical experience and traditional practices, such as stimulability, to select intervention targets in the treatment of speech sound disorders. However, there is research evidence to show that the selection of non-traditional intervention targets, such as non-stimulable and later developing sounds, can result in more system-wide generalisation. Speech and language therapists may benefit from increasing their knowledge about current theories and intervention research relevant to target selection.

Accuracy of the Core Language Score of the CELF P2UK in Identifying Language Delay in Children from a Disadvantaged Community in Ireland

Objective: To determine if the Core Language Screen, a widely-used language screening tool, accurately identifies language delay in children from a disadvantaged community. Method: Participants were 234 children with mean age 4;07 years attending primary and preschools in a city area designated as disadvantaged in the south of Ireland. Participants were assessed on the CLS (screen) and full CELF-P2UK (gold standard) test. Sensitivity and specificity levels of the CLS were calculated. Main results: In total, 73 (31%) children had language delay on the CELF P2UK but of this group 34 (47%) passed the CLS screen. This gives the CLS a low sensitivity level of 0.53. In contrast, only one child with normal language failed the screen. This gives the CLS an excellent specificity level of 0.99. The results revealed an unusual profile of weaker receptive compared to expressive skills in all children, although it was particularly evident in those with language delay. Conclusion: The CLS failed to identify almost half the group with delays and therefore is not an accurate language screening tool for clinical or research purposes. Further research is needed to investigate not only the poor identification accuracy of the CLS but also the children’s unusual profile of weaker receptive and stronger expressive language skills.