An international core outcome set for primary progressive aphasia (COS-PPA): Consensus-based recommendations for communication interventions across research and clinical settings.

Introduction: Interventions to treat speech-language difficulties in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) often use word accuracy as a highly comparable outcome. However, there are more constructs of importance to people with PPA that have received less attention.

Methods: Following Core Outcome Set Standards for Development Recommendations (COSSTAD), this study comprised: Stage 1 - systematic review to identify measures; Stage 2 - consensus groups to identify important outcome constructs for people with PPA (n = 82) and care partners (n = 91); Stage 3 - e-Delphi consensus with 57 researchers.

Development and validation of MyCommunication-Adults, a self-report communicative participation measure.

Background: People with communication problems experience challenges in participation. Optimizing communicative participation for this population is an important outcome of speech and language therapy. Participation experiences are best assessed from the patient's perspective, using a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM).

Identifying Relevant Concepts for the Development of a Communicative Participation Item Bank for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Existing Instruments.

Purpose: This study aims to systematically identify items that measure communicative participation from measurement instruments that measure (aspects of) communication and/or participation in children and adolescents (5-18 years old) with communication disorders, for developing an item bank.

Method: A systematic literature search was performed in MEDLINE and Embase to search for patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) or parent reports measuring aspects of communication and/or participation in children and adolescents. The individual items of the included measurement instruments were reviewed on whether they measure communicative participation.

Further development in measuring communicative participation: identifying items to extend the applicability of the communicative participation item bank.

Background: The ability to communicate is a prerequisite for participation in today's society. To measure participation in adults with communication disorders, the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) was developed in 2006. Since then, several new PROMs have been developed to measure communication and the impact of communication disorders on participation.

Everyday Barriers in Communicative Participation According to People With Communication Problems.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain a comprehensive understanding of participation situations that are challenging for people with communication problems, to provide input for the further development of potential items for the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB).

Method: A purposive sampling strategy was used to include a diverse group of people with communication problems. Diaries were used as a sensitizing exercise for inductive in-depth interviews.

Development and Diagnostic Accuracy of a Shortened Dutch Naming Test for People with Aphasia Using Item Response Theory.

Objective: The first objective was to assess the psychometric properties of the 92-item Dutch Naming Test (DNT-92), developed to assess word finding difficulties in people with aphasia, using Item Response Theory (IRT). The second objective was to select suitable items for a short version with a discriminative purpose.

Method: This study has a retrospective, psychometric research design, in which 510 DNT-92-forms of people with aphasia and 192 DNT-forms of healthy participants were used for analyses.

Power chains as an alternative to steel-wire ligatures in temporary maxillomandibular fixation: a pilot study.

The aim of this study was to compare two techniques for temporary intraoperative maxillomandibular fixation (TIO-MMF) during orthognathic surgery: steel-wire ligatures versus power chains. Patients undergoing orthognathic surgery between October 2019 and March 2020 were included in a prospective cross-sectional study conducted in three participating hospitals. Data were collected using a standardized measurement form.

Evaluating communication partner training in healthcare centres: Understanding the mechanisms of behaviour change.

Background: Communication between people with aphasia and their healthcare professionals (HCPs) can be greatly improved when HCPs are trained in using supportive conversation techniques and tools. Communication partner training (CPT) is an umbrella term that covers a range of interventions that train the conversation partners of people with aphasia. Several CPT interventions for HCPs have been developed and used to support HCPs to interact successfully with people with aphasia.

How do healthcare professionals experience communication with people with aphasia and what content should communication partner training entail?

Purpose: Aphasia after stroke has been shown to lead to communication difficulties between healthcare professionals (HCP) and people with aphasia. Clinical guidelines emphasize the importance of teaching HCP to use supportive conversative techniques through communication partner training (CPT). The aim of this study is to explore and describe the experiences of HCP in communicating with people with aphasia and their needs and wishes for the content in CPT.

Speech language therapists' experiences with subjective well-being in people with aphasia.

Background: Subjective well-being (SWB) and quality of life (QOL) are intricately related constructs. Recent research shows both constructs share some facets, but are distinct entities. It is unclear, both internationally and in the Netherlands, if and how SLTs address SWB in clinical practice.

Psychometric properties of the Dutch SAQOL-39NL in a generic stroke population.

Background: The psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Stroke and Aphasia Quality Of Life-scale (SAQOL-39NL) have previously been assessed for people with aphasia after stroke, but not yet for stroke survivors without aphasia.

Objective: The objective is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SAQOL-39NL in a stroke sample with and without aphasia.

Methods: The SAQOL-39NL was administered to survivors of stroke (N = 141) who received rehabilitation in specialized rehabilitation facilities, 3 and 6 months after the start of rehabilitation.

Intonation abilities of children with Williams syndrome: a preliminary investigation.

Purpose: The authors investigated expressive and receptive intonation abilities in children with Williams syndrome (WS) and the relation of these abilities to other linguistic abilities.

Method: Fourteen children with WS, 14 typically developing children matched to the WS group for receptive language (LA), and 15 typically developing children matched to the WS group for chronological age (CA) were compared on a range of receptive and expressive intonation tasks from the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems-Child version (PEPS-C) battery.

Results: The WS group performed similarly to the LA group on all intonation tasks apart from the long-item imitation task, on which the WS group scored significantly lower than the LA group.

Affective prosody in children with Williams syndrome.

The aim of the current study was to investigate expressive affect in children with Williams syndrome (WS) in comparison to typically developing children in an experimental task and in spontaneous speech. Fourteen children with WS, 14 typically developing children matched to the WS group for receptive language (LA) and 15 typically developing children matched to the WS groups for chronological age (CA) were recruited. Affect was investigated using an experimental Output Affect task from the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems-Child version (PEPS-C) battery, and by measuring pitch range and vowel durations from a spontaneous speech task.

Brief report: eye movements during visual search tasks indicate enhanced stimulus discriminability in subjects with PDD.

Subjects with PDD excel on certain visuo-spatial tasks, amongst which visual search tasks, and this has been attributed to enhanced perceptual discrimination. However, an alternative explanation is that subjects with PDD show a different, more effective search strategy. The present study aimed to test both hypotheses, by measuring eye movements during visual search tasks in high functioning adult men with PDD and a control group.