Message banking : perceptions of persons with motor neuron disease, significant others and clinicians

PURPOSE : Message banking is an intervention strategy that has the potential to facilitate effective communication for people with motor neuron disease when their condition deteriorates to the extent that they cannot communicate using natural speech. The aim of the current study was to determine and compare the perceptions on message banking of three stakeholder groups, namely, persons with motor neuron disease, their significant others and speech-language pathologists. METHOD : A comparative group survey design was used. Participants listened to a short presentation about message banking, after which they individually completed a questionnaire. RESULT : Although most participants reported that they had never heard of message banking, all were interested in it. The survey results revealed statistically significant differences between the various groups of stakeholders regarding the relevance of message banking and types of messages to bank. CONCLUSION : The study concluded that there is limited awareness about message banking amongst all participant groups.http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl202018-07-31hj2017Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

The effect of augmented input on the auditory comprehension of narratives for people with aphasia : a pilot investigation

Augmented input is the strategy of supplementing expressive language with visuographic images, print, gestures, or objects in the environment. The goal of augmented input is to facilitate comprehension of spoken language. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of two different augmented input conditions in facilitating auditory comprehension of narrative passages in adults with aphasia. One condition involved the communication partner (clinician) of the adult with aphasia actively pointing (AI-PP) out key content words using visuographic supports. The second condition involved no active pointing (AI-NPP) by the communication partner (i.e., attention was not drawn to the visuographic supports). All 12 participants with aphasia listened to two narratives; one in each condition. Auditory comprehension was measured by assessing participants’ accuracy in responding to 15 multiple-choice cloze-type statements related to the narratives. Of the 12 participants, seven gave more accurate responses to comprehension items in the AI-PP condition, four gave more accurate responses in the AI-NPP condition, and one scored the same in both conditions. These differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Communication-partner-referenced augmented input using combined high-context and PCS symbol visuographic supports improved response accuracy for some participants. Continued research is necessary to determine partner involvement with and frequency of augmented input that improve auditory comprehension.The National Research Foundation (NRF) Thuthuka program (TTK 150708124127) and the University of Pretoria (Research Development Program).http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iaac202020-06-07hj2019Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

The psychometric properties of the communicative competence scale for individuals with Aphasia using speech-generating devices

BACKGROUND : Persons with aphasia (PWA) use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems to access and create symbol-based messages. The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate the psychometric properties of the newly developed Communicative Competence Scale (CCS), and (b) to determine if any factors, or subcategories, exist within each scale of the scale. The CCS aims to assess the competence of PWA using AAC. AIMS : Respondents were 55 undergraduate and graduate speech-language pathology students. The students were recruited to test the statistical properties of the CCS and Conversational Skills Rating Scale (CSRS). Prior to completing both instruments, respondents watched two videos of a PWA communicating with a speech-generating device. The messages were displayed using a grid display in one video and a scene display in the other. MAIN CONTRIBUTION : Concurrent validity was established between the CCS and the CSRS, and a moderate correlation was found. Reliability Coefficients revealed that the CCS and the CSRS had acceptable levels of internal consistency. Factor analysis revealed factor loadings or subordinate categories within the CCS and CSRS that were consistent with previous research. CONCLUSIONS : The CCS was found to be an internally consistent, reliable, and valid measure of perceived communicative competence of PWA using aided AAC. Clinical implications are discussed.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/paph20hj2020Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

Comparison of graphic symbol learning in individuals with aphasia and right hemisphere brain damage

This study investigates whether aphasia entails a central symbolic deficit in which there is a decrease in competence across a range of symbol systems (i.e. from non linguistic pictures to purely linguistic symbols) or if aphasia specifically impairs the ability to process linguistic symbols. A second purpose was to determine the effects of symbol translucency and symbol complexity on the recognition and retention of graphic symbols by individuals with aphasia. A group of subjects with aphasia, a group of subjects with right hemisphere brain damage, and neurologically normal controls participated in this study. A total of 40 Blissymbols were selected as stimulus items. Blissymbols are conceptually based logographs which provide us a unique opportunity to evaluate the cognitive consequences of non-phonetic symbol system in individuals with aphasia and individuals with right hemisphere brain damage. Each subject participated in two experimental sessions. During session 1 (E1), a pretest was administered to exclude the subjects who were unable to recognize the pictures or line drawings representing each of the forty Blissymbols. Also administered was a visual matching task to ensure that all subjects were able to adequately discriminate between the experimental stimuli. Those subjects who successfully completed the pretest and visual matching task were exposed to the experimental task for the remaining part of the first session. The second experimental session (E2), which examined retention of symbols, was held one week after the completion of the first experimental session. A paired-associate learning paradigm was used to teach the symbol-referent pairs to subjects in the experimental tasks. The results of the current investigation clearly support the pluralistic position that there are different forms of asymbolia. A deficit in linguistic competence does not necessarily entail a deficit in the ability to learn graphic symbols. Additionally, translucency was found to be a potent factor in the recognition of Blissymbols by all experimental groups. Complexity did not have any influence on recognition of Blissymbols. Also, there was no significant interaction between translucency and complexity. The finding that individuals with aphasia can learn and retain graphic symbols has significant clinical implications for aphasia therapy. Currently there are several trends in aphasia rehabilitation. One of these is to compensate or provide alternatives to bypass damaged language components. The undamaged right hemisphere in aphasic individuals can be used to facilitate communication through graphic symbols. Aphasia therapy for individuals with severe and global aphasia should capitalize on the untapped capabilities of the undamaged areas of the brain

Nurses’ perspectives about communication with patients in an intensive care setting using a communication board : a pilot study

BACKGROUND : Communication in the intensive care setting (ICS) is critical for both the patient and the medical staff to provide efficient care and thus alleviate possible patient adverse effects. Persons with complex communication needs are particularly vulnerable in ICSs and therefore require additional communication support. AIM : This study focused on the perspectives of nurses about communication with patients with communication needs in ICSs using paper-based communication boards, namely the translated Vidatak EZ Board, before and after a training session. SETTING : A 1650-bed public hospital with a 26-bed ICS in a semi-urban, low socio-economic area in South Africa served as the research setting. METHODS : A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test group design with withdrawal and a control group was used. Data were gathered using a custom-designed questionnaire completed by ICS nurse participants recruited from a public hospital. RESULTS : Responses of some nurses did not change in post-test 1, but their responses did change in post-test 2. Some of the nurses’ perspectives changed, as expected from the pre-test to post-test 1. Nurses recommended specific adaptations to the communication board. CONCLUSIONS : Most nurses agreed that communication is crucial in ICSs and that a communication board can be implemented; however, limited success was observed implementing the board following a short training. The inter-professional collaboration between nurses and speech-language therapists to provide optimal health care to patients in ICS is emphasised.A Research Development Programme grant of the University of Pretoria and a Fulbright Specialist Program.http://www.hsag.org.zahj2019Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

The effect of frequency of augmented input on the auditory comprehension of narratives for persons with Wernicke’s aphasia

BACKGROUND : Augmented input refers to the support of any form of linguistic or visual strategy to enhance understanding of language. Previous research for persons with aphasia predominantly focused on the various types of augmented input that can be used to support comprehension. AIMS : The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the effect of varying amounts of augmented input on the accuracy of auditory comprehension for persons with Wernicke’s aphasia METHOD AND PROCEDURES : A within-subject design was conducted with nine participants with Wernicke’s aphasia. Based on previous studies performed by the authors, the participants reviewed a relevant high-content image, listened to three narratives in three conditions, namely 0%, 50%, and 100%, augmented input with active partner pointing (AI-PP), and then responded to comprehension items based on the narratives. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS : Of the nine participants, four gave more accurate responses to comprehension items in the 50% AI-PP condition, three gave more accurate responses in the 100% AI-PP condition, and two participants scored the same in either the 50% and 100% or the 0% and 50% conditions. Furthermore, participants did significantly better in the 50% than 0% augmented input condition when answering inferential rather than factual questions. CONCLUSION : The main clinical implication is that supporting narrative auditory comprehension with augmented input, used as pretask and during-task stimulation, seems to improve the auditory comprehension of narratives for some persons with Wernicke’s aphasia. Moreover, providing augmented input for narratives seems to have a significant effect on the auditory comprehension of inferential questions for some persons with Wernicke’s aphasia. Continuous research is necessary to determine what types and frequency of augmented input will enhance auditory comprehension for persons with aphasia, specifically Wernicke’s aphasia.The Andrew W. Mellon Foundationhttps://www.tandfonline.com/loi/paph202022-12-16hj2022Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

Enzymatic resolution of naproxen

Trichosporon sp. (TSL), a newly found strain isolated from a locally fermented cottage cheese has been found to be highly stereoselective in the resolution of(S)-(+)-naproxen (ee >99%, E�500) from the corresponding racemic methyl ester. The process of resolution using whole cells has been scaled up to multi-kg level. Optimization of experimental conditions including downstream processing at 80–100 g/L substrate concentration with >90% recovery has been achieved. Changes in the physical parameters such as the particle size of the substrate play an important role in the resolution kinetics. A new strain of Trichosporon sp. having high cell density in cultivation (>60 g dry cell mass L−1 in 14–16 h) is found to be sufficiently stable for two years in dry powder form at 5–8°C. The viability of the resolution process has been further improved by the development of a simple racemization process for the enriched (R)-(−)-ester

Effects of a systematic augmentative and alternative communication intervention using a speech-generating device on multistep requesting and generic small talk for children with severe autism spectrum disorder

PURPOSE : The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention using a speech-generating device (SGD) on acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of multistep requesting and generic small talk in three children with severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) between the ages of 7 and 13 years. METHOD : A multiple-baseline design across participants combined with a posttreatment multiple-generalization-probe design was used to assess acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of target communicative behaviors with the experimenter and the participants' familiar communication partners (FCPs). Intervention was composed of systematic instruction in the use of an SGD using least-to-most prompting, constant time delay, error correction, and reinforcement. RESULTS : Visual analysis established a strong functional relationship between the independent variable and the two dependent variables (i.e., requesting preferred activities, engaging in generic small talk) for all three participants. Effect size indicator analyses corroborated these findings, indicating strong effects for performing multistep requesting and medium effects for engaging in generic small talk. All participants were able to generalize the acquired communicative behaviors to request new and untrained snacks and activities and engage in generic small talk with FCPs who were not part of the training. Maintenance of acquired communicative behaviors was demonstrated 3 weeks post completion of intervention. CONCLUSION : This study provides preliminary evidence that AAC intervention using an SGD and incorporating least-to-most prompting, constant time delay, error correction, and reinforcement is effective in terms of multistep requesting and generic small talk behaviors in children with severe ASD.Supplemental Material S1. Procedural reliability: Intervention.Supplemental Material S2. Procedural reliability: Generalization.Supplemental Material S3. Treatment integrity checklist.https://pubs.asha.org/journal/ajslphj2022Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

Arthrobacter sp. lipase immobilization for improvement in stability and enantioselectivity

Arthrobacter sp. lipase (ABL, MTCC no. 5125)is being recognized as an efficient enzyme for the resolution of drugs and their intermediates. The immobilization of ABL on various matrices for its enantioselectivity,stability, and reusability has been studied. Immobilization by covalent bonding on sepharose and silica afforded a maximum of 380 and 40 IU/g activity, respectively,whereas sol 13gel entrapment provided a maximum of 150 IU/g activity in dry powder. The immobilized enzyme displayed excellent stability in the pH range of 4 1310 and even at higher temperature, i.e., 50 136