Effects of Phonological Complexity Training on Pseudoword Reading in Acquired Phonological Dyslexia

Individuals with acquired phonological dyslexia experience difficulty associating written letters with corresponding sounds, especially with pseudowords. In training studies with children, when phonologically “more complex” consonant clusters were trained, improvement was noted on trained clusters and untrained “less complex” clusters, but not vice versa. To date, no treatment studies for acquired phonological dyslexia have systematically manipulated phonological complexity to improve reading ability. The present study applied principles of phonological complexity to letter-sound training in acquired phonological dyslexia. Our findings suggest phonological complexity can be used to improve generalization to untrained phonologically related words in this population

Neural Mechanisms of Verb Argument Structure Training in Agrammatic Aphasia

In four speakers with agrammatic aphasia, we examined the effects of training verbs with complex argument structure in sentence contexts, behaviorally and with respect to the neural mechanisms of recovery. It was hypothesized that training ditransitive verbs would result in generalization to less-complex verb types (transitive and intransitive) in both verb naming and sentence production and that these behavioral changes would be associated with observable shifts in fMRI brain activation patterns from pre- to post-treatment. Results showed different behavioral and neural activation patterns of pre-post change across participants, which will be discusse

The Development and Implementation of ALIGN: A Multidimensional Program Designed to Enhance the Success of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Graduate Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders

The critical lack of racially and ethnically diverse healthcare professionals in the field of Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD) in contrast to the increasing diversity of the U.S. population may contribute to healthcare disparities and negatively impact healthcare outcomes. It is therefore imperative for transformational programs and practices to be enacted to substantially increase the number of CSD professionals representing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). As training institutions that graduate and contribute to the certification of CSD professionals, universities are fundamental for contributing to this change. Numerous barriers have been identified that limit the number of underrepresented minority students who matriculate in and graduate from speech-language pathology and audiology graduate programs. At Syracuse University, a group of academic and clinical CSD faculty developed a program to specifically address these barriers: the Academic Skill Building and Networking (ALIGN) program. ALIGN implements a multifaceted approach toward facilitating the success of CSD BIPOC graduate students through the integration of academic and professional skill building, peer mentoring and networking, and professional mentoring and networking into the program curriculum. This study described the rationale and development of the ALIGN program, and reported quantitative and qualitative survey results to determine the preliminary effects of this program on an inaugural cohort of ALIGN participants. Overall, quantitative and qualitative data indicated that ALIGN had a substantial, positive impact on academic skills relative to study habits, understanding difficult course concepts, and general learning, and provided crucial support and connection opportunities with fellow BIPOC students

A roadmap for research in post-stroke fatigue:Consensus-based core recommendations from the third Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable

Rationale: Fatigue affects almost half of all people living with stroke. Stroke survivors rank understanding fatigue and how to reduce it as one of the highest research priorities. Methods: We convened an interdisciplinary, international group of clinical and pre-clinical researchers and lived experience experts. We identified four priority areas: (1) best measurement tools for research, (2) clinical identification of fatigue and potentially modifiable causes, (3) promising interventions and recommendations for future trials, and (4) possible biological mechanisms of fatigue. Cross-cutting themes were aphasia and the voice of people with lived experience. Working parties were formed and structured consensus building processes were followed. Results: We present 20 recommendations covering outcome measures for research, development, and testing of new interventions and priority areas for future research on the biology of post-stroke fatigue. We developed and recommend the use of the Stroke Fatigue Clinical Assessment Tool. Conclusions: By synthesizing current knowledge in post-stroke fatigue across clinical and pre-clinical fields, our work provides a roadmap for future research into post-stroke fatigue

A roadmap for research in post-stroke fatigue: consensus-based core recommendations from the third Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable

Rationale: Fatigue affects almost half of all people living with stroke. Stroke survivors rank understanding fatigue and how to reduce it as one of the highest research priorities. Methods: We convened an interdisciplinary, international group of clinical and pre-clinical researchers and lived experience experts. We identified four priority areas: (1) best measurement tools for research, (2) clinical identification of fatigue and potentially modifiable causes, (3) promising interventions and recommendations for future trials, and (4) possible biological mechanisms of fatigue. Cross-cutting themes were aphasia and the voice of people with lived experience. Working parties were formed and structured consensus building processes were followed. Results: We present 20 recommendations covering outcome measures for research, development, and testing of new interventions and priority areas for future research on the biology of post-stroke fatigue. We developed and recommend the use of the Stroke Fatigue Clinical Assessment Tool. Conclusions: By synthesizing current knowledge in post-stroke fatigue across clinical and pre-clinical fields, our work provides a roadmap for future research into post-stroke fatigue

Effects of Phonological Complexity on Error Production and Pseudoword Training in Acquired Phonological Dyslexia

Individuals with acquired phonological dyslexia experience difficulty associating written letters with their corresponding sounds, especially in pseudowords. Several studies have attempted to improve reading in this population by training letter-to-sound correspondence, general phonological skills, or a combination of these approaches; however, their success has generally been limited to trained words. Training studies with other clinical populations have shown increased generalization when items were manipulated based on linguistic complexity. Sonority, the relative measure of intensity related to openness of the vocal tract, is one variable of phonological complexity that has been investigated in aphasic error production and training of phoneme production in children with phonological disorders. To date, however, no studies of acquired phonological dyslexia have systematically manipulated phonological complexity in order to investigate error production or to improve reading ability. The present study examined phonological complexity as a predictor of error production (Experiment 1) and a training variable for letter-to-sound reading (Experiment 2) in acquired phonological dyslexia. Ten participants in Experiment 1 read aloud and repeated single-syllable real words and pseudowords controlled for phonological complexity. Results indicated phonological complexity was a significant predictor of syllable onset accuracy, particularly for segment 2 of the onset (e.g., /l/ in cluster /bl/), with significantly greater accuracy for “simple” clusters compared to “complex” clusters. Two consonant clusters were selected for training in Experiment 2: one cluster representing a “complex” onset (e.g., /fl/) and the other representing a “simple” onset (e.g., /kl/) as predicted by sonority. Three participants were trained on the “complex” cluster and two were trained on the “simple” cluster, while tracking oral reading accuracy of both onsets. Training involved a combination of letter-sound correspondence and phonological skill instruction. Consonant cluster oral reading accuracy of training and generalization items was measured with weekly probes. As predicted, participants who received training in the “complex” condition demonstrated improved ability to orally read pseudowords with the trained cluster onset as well as generalization to pseudowords with the untrained, “simple” onset, but not vice versa. The present findings suggest phonological complexity can be used to improve generalization to untrained phonologically related words in acquired phonological dyslexia

Filter-Funnel Model of Post-Stroke Fatigue

Proposed model of post-stroke fatigue that accounts for the role of speech-language disorders and communicative demands. Adapted from original post-stroke fatigue model proposed by Lerdal and colleagues in 2009

Effects of CPAP on Language Recovery in Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Review of Recent Literature

Obstructive sleep apnea is highly prevalent in the post-stroke population, and has been shown to affect cognitive, neurological, and functional status. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment is one of the most effective interventions for obstructive sleep apnea, but compliance is often low due to confounding effects of co-occurring conditions, side effects of treatment titration procedures, and individual patient personality characteristics, perceptions, and social factors. Current research suggests that CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is not associated with significant risk and can subsequently improve post-stroke motor and neurocognitive function. However, effects of CPAP treatment on post-stroke speech and language recovery remain unclear. Post-stroke communication disorders (e.g., aphasia, dysarthria, and apraxia) are also highly prevalent in this population. Knowledge of the potential positive impact of CPAP on language recovery could contribute to patients’ motivation to comply with CPAP treatment and provide incentive for speech-language pathologists to refer patients to sleep medicine specialists. In this review of the literature, we examine the question of what effect CPAP treatment may have on post-stroke speech and language function and recovery, as well as summarize the current knowledge on cognitive, neurological, and functional effects. While this review of the literature found CPAP to have varying effects on different cognitive domains, there was not sufficient evidence to determine effects on language recovery. Further research is necessary to determine the potential effects of CPAP treatment on speech and language recovery among stroke patients