The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of communication disorders on family members of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) through the lens of third-party disability. Nine community-dwelling family members who live with people with PD participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were collected and analyzed using the qualitative…

Health care providers can experience increased diffculty communicating with adult patients during medical interactions when the patients have communication disorders. Meeting the communication needs of these patients can also create unique challenges for providers. The authors explore Communication Accommodation Theory (H. Giles, 1979) as a guide…

Background: Beyond the severity of voice, speech and language impairments, one potential predictor of communication success across adult populations with communication disorders may be perceived social support: the expectation that others will provide support if needed. Despite the preponderance of intervention approaches that assume a positive…

Background: The term "speech usage" refers to what people want or need to do with their speech to fulfil the communication demands in their life roles. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) need to know about clients' speech usage to plan appropriate interventions to meet their life participation goals. The Levels of Speech Usage is a…

Purpose: To explore the similarities and differences in self-reported restrictions in communicative participation across different communication disorders in community-dwelling adults. Method: Interviews were conducted with 44 adults representing 7 different medical conditions: spasmodic dysphonia, multiple sclerosis, stroke, stuttering,…

Purpose: To review the principles of neural plasticity and make recommendations for research on the neural bases for rehabilitation of neurogenic speech disorders. Method: A working group in speech motor control and disorders developed this report, which examines the potential relevance of basic research on the brain mechanisms involved in neural…

Purpose: To explore variables associated with self-reported communicative participation in a sample (n = 498) of community-dwelling adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Method: A battery of questionnaires was administered online or on paper per participant preference. Data were analyzed using multiple linear backward stepwise regression. The…