Assessment and treatment of gesture in neurogenic communication disorders: An international survey of practice.
Anna Caute, Abi Roper, Lucy Dipper and 1 others
PMID 39584407WHAT IT FOUND
Most speech therapists assessed gesture sometimes, but only 5% never did and nearly 70% never used a published test.
Only 26.9% used gesture in treatment for at least half the time, and lack of tools was a common barrier.
Key findings
01Fifty percent of respondents assessed gesture sometimes or for some clients, and only 5% never assessed it.
02Nearly 70% of respondents reported never using a published test to evaluate gesture.
03For at least half the time or patients, 26.9% used gesture during treatment and 20.8% had treatment goals containing gesture.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The respondents were largely from the United Kingdom and the United States, and most spoke English, so practice in other countries or languages may differ. The survey was advertised through social media and professional networks, and snowballing may have attracted clinicians already interested in gesture. Of 159 people who consented, 130 respondents were analysed, and not all questions were mandatory, so some comparisons had missing data. Most respondents worked with acquired aphasia rather than cognitive-communication disorders or progressive aphasia, so the findings may not apply to those caseloads. The number of research-oriented clinicians was less than those working primarily in clinical settings (43 versus 89), which may have affected setting comparisons.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that gesture assessment or treatment improves communication. The percentages describe reported practice, not patient outcomes.