This case study investigated the consequences of cocaine use and resultant extrapyramidal motor dysfunction. The study focused on a female client, post-long-term drug abuse with concomitant untreated head trauma, experiencing extraneous motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and upper and lower extremities. The goals of this study were to (a)…

Ultrasound has shown promise as a visual feedback tool in speech therapy. Rural clients, however, often have minimal access to new technologies. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate consultative treatment using ultrasound in rural communities. Two speech-language pathologists (SLPs) trained in ultrasound use provided consultation with…

Purpose: The present study examined vocal SPL, voice handicap, and speech characteristics in Parkinson's disease (PD) following an extended version of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT), to help determine whether current treatment dosages can be altered without compromising clinical outcomes. Method: Twelve participants with idiopathic PD…

The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is administered by the Montana Office of Public Instruction every two years to students in grades 7 through 12. The purpose of the survey is to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems…

Background: Speech perception is often considered specific to the auditory modality, despite convincing evidence that speech processing is bimodal. The theoretical and clinical roles of speech-reading for speech perception, however, have received little attention in speech-language therapy. Aims: The role of speech-read information for speech…

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of intensive voice treatment targeting vocal loudness (the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment [LSVT]) on vowel articulation in dysarthric individuals with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). Method: A group of individuals with PD receiving LSVT (n = 14) was compared to a group of individuals with PD not receiving LSVT…

Background: In clinical practice, it is common for speech and language therapists to discontinue dysarthria treatment when a plateau in spontaneous recovery is reached. However, there is some evidence from single-case research studies that people with chronic dysarthria can improve their speech with intervention several years after the onset of…

Purpose: The present investigation examines the time, effort, and resources that evidence-based practice (EBP) requires, and looks at what types of results are obtained. Method: Principles of EBP as outlined by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association were applied to 3 treatment case studies. Results: The cases took between 3 and 7 hr to…

Background: It is widely known that most young children recover from stuttering. Evaluations of this spontaneous recovery vary from 40 to 80% of stuttering children. However, if the child is already older than 6 years of age, the spontaneous recovery will be less likely. The effectiveness of stuttering treatment, and especially fluency shaping…

Purpose: The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the impact of early intervention on speech and lexical measures for toddlers with cleft palate. Method: Speech measures of ten 27-month-old toddlers with cleft palate who had been referred for therapy at 17 months of age were compared to those of 10 toddlers with cleft palate who had…

This paper presents a four-subject study that examines the relative influence of syllable position and stress, together with vowel context on the colouring of the dark-l characteristic of speakers of General American English. Most investigators report lighter /l/ tokens in syllable onsets and darker tokens in coda positions. The present study…

Evidence-based management of phonological impairment in children is a dynamic process. Speech and language therapists need to evaluate published evidence and use their professional judgement to decide on an intervention plan, evaluate the efficacy of their intervention and re-evaluate decisions. Two case studies are presented to illustrate this…

Jaw movement patterns were examined longitudinally in a 3-year-old male with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and compared with a typically developing control group. The child with CAS was followed for 8 months, until he began accurately and consistently producing the bilabial phonemes /p/, /b/, and /m/. A movement tracking system was used to…

This pilot research project examined the use of sign language as a communication bridge for non-Deaf children between the ages of 0-6 years who had been diagnosed with, or whose communication difficulties suggested, the presence of such disorders as Autism, Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and/or learning disabilities.…

Purpose: This study compared parents with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) to parents without known histories on measures of speech sound production, phonological processing, language, reading, and spelling. Familial aggregation for speech and language disorders was also examined. Method: The participants were 147 parents of children with…