Background: Communication is critical to sexuality and sexual health. It is therefore reasonable to assume that acquired communication impairments would impact sexuality, but research is sparse. The research that does discuss these impacts can be difficult to find, as studies are spread across a wide variety of literature bases, and sexual topics…

Background: Global aphasia is a severe communication disorder affecting all language modalities, commonly caused by stroke. Evidence as to whether the functional communication of people with global aphasia (PwGA) can improve after speech and language therapy (SLT) is limited and conflicting. This is partly because cognition, which is relevant to…

Background: People with right hemisphere damage (PwRHD) are often reported to produce tangential or irrelevant utterances. This may be related to their conversational difficulties, including performance in making relevant responses to questions. Clinical interactions represent a major type of communicative activity that PwRHD frequently attend and…

Background: Goal setting is an essential step in the clinical reasoning process of speech and language therapists (SLTs) who provide care for children, adolescents and adults with communication disorders. In the light of person-centred care, shared or collaborative goal setting between the SLT and client is advised in (inter)national guidelines.…

Background: Meaningful, varied, joyful conversation is an important therapy target for adults with language or cognitive-communication disorders following acquired brain injury (ABI). However, the complexity of daily communication is often reduced to component parts within intervention programmes, with mixed evidence of generalization to everyday…

Background: Communication impairments are a leading concern for parent caregivers of individuals with rare neurodevelopmental disorders (RNDDs). Clinical trials of disease modifying therapies require valid and responsive outcome measures that are relevant to individuals with RNDDs. Identifying and evaluating current psychometric properties for…

Background: There is a growing body of evidence showing the value of community singing-based rehabilitation on psychosocial well-being and communication for people with post-stroke communication impairment (PSCI). However, there has been little consideration of the potential value an inpatient aphasia-friendly choir may have through the…

Background: There is increasing interest in the incorporation of animal-assisted services (AAS) in therapy for adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. AAS have the potential to enhance speech and language therapy engagement and outcomes. However, a greater understanding of the nature and potential benefits of these interventions…

Background: The Scenario Test is recognised for its effectiveness in assessing the interactive aspects of functional communication in people with post-stroke aphasia (PWA). Aims: To develop a Japanese version of the Scenario Test (Scenario Test-JP) and assess its reliability and validity. Methods & Procedures: Among 66 participants, we…

Background: In 2016-17 an important consensus was established regarding the use of the diagnostic label 'developmental language disorder' (DLD) to describe children with a persistent language problem having a functional impact on communication or learning and in the absence of any other biomedical condition. Despite this consensus, past research…

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…

Background: Previous research has demonstrated that many caregivers of care recipients with communication and swallowing impairments suffer from caregiver burden. Existing research sheds light on the presence of burden and various predicting factors, but little information on interventions to reduce caregiver burden. Aims: To determine how…

Background: Gesture and speech collaborate in conveying meaning, and gesture is often leveraged by people with neurogenic communication disorders, such as aphasia, cognitive-communicative impairments and primary progressive aphasia, when words fail them. Because gesture is imagistic, transitory and holistic, there are inherent challenges when…

Background: The ability to understand the mental state of others (social cognition), as well as language, is crucial for children to have good social adaptation. Social cognition (SC) has been shown to be a hierarchical model of three factors (Cognitive, intermediate and affective SC) interrelated with linguistic processes. Children on the autism…

Background: In dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), limitations in linguistic and cognitive abilities may lead to difficulties in participating in conversations. The conversational outcome is also dependent on how the conversation partner adjusts to potential communicative challenges. Aims: This study explored resources and barriers in communication…