Maximal Tongue Strength in Typically Developing Children and Adolescents

The present study examined tongue strength in 150 children and adolescents, 3–16 years of age, with no history of speech or swallowing disorders using the Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument (IOPI). Children as young as 3 years of age were able to tolerate the IOPI standard tongue bulb and were reliable performers on measures of tongue strength with an unconstrained mandible. Tongue strength measurements were elicited in blocks of three trials with a 30-s rest between the trials and a 20-min rest between blocks. Tongue strength increased with age with no consistent best trial across ages and participants. Males showed a slight increase in tongue strength over females at ages 14 and 16. This study suggests maximum pediatric tongue strength may be reliably evaluated using commercially available equipment and provides a limited sample comparative database.

from Dysphagia

Patient Dose During Videofluoroscopy Swallowing Studies in a Hong Kong Public Hospital

The mean fluoroscopic time is 4.23 ± 2.56 min. The P value of 0.0034 was obtained using the Kruskal–Wallis test to compare the DAP from various groups of indicating pathologies. It suggests that there are significant differences in dosage between CVA and NPC patients and the entire population. We conclude that the dose of radiation received by a patient undergoing a VFSS examination in our center was comparable to the international standard and that of other similar studies. We can also conclude that there is a significant difference in dosage between NPC and CVA patients and the overall population suggesting that the indicating pathologies for a VFSS have certain effects on the resulting irradiating dose delivered but more studies have to be done to explain such differences.

from Dysphagia

Effects of Oropharyngeal Air-Pulse Stimulation on Swallowing in Healthy Older Adults

Results indicated that bilateral oropharyngeal air-pulse stimulation was associated with a statistically significant increase in mean saliva swallowing rate compared to baseline without mouthpiece, baseline with mouthpiece in situ, and sham stimulation. In previous studies, young adults reported an irrepressible urge to swallow in response to oropharyngeal air-pulse delivery, but the older adults in the current study did not perceive the air-pulse stimulation as being associated with swallowing or other behaviors. These findings indicate that oropharyngeal air-pulse stimulation facilitates the elicitation of saliva swallowing in older adults.

from Dysphagia

Assistive Technology Toolkit to Increase Access to Early Learning Environments for Young Children With Disabilities

The development of assistive technology (AT) and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions for young children with disabilities is rapidly expanding with a range of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech approaches to provide access to adapted and augmented tools for participation in inclusive early childhood settings. Discrepancies exist in the legal requirements to consider AT and AAC for all children in the IFSP/IEP planning process. Researchers in the applications of AT and AAC with young children identify the importance of activity-based approaches that infuse AT methods and AAC systems within natural routines for young children. This article focuses on the development of an AT Toolkit Guide for early intervention and early childhood providers. The development of the AT Toolkit concept, content, and applications is based on research-based methods and tools with demonstrated effectiveness to promote language development, emergent literacy skills, play, mobility, and interaction with the environment for young children with disabilities. Suggested items, sources, applications and development guidelines for the SWEET AT Toolkit are provided.

from Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Internet Resources for Augmentative and Alternative Communication in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Services

The development and implementation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools for children in the earliest stages of communication and language development may include a range of communication modalities that include gesture, vocalization, actual objects, photos, picture icons, Speech Generating Devices (SGDs), and higher-tech AAC devices. Internet resources for AAC in early intervention settings include assessment tools, communication aids, early literacy supports, educational tools for professionals and families and much more. Some of the key resources that have been reviewed by a team of professionals through the Supporting Early Education Development Systems (SEEDS) Project in the Sacramento County Office of Education, Sacramento, California, are described.

from Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Language Modeling as an Efficacious Early Language Intervention Approach With Young Children Demonstrating Complex Communication Needs

This article highlights evidence supporting the efficacy of adult language modeling and child imitation, including use of aided AAC modeling, during language intervention with young children demonstrating complex communication needs. First, four evidence-based language intervention approaches that incorporate adult language modeling and child imitation with young children demonstrating language delays are described. Second, two additional evidence-based language intervention approaches that incorporate aided AAC modeling during communication partner training, and direct clinical intervention with young children using aided AAC are further discussed. The article concludes with suggestions for strategies to use during language intervention with young children who use aided AAC.

from Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Response to Intervention: Applications for AAC in Preschool Settings

Educators were previously encouraged to use IQ-achievement discrepancy to identify children with learning disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) promotes an alternative method, “Response to Intervention” or RTI, to identify and provide early intervention to all children at risk for school failure. Recognition and Response (R & R) is the RTI model for preschool-aged children. Children with complex communication needs, who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), are at risk for failing in the preschool classroom and can benefit from the educational supports provided through R & R. This article discusses the levels of support provided by RTI and strategies and supports for achieving academic success for preschool children who use AAC.

from Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Successful Treatment of Pulmonary Aspiration Due to Brain Stem Infarction by Using Cough Exercise Based on Swallowing Scintigraphy: Preliminary Observations

Although dysphagia in stroke may result in lethal chest infection, it can be prevented by coughing. We report on a patient with dysphagia and aspiration who regained oral ingestion by swallowing with voluntary cough. A 54-year-old man with subarachnoidal hemorrhage underwent endovascular coiling and developed brain stem infarction. Scintigraphy showed pulmonary aspiration just after swallowing, but no radioactivity was detected in the lungs 10 min after swallowing with voluntary cough. Swallowing exercise with voluntary cough resulted in a safe swallow without enteral feeding. Even if laryngeal penetration and pulmonary aspiration are observed, chest infection could be prevented by swallowing exercise combined with voluntary cough.

from Dysphagia

Pseudohypacusis: the most frequent etiology of sudden hearing loss in children

Sudden hearing loss is a rare pathology in children. Several factors may be responsible for it although the exact etiology remains frequently undiagnosed. Among them, pseudohypacusis has been reported. However, the extent to which this pathology contributes to sudden hearing loss in children is unknown. This study evaluates the incidence of pseudohypacusis in children presented with sudden hearing loss. The medical records of 48 children presented to our department because of sudden hearing loss from 2002 to 2007 were reviewed. Diagnostic process included both subjective and objective audiological tests while organic hearing losses were further subjected to proper evaluation and treatment. 26 cases (54%) of pseudohypacusis and 22 cases (46%) of organic sudden hearing loss were diagnosed. In the pseudohypacustic group, girls outnumbered boys (16:10) and their mean age was 10.5 years. Pseudohypacusis represents the most frequent etiology of sudden hearing loss in children. Its detection is relatively simple using conventional audiological tests though in some cases even experienced clinicians may come to incorrect diagnosis.

from ORL -Journal for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Its Related Specialties

The ciliary beat frequency of middle ear mucosa in children with chronic secretory otitis media

The chronic secretory otitis media (CSOM) is a common disease in children. Its cardinal symptoms are recurrent middle ear effusions and conductive hearing loss. Until today, the pathophysiological mechanism of this disease remains unknown. The correlation with adenoids and tubal dysfunction during childhood seems to be obvious, but the origin of middle ear effusions still has to be clarified. It is known that the CSOM affects the mucociliary system in several ways. In order to find out more about these correlations, the ciliary beat frequency was examined in 123 samples of infantile middle ear mucosa suffering from CSOM. Samples were surveyed using a stroboscopic microscopy method. The results of this study showed a significant decrease of ciliary beat frequency (CBF) to an average of 7.4 s−1 in children with a CSOM. The healthy group of control showed a frequency of 10.1 s−1. The measured CBF dataset was correlated with microbiological findings. We found a typical bacterial profile in nearly all the cases that were examined but were unable to find a specific bacterium decreasing CBF. This study provides evidence for the diminution of CBF in cases of CSOM in comparison to a healthy control group. Our findings emphasize the importance of stopping the vicious circle of recurrent effusions by paracentesis or grommet insertion.

from ORL -Journal for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Its Related Specialties

Auditory-Visual Object Recognition Time Suggests Specific Processing for Animal Sounds

These results suggest a specific and mandatory processing of animal sounds, possibly due to phylogenetic memory and consistent with the idea that hearing is particularly efficient as an alerting sense. They also highlight the importance of taking into account the auditory modality when investigating the way object concepts of biologically relevant categories are stored and retrieved.

from PLoS Medicine

Hair Cell Bundles: Flexoelectric Motors of the Inner Ear

Electrical power enters the stereocilia through displacement sensitive ion channels and, due to the small diameter of stereocilia, is converted to useful mechanical power output by flexoelectricity. This motor augments molecular motors associated with the mechanosensitive apparatus itself that have been described previously. The model reveals stereocilia to be highly efficient and fast flexoelectric motors that capture the energy in the extracellular electro-chemical potential of the inner ear to generate mechanical power output. The power analysis provides an explanation for the correlation between stereocilia height and the tonotopic organization of hearing organs. Further, results suggest that flexoelectricity may be essential to the exquisite sensitivity and frequency selectivity of non-mammalian hearing organs at high auditory frequencies, and may contribute to the “cochlear amplifier” in mammals.

from PLoS Medicine

Are the same phoneme and lexical layers used in speech production and comprehension? A case-series test of Foygel and Dell’s (2000) model of aphasic speech production

In this paper, we investigate the claim that although the same lexical units are involved in speech production and comprehension, there are separate input and output phoneme layers (Foygel and Dell, 2000). Data from a case series of aphasic patients are used to test this claim by examining the relationship between performance on a test of picture naming and performance on tests of phonological input. Estimates of each patient’s semantic-lexical and phonological impairments in speech production were derived from Foygel and Dell’s computational model of picture naming. It was found that the strength of the semantic-lexical impairments in speech production was significantly correlated with performance on auditory comprehension tests. This finding is consistent with the claim that the same lexical units are involved in speech comprehension and production. Conversely, the correlations between the strength of the phonological lesions in speech production and performance on tests of phonological input were non-significant, consistent with Foygel and Dell’s claim that there are distinct input and output phoneme layers.

from Cortex

Electrophysiological correlates of different anomic patterns in comparison with normal word production

Different forms of anomia are observed in aphasia, which can be related to impaired semantic, lexical or phonological processes. In the present study, we analysed electrophysiological correlates of different patterns of anomia in six aphasic speakers. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during picture naming in each anomic speaker and in 15 healthy controls. Waveform analysis and temporal segmentation indicated a difference between high and low frequency words in the control group between 270 and 330msec after picture onset. The ERPs recorded in the patients were compared to the control group. The time-windows of divergent ERP correlates were very similar between successful and erroneous naming, but they were differently distributed in the 6 patients. Two patients with conduction aphasia and impaired phonological encoding had normal electro-cortical activity during the first 300msec and abnormal patterns between 300 and 450msec. Two patients with lexical-semantic impairment had earlier ERP abnormalities starting immediately after visual processes. The two patients with less severe anomia and preponderance of omission errors displayed abnormal ERPs between 280 and 350msec. These results indicate that abnormal electro-cortical correlates of anomic profiles can be observed in different time-windows, which seem to correspond to the time course of the impaired encoding processes.

from Cortex

Neural differences in the processing of true and false sentences: Insights into the nature of ‘truth’ in language comprehension

The inquiry on the nature of truth in language comprehension has a long history of opposite perspectives. These perspectives either consider that there are qualitative differences in the processing of true and false statements, or that these processes are fundamentally the same and only differ in quantitative terms. The present study evaluated the processing nature of true and false statements in terms of patterns of brain activity using event-related functional-Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging (fMRI). We show that when true and false concept-feature statements are controlled for relation strength/ambiguity, their processing is associated to qualitatively different processes. Verifying true statements activates the left inferior parietal cortex and the caudate nucleus, a neural correlate compatible with an extended search and matching process for particular stored information. In contrast, verifying false statements activates the fronto-polar cortex and is compatible with a reasoning process of finding and evaluating a contradiction between the sentence information and stored knowledge.

from Cortex