Stakeholder perspectives following implementation of Vietnam's first speech-language pathology degrees: recommendations for future curriculum development.

Purpose: To investigate perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in development and delivery of Vietnam's first speech-language pathology degrees and derive recommendations for future degrees in Vietnam and other Majority World countries.

Methods: An exploratory-descriptive qualitative research design using focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews in the preferred language (English or Vietnamese) was used, with 70 participants from five stakeholder groups: project managers, students, academic educators, placement supervisors and interpreters. Transcriptions were analysed using thematic network analysis.

Consensus on an assessment protocol for children with speech sound disorders in Sri Lanka.

Background: Speech sound disorders (SSDs) are the most common form of communication disorders in children. SSD have an impact on children's abilities to make themselves understood to their listeners and can influence a child's social and emotional well-being as well as their academic achievements. Therefore, it is important to identify children with an SSD early, in order to provide appropriate intervention.

Stuttering management practices in Sri Lanka: A mixed method study.

Purpose: Speech and language therapy is a growing profession in Sri Lanka, and little is known about how stuttering is currently managed in the country. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the current stuttering management practices in Sri Lanka and to investigate any barriers to service provision.

Method: A convergent mixed methods design was employed across two phases.

A cost analysis of a 5-day simulation-based learning program for speech-language pathology student training.

: There is poor reporting of the cost of simulation and greater transparency is needed. The primary study aim was to conduct a financial analysis of the university/training institution costs associated with a 5-day simulation-based learning program for speech-language pathology students. The secondary aim was to consider the economic costs of the model.

Myofunctional device use in oral care and swallowing: a protocol for a feasibility study in an aged care population.

Background: Poor oral health is a known predictor of aspiration pneumonia in vulnerable populations such as the elderly and chronically ill and has been linked to systemic disease, morbidity, and mortality. Reduced oral health not only places individuals at a greater risk of aspiration pneumonia but may result in pain or poorer dentition which can impact on mastication and swallowing. Consequences of this may include reduced oral intake, malnutrition, poorer health outcomes, and reduced quality of life.

Elizabeth Usher memorial lecture: Speech-language pathology in the transformative age - valuing connectivity.

Living in the transformative age is one of disruption, change, and infinite opportunity. However, living in a cloud-based world with self-driving cars, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, e-health, 3-D printing, and COVID-19 can also be somewhat daunting, challenging, and even confronting. As speech-language pathologists, researchers, educators, and advocates, we need to be agile, more creative and connected to data, experiences, and people.

The Complexity of Stuttering Behavior in Adults and Adolescents: Relationship to Age, Severity, Mental Health, Impact of Stuttering, and Behavioral Treatment Outcome.

Purpose: This study investigated the complexity of stuttering behavior. It described and classified the complexity of stuttering behavior in relation to age, behavioral treatment outcomes, stuttering severity, anxiety-related mental health, impact of stuttering, and gender.

Method: For this study, a taxonomy was developed-LBDL-C7-which was based on the Lidcombe Behavioral Data Language of stuttering.

Parental perceptions towards childhood stuttering in Sri Lanka.

Introduction: Parental perceptions towards stuttering is an important consideration as parents play a crucial role in the initial identification and management of stuttering in young children. Although several studies have been conducted on parental perceptions towards childhood stuttering in other countries, little is known about how stuttering is perceived and managed by parents in Sri Lanka.

Aims: This study explored Sri Lankan parents' perceptions towards childhood stuttering and their experiences regarding attending speech and language therapy for stuttering.

Does a simulation-based learning programme assist with the development of speech-language pathology students' clinical skills in stuttering management?

Background: Simulation-based learning can be used in university programmes to provide speech-language pathology students with essential clinical experiences. However, limited research has explored the use of simulation to support students' development of skills in clinical practice with people who stutter.

Aims: (1) To evaluate students' clinical skills in managing stuttering within a simulation-based learning programme; (2) to develop an assessment tool, the Standardised Patient Interview Rating Scale for Stuttering (SPIRS-Stuttering); and (3) to conduct a preliminary investigation of its validity in measuring students' performance.

Speech-language pathology students' perceptions of simulation-based learning experiences in stuttering.

Background: Research suggests that some speech-language pathologists are uncomfortable treating people who stutter. Accessing quality clinical education experiences in stuttering is difficult given the ongoing rise in students enrolled in speech-language pathology programmes and the limited number of stuttering-specific placements available. Simulation-based learning is a viable option for providing speech-language pathology students with practical experience in a safe learning environment.

Psychological characteristics of early stuttering.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use psychological measures of pre-schoolers who stutter and their parents to inform causal theory development and influence clinical practices. This was done using data from a substantive clinical cohort of children who received early stuttering treatment.

Method: The cohort ( = 427) comprised parents and their children who were treated with the Lidcombe Program, the Westmead Program, and the Oakville Program.

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy and Myofunctional Devices Used in Speech Pathology Treatment: A Systematic Quantitative Review of the Literature.

Purpose A growing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are using orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) and/or myofunctional devices (MDs) in the treatment of their clients. However, governing bodies suggest SLPs carefully consider the availability and quality of evidence in the utilization of these therapies in speech-language pathology treatment. The purpose of this study was to review the existing evidence for OMT and MDs used by SLPs.

Predictors of Lidcombe Program treatment dropout and outcome for early stuttering.

Background: Information is available about what predicts Lidcombe Program treatment time, but nothing is known about what predicts treatment prognosis.

Aims: To investigate the predictors of treatment dropout and treatment outcome for children who were treated for early stuttering with the Lidcombe Program (N = 277).

Methods & Procedures: A total of 32 variables were used as predictors in regression analyses of short- and medium-term Lidcombe Program outcome, and of treatment dropout.

Simulation can replace part of speech-language pathology placement time: A randomised controlled trial.

Purpose: Simulation is increasingly used within speech-language pathology education. Research has primarily explored students' perceptions of learning in simulation. The aim of this study was to determine if speech-language pathology students achieved a statistically-equivalent level of competency when a mean of 20% of placement time was replaced with simulation compared to placements without a simulation component.

A framework to support the development of quality simulation-based learning programmes in speech-language pathology.

Background: Simulation-based learning provides students with a safe learning environment, guaranteed exposure to specific clinical scenarios and patients, time for reflection and repetition of tasks, and an opportunity to receive feedback from multiple sources. Research including studies specific to allied health training programmes have demonstrated that simulation-based learning also helps increase learners' confidence and reduces anxiety related to clinical environments, activities and skills. Such evidence, together with increasing challenges in provision of workplace clinical education, has supported an expansion of integrating simulation-based learning into university curricula.

Three Lidcombe program clinic visit options: a phase II trial.

Purpose: Weekly clinic visits are recommended in the Lidcombe Program Treatment Guide (Packman et al., 2015). That specification is based on traditional speech-language pathology practices rather than empirical research, and two studies have suggested that such a format does not always occur in clinical communities.

Struggle and failure on clinical placement: a critical narrative review.

Background: Clinical placements are crucial to the development of skills and competencies in speech-language pathology (SLP) education and, more generally, a requirement of all health professional training programmes. Literature from medical education provides a context for understanding how the environment can be vital to all students' learning. Given the increasing costs of education and demands on health services, students who struggle or fail on clinical placement place an additional burden on educators.

Evidence for the treatment of co-occurring stuttering and speech sound disorder: A clinical case series.

Purpose: There is a paucity of evidence to guide treatment for children with co-occurring stuttering and speech sound disorder. Some guidelines suggest treating the two disorders simultaneously using indirect treatment approaches; however, the research supporting these recommendations is over 20 years old. In this clinical case series, we investigate whether these co-occurring disorders could be treated concurrently using direct treatment approaches supported by up-to-date, high-level evidence, and whether this could be done in an efficacious, safe and efficient manner.

Assessment of Reliable Change Using 95% Credible Intervals for the Differences in Proportions: A Statistical Analysis for Case-Study Methodology.

Purpose: Case-study methodology studying change is often used in the field of speech-language pathology, but it can be criticized for not being statistically robust. Yet with the heterogeneous nature of many communication disorders, case studies allow clinicians and researchers to closely observe and report on change. Such information is valuable and can further inform large-scale experimental designs.

The reliability of a severity rating scale to measure stuttering in an unfamiliar language.

With increasing multiculturalism, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are likely to work with stuttering clients from linguistic backgrounds that differ from their own. No research to date has estimated SLPs' reliability when measuring severity of stuttering in an unfamiliar language. Therefore, this study was undertaken to estimate the reliability of SLPs' use of a 9-point severity rating (SR) scale, to measure severity of stuttering in a language that was different from their own.

Clinicians' management of young children with co-occurring stuttering and speech sound disorder.

Speech sound disorders reportedly co-occur in young children who stutter at a substantial rate. Despite this, there is a paucity of scientific research available to support a treatment approach when these disorders co-exist. Similarly, little is known about how clinicians are currently working with this caseload given that best practice for the treatment of both disorders in isolation has evolved in recent years.

Investigating parent delivery of the Lidcombe Program.

The Lidcombe Program is an early childhood stuttering treatment delivered by parents in the child's everyday environment, under the guidance of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Given the parents' central role in the treatment delivery, the way it is implemented away from the clinic and away from the SLP's input is very important. And yet, to date there has been very little investigation into this process.

North-American Lidcombe Program file audit: replication and meta-analysis.

Thousands of North American clinicians have trained for the Lidcombe Program of Early Stuttering Intervention, yet there are no benchmark data for that continent. This retrospective file audit includes logistical regression of variables from files of 134 children younger than 6 years who completed Stage 1 of the Lidcombe Program. Benchmarking data for clinic visits to Stage 2 is available for these files.