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 204 OF 205 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTSLPOther2026Implementation of a Digital Tool to Identify Child Development and Parental Mental Health Needs Among Multicultural Communities Attending a School-Based Wellbeing Hub.Child: care, health and developmentAmong 61 multicultural families with preschoolers, lower parent education was linked to a 3.6-times higher chance of the child being flagged for developmental concern, but parental mental health was not. Staff said trust, flexibility, and CALD-speaking colleagues were what got families to engage.
• SLPOther2026Influence of colors in distractor videos on the recording of cortical auditory evoked potentials.CoDASColor video as a distractor during CAEP recording changed the waveform (longer P1 and P2 latencies in both ears, lower P1 amplitude in the right ear) compared with black-and-white video. The authors recommend using black-and-white video for CAEP testing with speech stimuli.
• SLPOther2026Auditory Numerosity Judgement Is Driven by Non-Spatial Factors Across Azimuth, Elevation, and Distance.Trends in hearingListeners consistently undercount how many voices are in a scene, and this undercount is the same whether voices come from left-right, up-down, or near-far. Even though spatial hearing differs enormously across those directions. What drives the estimate is how much frequency-time space the mixture fills.
• SLPOther2026Minimal Perturbation-Based Segment Selection in Connected Speech Differentiates Healthy and Pathological Voice.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationA moving-window method applied to connected speech separated 41 healthy from 41 pathological voices across all three acoustic measure groups. CPP showed the strongest separation. This suggests connected speech is a viable medium for acoustic voice assessment alongside sustained vowels.
• SLPPilot2026Better Conversations Communication Partner Training for Progressive and Non-Progressive Aphasia: What Can We Learn From Intensive Conversation Groups?International journal of language & communication disordersNine dyads completed a 2-week intensive group communication-partner programme. Self-rated goal achievement was high, but objective measures did not show a clear group-level change, and PPA confidence gains were lost by 3 months. Too small to change practice, but group CPT is feasible and well-received.
• PTSLPCohort2026The Down Syndrome Profile Emerges Gradually Across Early Development.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDIn 101 children with Down syndrome aged 6–63 months, gross motor and expressive language fall further behind over time, while receptive language keeps up. Don't use walking or talking as a shortcut to judge overall ability.
• SLPOther2026Development and Psychometric Validation of the Questionnaire for Social Communication in Young Autistic Learners (Q-SoCiAL)-Verbal Version.Journal of autism and developmental disordersA new 46-item parent questionnaire for autistic children ages 2–6 (using more than 10 words) showed strong reliability and reasonable validity. It is not yet proven to detect treatment change, so do not use it as a sole outcome measure in intervention studies.
• SLPQualitative2026Inclusive instructional communication in higher education: A comparative policy analysis of South Africa and Malawi.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsSouth African and Malawian higher education policies promise inclusion but never say how a lecture, assessment, or online course should be adapted for a student who is deaf, uses AAC, or has a language disorder. The gap is in the policy, not in the student.
• SLPCohort2026Systematic Screening of Communication Outcomes at Age 5 in Children Treated for Nonsyndromic Craniosynostosis.International journal of language & communication disordersMost five-year-olds treated for nonsyndromic craniosynostosis score within the normal range on a parent-reported communication screen. The diagnosis alone does not mean a speech or language disorder, though subtle weaknesses in speech sounds and grammar are slightly more common than average.
• SLPOther2026Examining the Roles of Retrieval Practice and Post-Retrieval Feedback in Learning Among Autistic Adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceRetrieval practice and post-retrieval feedback improve word-pair memory in autistic adults to the same degree as in non-autistic adults. Feedback is most helpful after an incorrect attempt. This is the first study to confirm these strategies work for autistic adults.
• SLPCohort2026Management pathways and outcomes of children with hearing loss identified through newborn and infant hearing screening at a tertiary paediatric hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsOf 72 children diagnosed with hearing loss at a South African paediatric hospital, only 11 received hearing aids. Most follow-up was retesting, not therapy. A child referred from this pathway may not be receiving structured language intervention.
• SLPOther2026Hearing screening outcomes and otoscopic findings among primary school children in Southwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsIn 396 Ethiopian second-graders, 31.6% failed a basic hearing check. Among those who failed, 59% had normal-looking ears, so the cause is unclear. Before attributing a child's communication difficulty to a language disorder, rule out a hearing problem. Many are simple and treatable.
• SLPPilot2026Better Conversations With Parkinson's: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Novel Communication Partner Training Telehealth Intervention.International journal of language & communication disordersA telehealth communication-partner training programme for Parkinson's was acceptable to 7 dyads and easy to deliver, but this is a feasibility study. It does not show the programme improves conversation. Recruitment was slow (7 of 69 invited).
• SLPSurvey2026Exploring Concepts of Understanding in the Working Practice of Speech and Language Therapists in the UK: A Preliminary Survey.International journal of language & communication disordersA UK survey of 77 speech therapists found that 92% regularly face disagreements with families and other staff about a patient's understanding, and that most assess attention and vocabulary while largely ignoring prosody and the communication partner's role.
• SLPRCT2026Complementary feeding introduction methods and pediatric feeding disorder in the first year of life: a randomized clinical trial.CoDASA randomized trial of 128 infants found no significant difference in feeding-disorder scores at 12 months between three ways of introducing solids. The method you recommend to parents does not appear to change feeding outcomes in the first year.
• SLPOther2026Enhancing Externalization of Frontal Virtual Sound Sources in Binaural Synthesis via Level and Reflection Adjustment of Non-individualized BRIRs.Trends in hearingTwo signal-processing tweaks to binaural room impulse responses (lowering frontal source volume to match lateral levels, and boosting early reflections) clearly made virtual sounds appear more 'outside the head' to listeners. This is an audio-engineering finding, not a clinical intervention.
• SLPOther2026Words for clinical use in speech-language pathology in Brazilian portuguese-speaking children: a focus on familiarity and representativeness from expert judges.CoDASTwenty-one judges rated 480 candidate words and 146 were kept for a word bank targeting Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children aged 18-36 months. It is a selection of words, not a test of whether using them changes a child's progress.
• OTSLPCohort2026Executive Functioning Is Linked to Internalizing Symptoms in Autistic Adults With Higher Support Needs.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAmong 486 autistic adults with higher support needs, caregiver-reported emotion regulation and flexibility difficulties were each linked to more severe anxiety and depression, while inhibitory control was not. These two domains are the most relevant EF targets for mental health in this group.
• OTSLPMeta-Analysis2026Prevalence and impact of orofacial pain in older adults with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CoDASAbout 1 in 5 older adults with dementia has orofacial pain, though the true rate may be as low as 9% or as high as 31%. These patients often cannot report pain, so clinicians should actively look for it rather than wait for complaints.
• PTOTSLPMeta-Analysis2026Predicting early intervention outcomes in autism via individual participant data mega-analysis.Molecular autismESDM and other evidence-based early interventions produce similar gains in language, cognition, and adaptive skills in autistic toddlers. The difference appears in symptom severity, where ESDM improves over time, particularly for children with higher starting ability. Starting earlier matters more than which programme you choose.
• SLPCohort2026Patient-reported voice and swallowing outcomes and their impact on quality of life in the late postoperative period following total thyroidectomy.CoDASWomen 6+ months after total thyroidectomy still report significant voice and swallowing symptoms, with fatigue and mental health the most affected quality-of-life areas. Voice symptoms dominate over swallowing. These patients may need ongoing SLP assessment well past the typical recovery window.
• SLPRCT2026Accuracy of tympanometry cutoff points in children from Central-Western Brazil.CoDASFor 6-to-42-month-old children, a tympanometry cutoff of -180 daPa (not the -100 daPa most Brazilian programs use) best balances catching real middle-ear problems against sending healthy kids for unnecessary follow-up, but it still fails to detect about half of true cases.
• SLPSurvey2026Navigating Mixed-Neurotype Dialogue: Environmental and Affective Influences on Autistic Speakers.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults report that negative emotions most often shut down their speech, while positive emotions open it up, and this effect was the same whether they were talking to autistic or allistic partners. Environment and familiarity also shaped communication.
• SLPSurvey2026Group performance differences in reading, math, and science by fourth graders with and without communication disorders.CoDASFourth graders receiving speech-language therapy scored lower than peers without therapy on reading, math, and science. Science was the weakest subject for all groups. SLPs should expect cross-subject academic difficulties and consider referring underperforming students for language screening.
• SLPProtocol2026Reduced version of the MBGR protocol: validity based on content and the response processes.CoDASA shortened orofacial assessment protocol received initial validity support from 11 speech-language pathologists. It takes about 40 minutes and examiners rated it as usable in daily practice. It is not yet a proven replacement for the full protocol.
• SLPSystematic Review2026A survey of strategies for the early diagnosis of hearing loss in infants: a scoping review.CoDASAcross 58 studies, whether a baby's hearing loss is caught early depends more on follow-up systems than on which screening test is used. Losing track of a baby after a failed screen is the main reason diagnosis is delayed.
• SLPPilot2026Clinical impact of the Development of Communication Skills in Autism (DHACA) on the development of social skills in children with autism.CoDASTwenty-three young children with autism showed clear gains in eye contact, shared attention, and responding to name after 20 weekly sessions of a picture-based communication programme. With no control group, these gains cannot be separated from natural development or the attention of therapists.
• SLPSystematic Review2026The Impact of Fragile X Syndrome on Caregivers: A Systematic Review.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRA review of 20 studies finds that caregivers of people with Fragile X, mostly mothers, carry heavy emotional, financial and practical loads, driven largely by the person's behavioural challenges. If you work with a person with FXS, their caregiver is likely under significant stress.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Fragile X Syndrome in Adulthood: A Study of Electronic Health Records.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesAdults with Fragile X have substantially more cardiac, metabolic, and neurological medical encounters than age-matched peers without the diagnosis. Black and White adults with FXS had nearly identical health profiles. First population-based study to document this in Black adults.
• SLPOther2026Cross-cultural validation of the self-assessment of competence in communication - SACCom - to Italian.CoDASA 19-item self-assessment of communication competence has been validated into Italian (TACCom-IT). SLH pathologists can now use it to assess and track communication skills in Italian-speaking clients. The authors note it still needs further testing in this population.
• SLPOther2026Auditory Working Memory Mediates the Relationship Between Musical Sophistication and Speech-In-Noise Perception.Trends in hearingAmong 203 adults, musical sophistication was weakly linked to speech-in-noise performance, and the association was fully explained by auditory working memory. This is a cross-sectional correlation. It does not show that music training or AWM exercises will improve a patient's speech-in-noise ability.
• SLPCohort2026Auditory Differences in Occupationally Noise-Exposed Workers With Normal Conventional Audiograms: A Multi-Measure Surveillance Approach.Trends in hearingWorkers with normal hearing tests showed measurable differences in extended high-frequency hearing, cochlear function, and speech-in-noise performance versus low-noise controls. These are group-level surveillance findings, not a diagnosis for any individual worker.
• SLPPilot2026Subcortical neural response to click and speech stimuli in infants and young children with congenital cytomegalovirus: a preliminary study.CoDASIn 20 infants (10 with asymptomatic congenital CMV, 10 controls), subcortical responses to click and speech sounds were essentially the same between groups. This does not rule out later hearing loss. The authors stress ongoing monitoring is still needed.
• OTSLPOther2026Parenting Stress in Families of Children With ASD and DD: A Multidimensional Perspective.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesParents of 3-to-5-year-olds with autism and with other developmental delays reported similar stress levels across three measures. What predicted stress was not the diagnosis but a mix of the child's behavior, adaptive skills, and family circumstances like income and siblings with problems.
• SLPCohort2026Analysis of neural coding of speech in monaural and binaural conditions in children with speech sound disorder.CoDASChildren with phonological disorder showed longer brainstem responses to a speech sound than typically developing children, in every listening condition tested. This objective measure could complement clinical assessment, but the study does not show it tracks therapy progress.
• SLPOther2026Expressive Language Sample Concordance With ADOS-2 Scores: Autism, Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesThe ADOS-2 EL score (1–8) reflects a person's spoken syntax and vocabulary, but it did not change over a year while traditional language-sample measures did. Use it as a snapshot, not a progress tracker.
• SLPPilot2026Real-Time Conversation Comprehension in Younger and Older Adults: The Effects of Noise, Visual Speech, Speaker Switch, and Context.Trends in hearingSeeing the speaker helps both younger and older adults follow a conversation, and older adults actually benefit more from visual speech than younger ones. Background noise slows everyone down. Both age groups use context to predict upcoming words equally well.
• SLPCohort2026Clinical Relevance of NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery Developmental Change in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Associations with Verbal Reasoning.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesOver two years, NIH Toolbox Crystallized Cognition scores tracked growth in verbal knowledge and verbal reasoning in 263 people with intellectual disabilities. The brief iPad test is a valid outcome measure for monitoring verbal cognitive development in this population.
• SLPOther2026Clinical validation of the RaDI oropharyngeal dysphagia screening tool in older adults.CoDASA 9-question dysphagia screening questionnaire (RaDI) correctly flagged 75% of real swallowing problems and 75% of normal swallows in 52 older adults tested against endoscopy. A negative score does not rule out dysphagia. Clinical assessment is still needed.
• SLPNarrative Review2026Using Systemic Functional Linguistics in the Clinical Management of Neurogenic Communication Disorders: An Introduction and Worked Example.International journal of language & communication disordersA structured way to code who does what in a conversation is introduced for SLPs treating neurogenic communication disorders. One couple's interaction illustrates the method. No treatment was tested; the coding system is not yet validated for clinical use.
• SLPSystematic Review2026The relationship between bullying and stuttering in schoolchildren: scoping review.CoDASA scoping review of 17 studies confirms children who stutter are bullied far more than peers, with lasting effects on self-esteem and social life. SLPs are named as key to addressing this, but no intervention has been proven effective.
• SLPSurvey2026Uptake and Evaluation of a Crosslinguistic Nonword Repetition Test in Clinical and Research Contexts.International journal of language & communication disordersA survey of 109 users of the Crosslinguistic Nonword Repetition Test found 92% considered it useful, mostly for screening multilingual children for DLD. It still lacks norms and practical guidance, so treat it as one part of a battery, not a standalone diagnosis.
• SLPSurvey2026Speech and Language Therapists' Views Regarding Their Scope of Practice in Written Language.International journal of language & communication disordersA survey of 511 UK speech therapists found most believe they have a role in written language, but child-focused therapists are significantly less confident and less involved than adult-focused ones. 89% want a formal position statement to clarify the profession's role.
• OTSLPCohort2026Addressing Common Problems in Autism Research: Cohort Development and Sample Description for a Participatory, Real-World, Longitudinal Study of Outcomes in Autistic Adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceThree ways of recruiting autistic adults (health systems, disability services, community) produced very different groups in age, support needs, health, and independence. Free, accessible outcome measures for autistic adults are now available for clinicians to use.
• SLPQualitative2026Building Knowledge and Confidence: Student Speech Pathologists' Perspectives on Learning About Cognitive-Communication Disorders and the Potential of Implementing Convers-ABI-lity on Placement.International journal of language & communication disordersTen speech pathology students found the convers-ABI-lity programme practical and easy to use, but could not say how to apply its modules in a session. They need worked examples, supervisor observation, and a rationale for each step before delivering it to a client.
• SLPCohort2026Listening-Related Fatigue in Adolescents With Prelingual Deafness and Device Experience.Trends in hearingAdolescents with hearing loss and long-term device use had average fatigue scores in the normal range, but a meaningful subset scored above the clinical threshold. Perceived communication difficulty and anxiety/depression, not hearing level or device type, drove the differences.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2026Inclusion of Participants With Limited English Proficiency in Autism Research.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchA systematic review of 1,007 autism studies found that only 19% included participants with limited English proficiency, and just 18% of randomized trials did, meaning most intervention evidence may not apply to your LEP patients.
• SLPPilot2026Test-Retest Reliability and Preliminary Validation of Smartphone-Based Threshold and Categorical loudness Measures in Home Settings.Trends in hearingTwo smartphone hearing tests matched lab results in 15 normal-hearing young adults at home. Proof-of-concept only: no hearing-impaired patients, one university, quiet rural settings. Does not change current clinical practice.
• SLPOther2026Social enhancement of associative learning in neurotypical, speaking autistic, and minimally speaking autistic preschoolers.Molecular autismMinimally speaking autistic preschoolers showed no evidence of learning the association, while neurotypical and speaking autistic peers did, with a social boost. A child who doesn't learn from social cues may need a different approach, not more of the same.
• SLPOther2026How Temporal Overlap in Task Processing and Acoustic Load Affect Listening Effort in Adults.Trends in hearingIn 25 normal-hearing young adults, splitting attention between listening and a visual task raised listening effort more than background speech noise did, even though word understanding stayed around 90%. Mild room echo in quiet actually lowered effort compared to a dead-silent room.