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.

Global perspectives on the management of primary progressive aphasia.

Speech-language therapists/pathologists (SLT/Ps) are key professionals in the management and treatment of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), however, there are gaps in education and training within the discipline, with implications for skills, confidence, and clinical decision-making. This survey aimed to explore the areas of need amongst SLT/Ps working with people living with PPA (PwPPA) internationally to upskill the current and future workforce working with progressive communication disorders. One hundred eighty-six SLT/Ps from 27 countries who work with PwPPA participated in an anonymous online survey about their educational and clinical experiences, clinical decision-making, and self-reported areas of need when working with this population.

Applications of the R.A.I.S.E. Assessment Framework to Support the Process of Assessment in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Purpose: To establish the extent to which person-centered processes are integrated in assessment procedures, the Relationship, Assessment, Inclusion, Support, Evolve (R.A.I.

Muddles and puzzles: Metaphor use associated with disease progression in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Background: Primary Progressive Aphasia describes a language-led dementia and its variants. There is little research exploring the experiences of living with this disease. Metaphor, words that represent something else, have been studied extensively in health-related narratives to gain a more intimate insight into health experiences.

Positive effects of speech and language therapy group interventions in primary progressive aphasia: A systematic review.

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterised by a prominent and progressive deterioration in language abilities, which significantly impacts quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Speech and language therapy plays a crucial role in offering interventions. Group intervention is one mode of delivery that could benefit communication functioning and overall wellbeing of people with PPA (pwPPA) and their care partners.

Global Perspectives on the Management of Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Speech-language therapists/pathologists (SLT/Ps) are key professionals in the management and treatment of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), however, there are gaps in education and training within the discipline, with implications for skills, confidence, and clinical decision-making. This survey aimed to explore the areas of need amongst SLT/Ps working with people living with PPA (PwPPA) internationally to upskill the current and future workforce working with progressive communication disorders. One hundred eighty-five SLT/Ps from 27 countries who work with PwPPA participated in an anonymous online survey about their educational and clinical experiences, clinical decision-making, and self-reported areas of need when working with this population.

The Health Literacy of First Year Physiotherapy and Speech Pathology Students and Their Perceived Future Roles in Supporting Their Clients' Health Literacy.

Background: Allied health professionals are well positioned to assess and support their clients' health literacy (HL); however, they report being deficient in HL knowledge and skills.

Objective: To explore allied health students' HL and their perceptions of their roles in supporting clients' HL.

Design: A mixed-methods cross-sectional study was undertaken in August 2022 amongst allied health students enrolled in graduate-entry masters programs at the University of Tasmania.

"They are dealing with people's lives…": Diagnostic and post-diagnostic healthcare experiences in primary progressive aphasia.

Purpose: The healthcare experience is a multifaceted and varied process, particularly for people living with complex conditions such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Different experiences influence pathways through the health system, impacting client outcomes. To our knowledge, no previous studies have directly explored the healthcare experiences of people with PPA and their families.

"Please Don't Assess Him to Destruction": The R.A.I.S.E. Assessment Framework for Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Purpose: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) assess people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) through measurements of speech, language, communication, and well-being, with the aims of identifying challenges and strengths, monitoring change, and informing treatment directions and supports. The purpose of this clinical focus article is to highlight the necessity for person-centered assessment specific to PPA and to conceptualize a framework that acknowledges the multifaceted nature of assessment for this population. In this framework, the unique challenges posed by a diagnosis of PPA are addressed with the aim to provide practical guidance for clinicians and to support reflection on current practices.

Montessori mealtimes for dementia: A pathway to person-centred care.

Purpose: This study examined the impact of a Montessori mealtime intervention for people living with dementia to support the mealtime experience of residents and mealtime care practices of staff in a memory support unit. The mealtime intervention was part of a broader culture change project.

Method: An observational research design was used to evaluate changes in the mealtime experience and care practices across three time points (baseline, post-implementation, maintenance), spanning 30 months.

Advocating the rights of people with dementia to contribute to research: Considerations for researchers and ethics committees.

Objective: Research involving people with dementia is vital to appropriately inform policy and practice decisions affecting this population. As dementia-care researchers, we frequently advocate to Human Research Ethics Committees for the right of people with dementia to choose whether to participate in research. This brief report provides some considerations for researchers and ethics committees.

Making the Right Connections: Maximizing Lexical Generalization in Lexical Impairments in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Purpose Positive intervention effects following lexical retrieval interventions are increasingly reported with people with progressive language impairments; however, generalization of therapy gains are less frequently evident and less well understood. This study sought to explore the impact of specific therapy ingredients on generalization outcomes. Method Twelve participants with progressive lexical retrieval deficits (four each with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer's disease, amnestic presentation) and their family members participated in a 6-week intervention that aimed to increase access to different word classes (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) through a strategic self-cueing approach.

"I remember when … ": The impact of reminiscence therapy on discourse production in older adults with cognitive impairment.

Positive outcomes following reminiscence therapy have been reported for older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia in cognition and quality of life and, in a small number of studies, communication. Despite the close relationship between cognition and language, the impact on communication has received limited attention. This study aimed to investigate whether the spoken discourse of older adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia could be improved within the genre of following group reminiscence therapy, and whether change generalised to everyday discourse.

Lost for words: Perspectives and experiences of people with primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease and their families of participation in a lexical retrieval intervention.

Previous qualitative research involving family members' experiences of living with a person with dementia has consistently revealed themes of reduced connectedness and reciprocity of communication, highlighting the importance of education, support and practical strategies to facilitate communication within families. This study aimed to evaluate the perspectives and experiences of both family members and people with dementia following participation in a targeted speech-language pathology intervention involving people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their family members. Semi-structured interviews of eight people with dementia (six PPA, two AD) and 10 family members were conducted following an intervention to increase lexical retrieval within functional contexts.

Profiling sentence repetition deficits in primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: Error patterns and association with digit span.

The use of sentence repetition tasks to distinguish dementia syndromes, particularly variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), is receiving growing attention. Impaired sentence repetition is a core feature of logopenic variant PPA, although the underlying cognitive mechanisms of this impairment and its significance as a diagnostic criterion remain poorly understood. Sentence repetition abilities of 12 people with dementia, using an adapted error classification schema, were analyzed, along with digit span abilities, a measure frequently used to assess working memory capacity, to explore error patterns and correlations.

Determining stability in connected speech in primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease.

Purpose: Using connected speech to assess progressive language disorders is confounded by uncertainty around whether connected speech is stable over successive sampling, and therefore representative of an individual's performance, and whether some contexts and/or language behaviours show greater stability than others.

Method: A repeated measure, within groups, research design was used to investigate stability of a range of behaviours in the connected speech of six individuals with primary progressive aphasia and three individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Stability was evaluated, at a group and individual level, across three samples, collected over 3 weeks, involving everyday monologue, narrative and picture description, and analysed for lexical content, fluency and communicative informativeness and efficiency.

Is the speech-language pathology profession prepared for an ageing population? An Australian survey.

Purpose: This study profiled the demographic characteristics and practice patterns of speech-language pathologists working with older Australians to inform future workforce planning and service development in response to an ageing population and aged care sector reform.

Method: Data were collected through snowball distribution of an online survey comprising six sections: demographic details; caseload and service delivery practices, degree of inter-professional practice; engagement with professional development and support; and assessment and management of swallowing, mealtime and communication difficulties. All data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square to determine the independence of key variables.

The health professionals' perspectives of support needs of adult head and neck cancer survivors and their families: a Delphi study.

Purpose: The aim was to identify the views of Australian and New Zealand health professionals regarding the support needs of people with head and neck cancer (HNC) and their families and current gaps in service delivery.

Methods: A modified Delphi process assessed support needs of people with HNC following acute medical management. A systematic review of the literature was used to develop items relevant to seven key concepts underpinning the psychological experience of living with HNC.

Dysphagia therapy post stroke: An exploration of the practices and clinical decision-making of speech-language pathologists in Australia.

Purpose: A variety of dysphagia management options are available for the treatment of dysphagia following a stroke, however, it is unknown which of these approaches are most commonly utilised by Australian speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and whether particular factors influence decision-making.

Method: The aim of this study was to investigate, through an online survey, the treatment practices of SLPs in Australia for the treatment of dysphagia post-stroke and identify the factors influencing treatment decisions.

Result: A total of 118 SLPs completed the online survey.

Inhibitory control and traumatic brain injury: The association between executive control processes and social communication deficits.

Primary Objective: To further examine the proposed relationship between executive impairments in inhibitory control and social communication difficulties reflecting poor inhibition following TBI.

Method: Inhibitory control was assessed in 14 adults with TBI on the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT). Errors on Part B (failed inhibition) and Part B-Part A response latencies (delayed inhibition) were examined.

Exploring generalisation processes following lexical retrieval intervention in primary progressive aphasia.

Purpose: Within the current literature, positive intervention effects demonstrate the significant potential for people with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) to learn/relearn words. Generalisation of intervention effects to other words and/or other contexts, however, remains unclear.

Method: This multiple baseline, case-series design investigated the effects of a self-cueing lexical retrieval intervention across word classes (nouns, verbs and adjectives) on four individuals with PPA, three suggestive of the semantic variant and one of the logopenic variant.

The bedside assessment practices of speech-language pathologists in adult dysphagia.

Purpose: The current study aimed to investigate what Australian speech-language pathologists frequently include in their bedside assessments in adult dysphagia, what factors influence these bedside assessments and whether they are consistent with the current evidence base.

Method: These aims were achieved via an online questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews. In the questionnaire, respondents were asked to rate how frequently they utilized bedside assessment components on a scale of five ranging from never to always.

A comparison of aphasia therapy outcomes before and after a Very Early Rehabilitation programme following stroke.

Background: Very early aphasia rehabilitation studies have shown mixed results. Differences in therapy intensity and therapy type contribute significantly to the equivocal results.

Aims: To compare a standardized, prescribed very early aphasia therapy regimen with a historical usual care control group at therapy completion (4-5 weeks post-stroke) and again at follow-up (6 months).