Background: Eating, drinking and swallowing (EDS) difficulties are important to identify early. Awareness of EDS changes starts with those living with dementia or their family carers. However, little is known about early identification from the perspective of people with dementia. Aim: The aim of this study was to understand the experience of EDS…

Rooted in contact theory, the Paralympic Skill Lab (PSL) program is designed to guide participants toward recognizing and understanding the experiences of disabled people to support new pathways of thought and changed attitudes. The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the experiences of college students in a goalball and sitting volleyball…

Background: Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common oral and maxillofacial deformities associated with a variety of functional disorders. Cleft palate speech disorder (CPSD) occurs the most frequently and manifests a series of characteristic speech features, which are called cleft speech characteristics. Some scholars believe that children…

Background: Dysphagia can have serious health implications including choking and respiratory infection leading to poorer quality of life. People with intellectual disabilities are at higher risk of dysphagia related health complications and early death. Robust dysphagia screening tools are vital for this population. Method: A scoping review and…

Several studies have demonstrated balance impairments in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). However, a recent meta-analysis reports that none of the existing studies investigated the entire construct of balance across the same postural task. It is unclear whether anticipatory postural adjustments before voluntary unperturbed…

Autism spectrum disorders and developmental coordination disorders are both associated with sensorimotor impairments, yet their nature and specificity remain unknown. In order to clearly distinguish the specificity between the two disorders, children with autism spectrum disorder or developmental coordination disorder presenting the same degree of…

Background: Swallowing impairment (dysphagia) and tracheostomy coexist. Research in this area has often provided an overview of dysphagia management as a whole, but there is limited information pertaining to specific dysphagia therapy in the tracheostomy population. The aim of this scoping review is to provide a detailed exploration of the…

Rehabilitation aims to make necessary changes to help individuals achieve maximum life satisfaction. This study focused on Internet competence and use as factors related to life satisfaction for individuals with physical disabilities. Data from the 2016 Information Divide Index of the National Information Society Agency were analyzed. Regression…

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is amongst the 10 most common cancers worldwide and has a major effect on patients' quality of life. Given the complexity of this unique group of patients, a multidisciplinary team approach is preferable. Amongst the debilitating sequels of HNC and/or its treatment, swallowing, speech and voice impairments…

Timely diagnosis of dysphagia is important for people with an intellectual disability. Periodic screening of each individual by speech-language therapists is barely feasible with respect to limited resources. Therefore, preselection of individuals with an increased dysphagia risk through screening by caregivers is crucial. This study aimed to…

Purpose: To better understand hypernasality (HN), we explored the relations between velopharyngeal orifice, auditory perception of HN, and acoustic-spectral measures in an in vivo within-subject design: (1) with a normally functioning velum as the control condition; and (2) with a temporarily paralyzed velum as the experimental condition. Method:…

Purpose: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) impacts bulbar and respiratory musculature, which may contribute to impaired swallow function (dysphagia) and respiratory-swallow coordination. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine if respiratory-swallow coordination in individuals with ALS was perturbed compared to healthy controls. We…

Background: Texture-modified foods (TMF) is a common intervention for improving swallowing safety and efficiency for people with dysphagia. Non-standardized texture classification (NSTC) of foods is used worldwide. However, as this study documents, it can introduce a lack of clarity and confusion over definitions that can potentially harm…

Background: Ultrasound visual biofeedback (UVBF) has the potential to be useful for the treatment of compensatory errors in speakers with cleft palate ± lip (CP±L), but there is little research on its effectiveness, or on how acceptable families find the technique. This study reports on parents' and children's perspectives on taking part in a…

Several studies have identified a recurring trend that speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) in countries such as the United States (Caesar & Kitila, 2020), South Africa (Singh et al., 2015), and Malaysia (Kamal et al., 2012) report lower levels of confidence in dysphagia management, whether in comparison to other practice areas or in certain…