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 196 OF 205 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPCase-Control2026Are brief batteries able to identify aphasia in elderly people? A study with the ABLA Battery.CoDASA brief 10-task language battery separated 16 older adults with post-stroke aphasia from 16 healthy peers on every task, with the aphasia group scoring lower throughout. It has not been tested against a full language assessment, so it screens, it does not diagnose.
• SLPCase-Control2026Neurobiological activity of the auditory pathway and memory: a comparative study in individuals infected with SARS-Cov-2.CoDASYoung adults who had COVID-19 scored lower than unexposed peers on short-term visual memory (2.8 versus 3.0) and showed earlier, larger P1 waves on the auditory evoked potential. Total memory scores did not differ.
• SLPPilot2026Speech therapy program for the rehabilitation of smell.CoDASEight adults with smell loss one to two years after severe COVID-19 completed a speech therapy program and daily home smell training. All improved and the authors report normal smell restored in 75%, but everyone was treated, so there was no comparison group.
• SLPCohort2026Perception of Brazilian and Portuguese teachers about the relationship between work and physical and mental health: analysis of associated individual and work-related factors.CoDASStress at work, no time for personal life, and dissatisfaction with pay, rewards or the job itself were the factors most strongly linked to teachers saying work harmed their physical and mental health. Portuguese teachers reported more physical-health harm (59.5%) than Brazilian teachers (27.3%).
• OTSLPSystematic Review2026Systematic Review of Group-Based Emotion Regulation Interventions for Autistic Children's Socio-Emotional Competence.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthGroup programmes teaching autistic children to recognise and manage emotions may improve social skills, emotional competence and empathy. All 17 studies reported gains, but several had no comparison group and the studies were too varied to pool, so the effect is uncertain.
• SLPOther2026Impact of ageing on discourse types: a comparative study.CoDASOn conversation, narration and picture description tasks, older adults scored lower than younger and middle-aged adults. Picture description dropped most. Within the oldest group, conversation held up better than the other two.
• OTSLPCohort2026Reciprocal Associations Between Parental Anxiety/Depression and Emotional/Behavioral Difficulties in Autistic Children Following Their Diagnosis.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchParents' anxiety and depression and autistic children's emotional and behavioural difficulties did not predict each other over the three years after diagnosis. At diagnosis 55.2% of mothers and 42.7% of fathers had clinically significant symptoms, and 61.3% of children were in the clinical range.
• SLPRCT2026Effectiveness of a myofunctional therapy program in the treatment of mouth breathing in patients with dental malocclusion: a pilot clinical trial.CoDASTwelve sessions of orofacial myofunctional therapy moved nine adults with dental malocclusion from mouth to nose breathing, eased respiratory symptoms and lengthened how long they could sustain a sound. Oral health quality of life did not improve. Small pilot, no sham group.
• SLPCohort2026Influence of cognitive functions on central auditory processing tests in university students.CoDASCentral auditory processing test results were mostly unrelated to cognitive scores, but poor verbal fluency went with abnormal temporal resolution, and poor working memory and problem solving with abnormal dichotic listening, in 95 university students. Four other auditory tests showed no link.
• SLPCase-Control2026Screening and analysis of the risk of dysphonia based on general and specific screening protocols in teachers with and without voice disorders.CoDASTeachers with and without voice disorders scored almost the same on both dysphonia risk screening questionnaires, and both groups scored above the high-risk cutoff. Their risk scores did not match how severe their voices sounded. Only hydration and smoking separated the groups, slightly.
• SLPPilot2026Specialist-mediated play therapy for toddlers with language developmental delay: a single-center observational pilot study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesToddlers with mild language delay gained more when play sessions were designed and supervised by a developmental paediatrician than with clinic-based speech therapy or parent-led home training: language quotient 5.8 to 6.3 points higher at 12 months. Groups were not randomised.
• SLPCase Series2026Perception-production relationship in children with phonological disorder during speech therapy.CoDASChildren with phonological disorder scored far higher on perceiving speech, their own and other people's, than on producing the /l/ and /ɾ/ sounds. Seven of the sixteen had still not mastered those sounds at the end, and perception and production barely tracked each other.
• OTSLPCohort2026Maternal And Paternal Differences in Parental Stress and Children's Autistic Features Among Parents of Preschool Autistic Children.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceChild behaviour problems went with higher stress for both mothers and fathers of autistic preschoolers. Mothers' stress also went with social communication, repetitive behaviour and adaptive difficulties; fathers' did not. Mothers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and more educated mothers, reported less stress.
• SLPOther2026Effect of speech recognition test presentation on cochlear implant user performance.CoDASCochlear implant users scored higher on speech tests when the tester spoke the sentences aloud than when they heard a recording: live voice beat recorded by 15.58 points for words and 19.07 for sentences in quiet. In noise the two came out level.
• SLPRCT2026Musical auditory training and cognitive auditory training: effects on the perception of tinnitus disorder.CoDASAll three groups improved, including the placebo group that watched silent films while listening to Mozart. Cognitive auditory training also reduced tinnitus loudness, but it did not beat musical training, and the study was too small to be sure.
• PTOTSLPCase Report2026Lorazepam for post-operative pediatric cerebellar mutism syndrome: A case report.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineOne 11-year-old boy with post-operative cerebellar mutism after medulloblastoma surgery gained 40 WeeFIM units the week after lorazepam was started, having gained 1 the week before, and lost ground when it was stopped. Four other drugs were on board as well.
• SLPQualitative2026Addressing Future Changes in Communication Using Hypothetical Scenarios With People With Primary Progressive Aphasia and Care Partners: A Conversation Analytic Study.International journal of language & communication disordersThe therapist raised future planning by keeping it hypothetical, asking 'if you get worse' and using 'one' rather than the person's own decline. Three of the four couples let the topic drop; one pressed for prognosis.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Long-Term Speech Outcomes in Moderate-to-Severe Childhood Speech Sound Disorder: A Systematic Review.International journal of language & communication disordersThe studies differ too much in how they define severity, when they reassess and what they measure to answer whether, or when, a moderate-to-severe childhood speech sound disorder resolves. Persistence was common in childhood apraxia of speech and speech-plus-language difficulties.
• SLPCohort2026Using Network Analysis to Understand the Associations Between Menopausal Symptoms and Mental Health in Women With Intellectual Disabilities.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDWomen with intellectual disabilities who reported fatigue, hot flushes or night sweats, or mood changes were far more likely to report anxiety tied to their menopause. That anxiety went with more challenging behaviour and more psychotropic medication use.
• SLPOther2026Promoting awareness of open access publishing in speech-language therapy and audiology: Lessons from multilingual language assessment research.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsThis is an opinion piece arguing that open access publishing helps South African speech-language therapists and audiologists reach research they can actually use. It reports no patients and no outcomes, so nothing here changes clinical practice.
• SLPQualitative2026A qualitative evaluation of cognitive-behavioural therapy components for social anxiety in autistic adults: Lived experiences from a modified group program.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults found this group CBT useful, but said cognitive restructuring misfired when their social fears reflected real exclusion rather than distorted thinking. Over 95% valued concrete social strategies. About a quarter said exposure tasks amplified their distress instead of reducing it.
• OTSLPSurvey2026Growing-up autistic: Sharing autistic children's experiences and insights.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceMost of these 136 autistic children felt it was okay to be autistic at home (91%) but not around teachers (26.8%) or friends (40.2%). Only 4.5% felt they definitely had the words to describe being autistic, and 45.1% said they masked.
• SLPOther2026Effect of Avatar Head Movements on Communication Behavior and Subjective Evaluations of Presence and Success in Triadic Conversations.Trends in hearingMaking avatars' head movements more realistic changed little: listeners turned their heads slightly closer to the speakers and spoke in longer stretches, but did not rate the conversation as any easier. Background noise changed far more, raising speech volume and lengthening turn-taking gaps.
• SLPCase-Control2026Emergency Department Care for Patients With Prader-Willi Syndrome: A 2019-2021 National Emergency Department Sample Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersPeople with Prader-Willi syndrome who arrive at the emergency department are far more likely than matched patients to be admitted to hospital or to die there, most often with blood infection or breathing problems.
• SLPCohort2026Patterns of handshape errors in the Auslan productions of young children.Journal of deaf studies and deaf educationOf 3,849 handshapes produced by 44 children learning Auslan, only 374 were wrong; 88.7% of those errors were substitutions, usually swapping in a common shape such as B, 1, 5 or S. Patterns differed from ASL, so ASL norms may not apply.
• SLPSystematic Review2026Digital Technologies for Children With Hearing Impairments to Support Language Learning: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesMost digital tools for children with hearing loss are mobile apps, and most of those teach sign vocabulary. Only 12 of 45 studies reported any outcomes at all, and they were small and short, so nothing here shows these tools work.
• SLPOther2026Navigating the challenges of moving from research to clinical care: The example of the Teen Online Problem Solving program.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineTherapists said they could adapt an online problem-solving programme for teenagers with brain injury to other neurological conditions, prioritising the young person's current concerns over the diagnosis and changing session order and pace. No patient outcomes were measured, so this shows adaptation, not effectiveness.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2026"No Words Needed": Results of a Survey on How Parents of Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders Perceive (In)formal Peer Support.Child: care, health and developmentMost of the 225 Dutch parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (77.3%) said they needed peer support, mainly to hear others' experiences and to feel understood without judgement. Only 12.4% found it through a healthcare provider; most connected via Facebook groups.
• SLPOther2026Multidimensional Measurements of Dysarthria in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1.International journal of language & communication disordersAdults with myotonic dystrophy type 1 spoke and articulated more slowly than reference values, could not reach normal loudness, and had a narrower pitch range. Most rated their own speech as fine. Relatives rated it lower as severity rose. Twenty-two patients, no control group.
• SLPOther2026Influence of the Electrode-Neuron Interface and Asymmetry of Pulses on the Spread of Excitation in Cochlear Implants: A Computational Study.Trends in hearingWidening the gap between electrode and nerve widened the spread of stimulation in this computer model. Lengthening a pulse's second phase narrowed the spread but also suppressed nerve responses, and whether that helped depended on the gap.
• SLPQualitative2026What Influences Speech Pathology Practice for Children with Complex Communication Needs from Multilingual Families? An Australian Perspective.International journal of language & communication disordersFamilies often resisted AAC, asking when therapy would work on talking instead. English dominated both sessions and device choice, and speech pathologists lacked the time, funding and interpreters to build systems in home languages.
• SLPCohort2026The Influence of Aphasia Type and Severity on Sentence Comprehension after Left Hemisphere Stroke.International journal of language & communication disordersSentence understanding got worse as grammar got harder in people after a left-hemisphere stroke, including those scoring above the aphasia cut-off and those with anomic aphasia. On the hardest sentences, passive object-relatives, everyone including older controls scored near chance.
• OTSLPOther2026"Disconnected From Everyone and Everything Around Them": A Mixed Method Study to Explore the Perspectives of Children With Language Difficulties and Their Caregivers On Mental Health Concerns and Mental Health Support.International journal of language & communication disordersMost of 120 caregivers of children with language difficulties (91%) had worried about their child's mental health, mainly anxiety, self-esteem and friendships, but 65% said their child had never had formal mental health support. Talk-based therapy was described as a poor fit.
• SLPOther2026Behaviour Change Techniques and Mechanisms of Action: Identification of the Active Ingredients in Communication Partner Training for People With Acquired Brain Injury.International journal of language & communication disordersCoding three communication partner training manuals found 27 behaviour change techniques and 17 mechanisms of action. Seven techniques appeared in at least 80% of sessions in all three, including goal setting, feedback and practice. It counts what the manuals contain, not what works.
• SLPCase-Control2026Development and Validation of a Short Version Eye-Tracking Paradigm for the Screening and Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Qatar.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchA four-minute eye-tracking test told apart children who already had an autism diagnosis from mostly typically developing controls, and its scores rose with autism severity on ADOS-2 and parent report. Accuracy was measured after diagnosis, not in unselected screening.
• SLPOther2026Motion-Steered Noise Management in Hearing Aids Reduces Listening Effort and Stress Indexed by Pupil Size and Heart Rate.Ear and hearingThe two hearing aids produced the same speech-in-noise comprehension scores, but not the same effort. In the harder condition with four competing talkers, the aid that also uses movement information kept pupil dilation and heart rate lower.
• SLPCase-Control2026Investigation of Swallowing Performance and Family Impact in Children With Speech and Language Delay.International journal of language & communication disordersChildren with speech and language delay scored worse than typically developing peers on mouth structure and movement tests, and their families reported lower quality of life. Food and drink intake was no different, but parents did report more swallowing problems.
• OTSLPCohort2026Predictors of Parent Engagement in Part C Early Intervention for Autism: The Role of Single Parenthood and Initial Motivation.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceSingle parents took a less active part in early intervention sessions than parents living with a partner, and parents who started more motivated practiced at home more often. Nothing measured predicted attendance, and the engagement measures did not track together.
• SLPCase Report2026Case Report: Tailored automatic speech recognition in global aphasia with dysarthria - a single case proof of concept.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA system trained on one woman's voice recognised her intended word in 72.65% of 936 attempts, against 56.75% for twelve rehabilitation professionals who knew her speech. One patient and a 13-word vocabulary, so not proof it generalises.
• SLPCase Report2026Post-masking in cortical auditory evoked potentials following acoustically controlled auditory training: a case report.CoDASOne 25-year-old man with central auditory processing disorder scored better on every listening test after 10 sessions of computer-based auditory training, and his brainwave responses to speech got faster, with and without interfering noise. One person, so this cannot show the training works.
• SLPCohort2026Language development of premature children followed up in an outpatient clinic: a preliminary study.CoDASNone of the birth, medical or family factors tested in these 61 premature children was linked to their language scores. Boys and children from poorer families had more low scores, but those patterns did not reach significance.
• SLPOther2026Oral narrative discourse in schoolchildren with Autism Spectrum Disorder.CoDASChildren with autism and average or above-average reasoning, already in therapy and from better-off families, retold and understood a story about as well as typically developing peers. Their weak spot was retelling the story's essential facts, and they used fewer nouns and prepositions.
• SLPCohort2026Time Matters: Possible Predictors of the Number of Appointments During the First Year After Hearing Aid Fitting.American journal of audiologyAdults fitted with hearing aids attended about four follow-up appointments in the first year, most often three to five. People who paid more than $1,000 out of pocket, and those given an accessory, attended roughly one more visit. Hearing loss severity made no difference.
• SLPOther2026'Better Conversations With Developmental Language Disorder': Designing a Novel Intervention for School-Aged Children and Their Main Carers.International journal of language & communication disorders
• SLPOther2026Analysis of play in children aged 2 to 4 with developmental language disorder.CoDASOf 37 children with developmental language disorder, 35 played at least one level below what is expected for their age. Better play went with better fine motor skills, but not with language, cognition, income or gestational age.
• SLPCase-Control2026Autistic Children With Speech Onset Delay Show Reversed Bias in Spectral Versus Temporal Auditory Processing.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAutistic children with delayed speech needed a longer silent gap to notice a break in a sound, but could detect smaller changes in pitch than typically developing peers. In the autistic group, sharper pitch detection went with better language and nonverbal scores.
• SLPSurvey2026Association between the feeling of vocal comfort and social security when wearing a protective mask: a study with transgender people.CoDASThree quarters of 85 transgender adults said wearing a face mask made them feel socially safer, while just over half found masks uncomfortable. Comfort with the mask was the only thing that predicted feeling safer.
• SLPOther2026Content-based validity evidence of the Acute Voice Fatigue Self-Perception Scale (AFA-Voz Scale).CoDASA new scale asks voice users to rate right now their fatigue, neck or throat discomfort, and limitation in voice use, each from 0 to 10. Five voice experts judged every item fully relevant. It has not been tested with patients, so it is not ready for clinical use.
• SLPCase Report2026Communication development of a child with autism, the son of deaf parents, using alternative communication: a case report.CoDASOne non-speaking 5-year-old with autism, whose deaf parents use sign language, improved on a parent-completed behaviour checklist and a clinician-rated communication assessment over nine months of therapy with a picture book paired with sign language. One child cannot show a treatment works.
• SLPCohort2026Cortical auditory evoked potential with different speech stimuli in children with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection.CoDASChildren with asymptomatic congenital CMV, all with normal hearing and language, showed a less well-defined N1 and P2 waveform and a larger N2 response to speech sounds than unexposed children. Small cross-sectional study, so no evidence these differences cause language problems.