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Background: This scoping review had as a primary goal a review of the literature and the an analysis of the possible effectiveness of the LSVT LOUD approach in children with voice and speech deficits. Methods: A search was conducted in the Scopus and PubMed databases in May of 2024. Eleven articles were obtained from the search. The standards of PRISMA recommendations were used for scoping reviews and the PCC framework was used for the eligibility criteria. Furthermore, the study used the instructions in the Cochrane Handbook for a quality assessment. The Mendeley Reference Manager software collected the studies and removed duplicates. Results: The reviewed studies employed formal and informal measures to assess voice and speech abilities in the children. Regarding the sample's characteristics, the studies mostly included children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and also those with Down Syndrome (DS). All the studies reported that children with CP and DS undertook a total dose of the LSVT LOUD treatment. Significant post-treatment findings indicated increased speech function and sound pressure level, regarding the auditory–perceptual ratings of voice and speech improvement. In many studies, parents' and expert listeners' ratings of voice, perception of vocal loudness, speech, and communication indicated improvement. Conclusions: The majority of the included studies provide positive evidence for the LSVT as an approach. However, the small sample size that featured in the studies, as well as their limitations, made these conclusions uncertain. Moreover, the study's findings provided recommendations that speech language therapists and other clinicians need to follow when setting a treatment plan with children with CP and DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the performance of Greek monolingual typically developing (TD) children on diadochokinetic (DDK) rates in real words and non-words and attempted to establish normative data for Greek. The effects of age, type of stimuli and gender were investigated. A total of 380 children aged 4.0–15.0 years as well as a control group of 313 adults participated in the study. Age significantly affected DDK performance, yet normative data differ from other studies. DDK rates for bisyllabic stimuli were faster than DDK rates for trisyllabic stimuli and real words were articulated faster than non-words. Adolescents aged 13.0–15.0 years were slower than adults both in real word and in non-word /ˈpataka/ repetition. Additionally, overall boys were significantly faster than girls. These findings show the need to: (a) implement real word stimuli in DDK tasks in order to better depict an individual’s oral-motor abilities and (b) establish language-specific normative data for TD children.

One of the components of a dementia diagnosis is the assessment of functional abilities. These abilities are measured via screeners, such as the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale. The IADL scale is a valid tool that has been adapted in many languages. This study aimed to provide a cut-off point and validate the Greek version of the IADL scale in populations with cognitive impairment. IADL data were collected from 132 individuals: 24 PD patients, 24 Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) patients, and 24 AD patients. The remaining 60 participants were cognitive healthy adults (CHAs). The CHA group and the PD group served as the cognitively unimpaired group (CUG), while the PDD and AD groups served as the cognitively impaired group (CIG). Additionally, the MMSE, the AMTS, the Clock Drawing Test CDT, the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD), the NPI, and the GDS-15 were administered to the participants. Statistically significant differences in the IADL scores were exhibited between all subgroups. The IADL scale showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.890). A threshold equal to 6.00 (AUC = 0.888, p < 0.001) was estimated between the CUG and the CIG. Significant positive correlations were observed between IADL and MMSE (r = 0.764, p < 0.001), IADL and AMTS (r = 0.724, p < 0.001), IADL and ABCD (r = 0.702, p < 0.001), and IADL and CDT (r = 0.627, p < 0.001) results. Given the obtained results, the IADL scale is a valid tool for clinical use with high reliability and sensitivity. Also, the IADL scale is a valuable instrument for screening functional abilities associated with cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Cervical spondylosis and cervical disk herniation are the most frequent forms of degenerative disease in the cervical spine. Surgical treatment mainly includes anterior cervical disk fusion. However, information concerning vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) recording in patients undergoing cervical spine surgery is limited. The present prospective study aimed to investigate the effect of anterior disk fusion surgery on cervical VEMP (cVEMP) parameters. MATERIALS and METHODS: Twenty-five patients were enrolled in this study, and 20 patients (10 men and 10 women) completed cVEMP testing. Patient ages ranged from 29 to 76 y (mean, 52 y). Patients with conductive hearing loss or vestibular dysfunction were excluded. The cVEMP test was recorded preoperatively and 1 and 4 months postoperatively. Air-conducted tone-bursts of 500 Hz were used. RESULTS: We found no statistically significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative cVEMP values. CONCLUSION: Cervical spine surgery (anterior cervical disk fusion) for treating cervical spondylosis does not appear to affect the presence of cVEMP or the parameters of cVEMP, when using air-conducted tone-bursts of 500 Hz. Moreover, cVEMP testing can be used in the postoperative phase for evaluating vertigo in patients who have undergone anterior cervical disk fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]