COVID-19 prevention strategies during the return to activities in a Speech Therapy Teaching Clinic.

Purpose: Describe the preventive strategies used during the COVID-19 pandemic in the return of academic and health care activities in a Speech Therapy Teaching Clinic at a Brazilian public university.

Methods: This is a descriptive study based on documentary research. The strategies were based on official recommendations from national and international institutions and/or organizations to combat COVID-19 published between March and June 2020.

Use of an app as a complementary strategy to speech-language therapy in a case of cognitive-communication disorder.

With the aging of the population, there is an increase in the incidence of common diseases to this age group, such as dementias. Efforts to improve the quality of health care for these patients, including speech-language therapy, have grown. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of the Talk Around It as a complementary strategy in the language therapy of a patient with cognitive communication disorder.

The effectiveness of speech-language therapy at the discursive level: a case study of cognitive-linguistic deficit in dementia.

People with dementia present cognitive, language and behavioral impairments. The language deficits can be identified in the speech of these patients in the early stages. However, there are still few studies about the effectiveness of speech-language therapy in these cases.

Effects of language stimulation on cognition of institutionalized aged people: a preliminary case series study.

Unlabelled: Cognitive stimulation programs for institutionalized elderly people show positive results, however few studies have investigated the effectiveness of language stimulation programs for the health of this population.

Objectives: To characterize the cognitive-linguistic profile of institutionalized elderly and to compare their performance before and after a language stimulation program (LSP).

Methods: An exploratory case series study was conducted with nine residents of a Home for the Aged.

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of the F-A-S fluency test in people with aphasia.

Unlabelled: Verbal fluency tests are widely used in neuropsychological assessment. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the performance of aphasic individuals on the phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) test can contribute to a better understanding of cognitive changes in this group of patients.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze clustering and switching measures of PVF in people with aphasia and investigate the relationship between the use of these strategies, the quantitative performance on the test, and the performance on executive functions.

Speech in the foreign accent syndrome: differential diagnosis between organic and functional cases.

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an extremely rare disorder, with 112 cases described until 2019. We compare two cases of the foreign accent syndrome in native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese in its classic form (FAS) and psychiatric variant (FALS). Two cases were analyzed: (1) a right-handed, 69-year-old man, with a prior history of stroke, and (2) a right-handed, 43-year-old woman, diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Speech Intelligibility in Dysarthrias: Influence of Utterance Length.

Aim: To analyze the effect of utterance length on the intelligibility of words produced by dysarthric speakers.

Methods: A total of 10 adult speakers with dysarthria (5 men and 5 women; mean age 58.8 years, SD 14.

Pneumo-phono-articulatory coordination assessment in dysarthria cases: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Pneumo-phono-articulatory coordination is often impaired in dysarthric patients. Because all speech is produced upon exhalation, adequate respiratory support and coordination are essential for communication. Nevertheless, studies investigating respiratory parameters for speech are scarce.

The influence of education on performance of adults on the Clock Drawing Test.

Unlabelled: The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is an important instrument for screening individuals suspected of having cognitive impairment.

Objective: To determine the influence of education on the performance of healthy adults on the CDT.

Methods: A total of 121 drawings by healthy adults without neurological complaints or impairments were analysed.

Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy.

Objective:: To establish normative parameters for the F-A-S form of the phonemic verbal fluency test, in a population of Brazilian Portuguese speaking adults with high-level literacy.

Methods:: The sample comprised 40 male and female volunteers aged 19 to 59 years, and at least 8 years of formal education. Volunteers were first submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing cognitive screening tests, then to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test; in this test, examinees were given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible beginning with each of the three test letters.

Protocol for the Evaluation of Speech Intelligibility in Dysarthrias: Evidence of Reliability and Validity.

Background/aims: Studies about the reliability and validity of intelligibility measures are fundamental to direct their use and interpretation in both clinical and research settings. The present study assessed inter-rater reliability, internal consistency and criterion validity of scores for the sentence and word subtests of the Protocol for the Evaluation of Speech Intelligibility (PESI).

Methods: This study included 180 adult volunteers who were divided into three groups: 30 speakers with dysarthria, 30 control speakers and 120 listeners.

Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: evidence of criterion validity from patients with aphasia.

Background: The Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery - Brazilian version (MTL-BR) provides a general description of language processing and related components in adults with brain injury.

Objective: The present study aimed at verifying the criterion-related validity of the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery - Brazilian version (MTL-BR) by assessing its ability to discriminate between individuals with unilateral brain damage with and without aphasia.

Methods: The investigation was carried out in a Brazilian community-based sample of 104 adults, divided into four groups: 26 participants with left hemisphere damage (LHD) with aphasia, 25 participants with right hemisphere damage (RHD), 28 with LHD non-aphasic, and 25 healthy adults.

[Predictability of sentences used in the assessment of speech intelligibility in dysarthria].

Purpose: To analyze the predictability of sentences used in the protocol for the assessment of intelligibility of dysarthric speech.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 120 volunteers divided randomly into four groups of 30 individuals.Based on the list of 25 sentences from the protocol, four versions of lists were elaborated.

[Undergraduate education and health practices of speech and language pathologists working in public health services].

Comprehensive health care is still a challenge for all who participate in the transformation of undergraduate education and health care practices. Among health professionals, speech and language pathologists are also invited to reflect on these questions. The aim of this study was to investigate some aspects of the undergraduate education and health care practices of speech and language pathologists (graduates of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) working in public health units.

Intelligibility: effects of transcription analysis and speech stimulus.

Background: intelligibility measures are limited to providing information on the severity level of clinical cases. A key limitation is that such measures are sensitive to changes in performance only in subjects with a determined severity level of speech disturbance.

Aim: to investigate the influence of stimuli type and transcription analysis on intelligibility measures of speakers with no communication disorders.

Spinocerebellar ataxia: perceptual and acoustic analysis of speech in three cases.

Background: dysarthrias are commonly found in patients with spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA).

Aim: to characterize perceptual and acoustic features of speech in three patients with spinocerebellar ataxia and to verify the presence of similar features among these patients.

Method: speech samples of two males with SCA3 and one male with SCA2 were obtained.

Intelligibility measurements in speech disorders: a critical review of the literature.

Background: the reduction in speech intelligibility is considered one of the main characteristics of individuals with speech disorders, and is an important issue for clinical and research investigation. In spite of its relevance, the literature does not present a consensus on how to measure speech intelligibility. Besides the diversity of existent methods, another important issue refers to the influence of certain variables on these measurements and, consequently, on the interpretation of the results.

[Influence of speech rate and loudness on speech intelligibility].

Background: contextual cues intrinsic to speech stimuli can have an influence on speech intelligibility measurements; however, the influence of cues that depend on the acoustic signal, such as speech rate and vocal loudness, need further investigation.

Aim: to examine whether possible reductions in the articulatory rate and increase in vocal loudness, associated to the production of different speech stimuli, can have an influence on speech intelligibility measurements.

Method: participants of this study were thirty normal speakers and sixty normal listeners.