SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

Research for speech-language pathology

Papers a speech-language pathologist can act on — aphasia, dysphagia, developmental language, fluency, voice and augmentative communication — read in full and summarised plainly.

10,216 PAPERS · PAGE 187 OF 205 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPQualitative2026Families' and therapists' experience of a telehealth programme for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy during the COVID-19 pandemic.Developmental medicine and child neurologyFamilies and therapists first feared remote care, then valued weekly video review of home goals and low-cost adaptations. They described stronger partnership and family confidence, while internet, devices, and caregiver strain remained challenges.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Mainstream or special secondary school for the health, education, and well-being of adolescents with Down syndrome: A systematic review.Developmental medicine and child neurologyTwo older studies suggested mainstream schooling improved academic scores, but the most recent and least biased study found no difference. No studies reported health outcomes. The evidence is too weak and outdated to support changing school placement advice.
• SLPCohort2026Behavioural phenotypes of autism in autistic and nonautistic gender clinic-referred youth and their caregivers.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic gender clinic-referred youth show the same autism traits as autistic cisgender peers, and their caregivers show the same elevated autism rates. Only one observation measure found fewer repetitive behaviours in the gender-referred group. Treat autism features in gender-diverse youth as genuine.
• SLPCohort2025Is there a difference in the spread of excitation at different electrode locations along the cochlea?CoDASStraight cochlear implant arrays showed wider current spread than perimodiolar arrays at all tested electrodes. The medial region had the broadest spread in both array types, while the apical region had the narrowest. Peak amplitudes did not differ across regions or array types.
• SLPNarrative Review2025Genomic Investigations of Spoken and Written Language Abilities: A Guide to Advances in Approaches, Technologies, and Discovery.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRThis is a tutorial reviewing how genomic research into speech and language disorders has evolved, from the discovery of rare genes like FOXP2 to modern large-scale studies of common genetic variants. It summarizes existing literature rather than presenting new clinical evidence or results.
• OTSLPCohort2025How Did the COVID-19 Restrictions Change the Digital Contact of People With Intellectual Disabilities? A Longitudinal Multi-Method Study in Sheltered Home Care Facilities.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDCare records showed a 40% rise in documented digital contact during COVID restrictions, but family surveys reported no change in actual contact frequency. Staff sentiment toward digital tools improved significantly, yet families saw contact levels remain stable throughout the pandemic.
• SLPPilot2025Exploring perception of coarticulatory cues in childhood apraxia of speech and residual speech sound disorders: A pilot study.Journal of communication disordersChildren with childhood apraxia of speech struggled to hear the difference between sounds when the context changed, unlike children with only an 'r' error. This suggests their perception of speech is impaired beyond just the sound they mispronounce.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2025Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mismatch Negativity in Autism: Insights Into Predictive Mechanisms.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAutistic children showed smaller brain responses to unexpected sounds than peers, while autistic adults showed larger responses. Differences were most consistent for speech sounds, suggesting auditory processing changes with development rather than a fixed deficit.
• SLPOther2025Validation and Preference-Based Scoring of the York Binaural Hearing-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire for Young People.Ear and hearingA short hearing-related questionnaire for children with hearing loss showed stable scores when repeated and lined up with related hearing and fatigue measures. Adult proxy answers were less comparable, so use the child's own responses when possible.
• SLPCohort2025Autistic Individuals' Categorical Induction Abilities Improve by Mid-Adolescence.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAfter accounting for expressive language, autistic teenagers and typically developing teenagers performed similarly on category reasoning. In the longitudinal subset, both groups improved over time. Expressive language was closely linked to performance.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Impact of Pneumonia on Rehabilitation Outcomes: A Large Observational Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationStroke patients who developed pneumonia had worse rehabilitation outcomes than those who did not. They had higher mortality, longer hospital stays, and a greater risk of poor functional recovery at 3 and 6 months, with hospital-acquired pneumonia showing a stronger long-term impact than early-onset pneumonia.
• OTSLPPilot2026The Schools Unified in Neurodiversity Collaborative: Co-designing a program to enhance educator knowledge and efficacy supporting children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceIn one U.S. district, 192 educators reported higher neurodiversity knowledge and confidence after a 6-hour co-designed training. They also found the tools feasible. No child outcomes were measured.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Factors associated with social participation among children with fragile X syndrome.Disability and health journalMost children with fragile X syndrome joined at least one social activity, but participation dropped for those with severe intellectual disability or emotional dysregulation. Caregivers cited behavioral issues, time constraints, and lack of community resources as the biggest barriers.
• SLPOther2026The Role of Prosody in Expressing Subjective and Objective Causality in English.Language and speechSpeakers use distinct prosody to signal whether a causal statement is an opinion or a fact. Opinions produced longer pauses or stretched connectives and wider pitch ranges than factual statements, helping listeners distinguish subjective from objective causality without relying on specific words.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Fingerspelling as a pathway to deaf children's reading: a scoping review.Journal of deaf studies and deaf educationMost studies in this review found a positive link between fingerspelling and reading in deaf children. Fingerspelling acts as a bridge between sign language and print, supporting word recognition and orthographic knowledge, though it works best alongside strong sign language skills.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2026Evidence and alternatives to the routine use of cuffed tracheostomy tubes in spontaneously breathing patients with neurological disorders.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesRoutine cuff inflation in spontaneously breathing neurological patients lacks evidence for benefit and risks tracheal damage. Early deflation, cuffless tubes, or fitting fenestrated tubes improves cough, swallowing, and voice. Assess readiness for deflation rather than keeping cuffs inflated by default.
• SLPOther2025A Novel Artificial-Intelligence-Based Reverberation-Reduction Algorithm for Cochlear Implants Enhances Speech Intelligibility and User Experience.Ear and hearingA new AI-based reverberation-reduction algorithm improved speech understanding in noisy rooms for cochlear implant users. The version targeting both early and late reflections gave an average 17% intelligibility gain. Users also preferred this setting, finding speech more natural and easier to listen to.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of The Cancer Dyspnoea Scale - CDS into Brazilian Portuguese.CoDASA Brazilian Portuguese version of the Cancer Dyspnoea Scale is now available. Forty head and neck cancer patients completed it without difficulty, and no one needed the "not applicable" option. The wording was adjusted after patients found "very much" confusing.
• SLPCase Report2025Comparison of gesture-vocal synchrony and gestures of two children aged 3 to 26 months with and without autism spectrum disorder.CoDASIn two infants, the child with autism showed lower gesture-speech synchrony, reduced eye contact, and more discomfort than the neurotypical child. Their gestures were similar in type but differed in frequency and quality. This describes two cases, not a treatment effect.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Impact of the Use of Interactive Screens on Language Development in Children up to 6 Years of Age: A Systematic Review.Child: care, health and developmentInteractive screens do not uniformly harm language. Heavy, solitary use is linked to delays and poorer vocabulary, but supervised co-viewing or educational content can support learning. Clinicians should assess how and with whom the child uses the device, not just total screen time.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Association Between Exposure to Smartphones and Tablets and Motor Development in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review.Child: care, health and developmentEvidence linking smartphone and tablet use to motor development in young children is mixed and inconclusive. Four studies found negative associations, while three found positive ones. Most results were weak or non-significant, and the cross-sectional design prevents causal conclusions.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2025Autism and the Menopause Transition: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Autism in adulthoodAutistic people assigned female at birth described menopause as harder to understand and manage, with sensory overload, fatigue, sleep problems, thinking and memory changes, and work strain. Online peer support helped, while healthcare often felt dismissive or unsafe.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025Inclusive Housing Environments for People With Intellectual Disabilities: Systematic Review of Characteristics and Influencing Factors.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDA systematic review of 73 studies identifies five environmental dimensions for inclusive housing: physical, social, natural, symbolic, and supportive. It highlights that structural accessibility alone is insufficient, emphasizing the need for social inclusion, personal autonomy, and meaningful community connections.
• SLPOther2025Distributional patterns in recast therapy do not systematically align with patterns in conversational data.Journal of communication disordersClinicians produced more recasts and more varied, unnatural syntax than caregivers. Caregivers stuck closer to conversational patterns but provided fewer recasts. Neither group’s input matched standard test items, meaning therapy language differs from both daily speech and assessment language.
• SLPOther2025The Effects of Stimulation Level and Stimulation Rate on Neural Synchrony of the Cochlear Nerve in Postlingually Deafened Adult Cochlear Implant Recipients.Ear and hearingIn adult cochlear implant users, neural synchrony improved as stimulation level increased but stayed stable up to 120 Hz before dropping at 240 Hz. Basal electrodes showed weaker synchrony than apical ones. These findings guide how to set parameters when measuring nerve function.
• SLPOther2025Articulatory Methods for the Study of Second Language Speech.Language and speechNo original study or outcomes are reported in this editorial overview of research methods for studying speech production in a second language.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2025Modeling the Relationship Between Listener Factors and Envelope Fidelity: A Pooled Analysis Spanning a Decade.Ear and hearingListeners with lower working memory improved their speech-in-noise scores when hearing aid processing caused less distortion. Those with higher working memory did not show this benefit. This suggests that reducing signal distortion may help patients with lower cognitive capacity more than those with higher capacity.
• SLPQualitative2025Navigating sign language learning: insights from hearing parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.Journal of deaf studies and deaf educationParents valued home-based lessons and Deaf teachers but struggled with courses that focused on vocabulary over grammar and ended when children turned four. They reported receiving conflicting advice from professionals, which made choosing between sign and speech difficult.
• OTSLPSurvey2026Exploring auditory perception experiences in daily situations in autistic adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults, whether clinically diagnosed or self-identifying, reported significantly more difficulty understanding speech in daily life compared to non-autistic adults. These speech difficulties were worse than challenges with locating sounds or judging sound quality, suggesting a specific barrier to communication that standard hearing tests may miss.
• PTOTSLPPilot2026Exoskeletal-Assisted Training in Veterans With Chronic Stroke: A Pilot Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAdding a knee exoskeleton to standard training was safe and feasible for veterans with chronic stroke. While the small study showed improved walking speed and stair power in the device group, these gains were not significantly different from the control group, so efficacy remains unproven.
• SLPCohort2026Tongue Strength and Endurance in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: Association with Swallowing, Oral Phase Efficiency, Meal, Diet Type and Malnutrition Risk.DysphagiaIn patients with Parkinson's disease, lower tongue strength and endurance were linked to slower chewing, less safe meals, restricted diets, and higher malnutrition risk. These tongue measures were not associated with aspiration on instrumental swallow tests.
• SLPOther2026Disfluencies in Public and Private Speech.Language and speechIn recorded Slovenian speech, disfluencies were more common in private than public speech. In public speech, filled pauses, unrepaired pronunciations and blocks were more common. The setting changed which disfluencies appeared.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2025Eye Tracking as a Treatment Monitoring Tool for Autism: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchEye-tracking measures showed small, significant changes after autism interventions, suggesting they can track treatment effects. However, baseline eye-tracking did not significantly predict later developmental gains, meaning it cannot currently be used to forecast how well a specific child will respond to therapy.
• SLPCohort2025Validity, Reliability and Application of the Paediatric Posterior Drooling Scale.Child: care, health and developmentThe Paediatric Posterior Drooling Scale reliably identifies saliva pooling in the airway when scored by trained speech therapists. It correlates with eating ability but shows poor consistency over time, so it should be used as part of a broader assessment rather than a standalone diagnostic tool.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Social Determinants of Health and Life Satisfaction of Children With Disabilities.Child: care, health and developmentFor school-attending children with disabilities, life satisfaction is strongly linked to the child's own subjective health and self-esteem, alongside parental depression and family strength. Social determinants like healthcare costs and school accommodations also play a role, though accommodations are associated with lower satisfaction, possibly due to stigma.
• SLPOther2025Developmental Changes in Speech Frequency Weighting in Children.Ear and hearingChildren aged 6 to 13 years rely increasingly on high-frequency speech cues as they mature, with importance weights for 2000 and 4000 Hz bands rising with age. Standard adult-based models overestimate children's speech access, suggesting clinical predictions need age-specific adjustments.
• SLPCase Report2025How can near infrared spectroscopy be informative about the brain activation of children using a hearing implant? Preliminary case-control findings.CoDASOne child using a cochlear implant and contralateral hearing aid showed temporal and parieto-occipital activation to mother's voice. Compared with three hearing children, findings were preliminary and cannot show the implant alone caused the activation.
• SLPOther2025Assessing Otolith-Ocular Function With Video-Ocular Counter-Roll: Optimal Tilt Angles and Impact of Visual Inputs.Ear and hearingFor video-ocular counter-roll testing, a 30-degree head tilt produces a higher gain than 60 or 90 degrees, so keep the standard angle. Visual background lighting does not affect the measurement when the patient fixates on a target.
• SLPNarrative Review2025The psychometric status of child language assessment tools in South Africa's official languages.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsOnly four child language tests for South Africa's official languages are validated, and none have current reference scores. Many tools remain incomplete, so therapists often lack ready ways to assess children's language.
• SLPCohort2025Beyond Prevalence: Understanding the Relationship Between Early Anatomic Factors and the Likelihood for Cleft Speech Characteristics.International journal of language & communication disordersChildren with bilateral cleft lip and palate or post-surgical fistulas had much higher odds of cleft speech characteristics at age 3. Wider clefts specifically predicted passive errors. These anatomic factors help identify which children need targeted speech therapy or fistula repair.
• SLPSurvey2025Attitudes Towards Bilingualism: Insights From Parents of Children With Down Syndrome.International journal of language & communication disordersMost parents chose bilingualism for children with Down syndrome, yet rated it less important than for siblings and often worried about confusion or lack of support. Professional advice varied, with some families told to use one language only.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2026Experiência de famílias e terapeutas com um programa de telessaúde para crianças e adolescentes com paralisia cerebral durante a pandemia de COVID-19.Developmental medicine and child neurologyFamilies and therapists initially doubted remote care for children with severe cerebral palsy but later valued video-based collaboration. Therapists moved from direct hands-on treatment to coaching parents through shared routines. This shift required building trust and adapting to home realities, not just technical fixes.
• PTSLPOther2026Variations in Head-Neck Posture and Hyoid Kinematics in Patients With Stroke and Aspiration Risk: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationStroke patients with high aspiration risk had forward head posture, restricted neck movement, and smaller hyoid displacements than those with low risk. Poor head-neck posture correlated with reduced hyoid movement, suggesting posture may contribute to swallowing dysfunction.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Trajectories and Predictors of Activity Participation Among People with Parkinson Disease: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationParticipation levels in people with Parkinson disease remained stable over three years, but depressive symptoms predicted immediate drops in activity. Patients with milder symptoms still lost participation over time, so monitor mood and social support in all patients, not just those with severe depression.
• SLPOther2026A first description of Auslan handshapes used by young children.Journal of deaf studies and deaf educationIn 44 Auslan learners aged 3 to 6, the B handshape was the most frequent, used in 24% of signs, unlike in ASL. Overall accuracy was 90.5%, but the H handshape was the least accurate of frequent signs. Do not apply ASL norms to Auslan.
• PTOTSLPCase Report2026Rapid Bolus Inflow into the Esophagus in a Patient with a Tracheostomy after Surgical Treatment for Dysphagia.DysphagiaA patient with an open tracheostomy spontaneously developed a swallowing method that sucked food into the esophagus using negative pressure. This allowed him to resume a normal oral diet, though the treatment involved multiple surgeries and therapies at once.
• SLPOther2026Applying the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to speech-language pathology social communication interventions for autistic children and youth: A scoping review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAcross 21 SLP social communication studies for autistic children, interventions mapped to ICF participation and environmental factors, but none cited the ICF, none included participants over 12, and the review reports content, not effects.
• PTSLPCohort2026Dynamic suprahyoid muscle ultrasound in acute stroke: a prospective observational study for developing a dysphagia severity score.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineA new bedside ultrasound score identified severe dysphagia in acute stroke patients better than standard clinical screening. Patients scoring three or more points were at high risk, catching cases the standard test missed. This tool helps therapists flag patients needing intensive swallowing support early.
• OTSLPCohort2026Traumatic Experiences, Psychological Distress and Suicide-Related Behaviors in Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAutistic adults were more likely to report self-harm, suicide plans, and attempts than non-autistic adults, even after accounting for trauma and other conditions. Higher lifetime trauma was associated with these outcomes in both groups. Childhood victimization and lack of support were frequent co-occurring factors.
• SLPCase-Control2026Prevalence of OSA Risk and Bruxism in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren with autism scored higher risk of sleep apnea on a parent questionnaire, but that difference was no longer seen after accounting for cognitive and behavior symptoms. No increase in teeth grinding was found.