Prosodic Improvement in Persons with Parkinson Disease Receiving SPEAK OUT!® Voice Therapy.

Background/aims: Hypokinetic dysarthria in Parkinson disease (PD) hinders the ability to verbally communicate and interferes with activities of daily living. SPEAK OUT!® is a therapy program designed to improve functional communicative ability. In contrast to the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment program, SPEAK OUT!® promotes speaking with intent to effect loud speech.

Using telerehabilitation to promote TBI recovery and transfer of knowledge.

Advances in the design and delivery of trauma care and acute medical management have increased the number of survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI), producing societal consequences and medical challenges. Although access to health care for rural patients remains a critical challenge, teletherapy may represent a viable means for the delivery of therapeutic services to such patients. A case study is presented in which teletherapy was successfully utilized to improve the functional outcomes, both physical and cognitive, of a patient with a severe TBI.

Age and educational influences on RBANS index scores in a nondemented geriatric sample.

Research has indicated the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS; Randolph, 1998) to be sensitive to the effects of brain dysfunction and capable of accurately discriminating cortical from subcortical dementias (Randolph, Tierney, Mohr, & Chase, 1998). It recently has been demonstrated, however, that certain indices of the measure are susceptible to educational influences (Lineweaver, Zone, Chelune, Hermann, & Dow, 2001). The present investigation examined the effects of age and education on the six RBANS indices in a sample of nondemented older adults.

Current directions in computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation.

Technological advances over the past decade have given rise to the development of multiple computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation programs. While results of investigations examining the efficacy of such techniques have been mixed, a positive trend for utilization of these procedures has been demonstrated. This review provides a discussion of the progression of research in this area, from anecdotal studies to controlled empirical investigations.

Sensitivity of the semantic fluency subtest of the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status.

This study examined the concurrent validity of the Semantic Fluency subtest of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Performance by cognitively impaired vs nonimpaired neurological patients was examined in relation to the performance of these groups on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. Analyses indicated these tests are largely equivalent with respect to both sensitivity to neurocognitive dysfunction and discrimination of cognitively impaired from nonimpaired neurological patients.