نشریه اختلالات ارتباطی گفتار و زبان
سال یکم شماره 1 (پاییز و زمستان 1391)

Autism is a developmental disease that profoundly affects all aspect of individual life، especially language and communication skills. There are many meaningful differences in language and its acquisition patterns in autistic vs. normal children. Education and rehabilitation will facilitate accurate language learning and form effective relationship capabilities. As autistic children have been diagnosed later than optimum، information about their language characteristics associated with deficits is insufficient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mean length of utterance (MLU) for young autistic children (3-5 year olds، 8 boys and 2 girls) and compare linguistic skills and communicative abilities to those of normal peers. This study was performed by cross-sectional descriptive and analytic techniques in the Pervasive Developmental Disorders Center in Yara، Gorgan. The data sets relevant to speech and phonetic samples were assessed for MLU and analyzed in comparison with normal children. MLU values were significantly different between autistic and normal children. The present findings indicated severe deficits in autistic children in age-appropriate skills such as expressive language and communal relationships.

The sensory aspects of speech organs are recognized by investigating oral stereognosis capability. Normal children were compared to those with articulation disorders and normal IQ''s. This descriptive and analytical research was performed on 108 kindergarten children in Isfahan. First، the children were screened based on natural IQ، structural problems in speech organs، and articulation disorder through phonetic examination. Then the children were assessed by acoustic phonetic examinations and functional discrimination tests. Meaningful differences between the two groups were found Speech status has a strong relationship with oral stereognosis، and object discrimination and its pattern، regardless of sex.

Speech-language pathologists (SLP) are professionals who are at risk for voice disorders due to the requirements of their occupations. These include therapy، counseling، conferences، and public speaking. This study aimed to determine the impact of occupational risk factors on the voice quality of speech-language therapy students. The study was cross-sectional; of the 33 students surveyed (mean age=21. 9، ± SD=1. 03) 69. 7% were female and 30. 3% male. The two-phase data were collected using questionnaires and Dr. Speech software، before and after short-term (2-3 month) internship training. The data were analyzed using McNemar’s test. The study found no correlation between occupational variables and abnormal voice characteristics such as vocal fatigue hoarseness. The internship program had no measurable effects on students’ laryngeal functions or voice characteristics.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appears in early childhood and affects 3-7% of all children. Central auditory processing deficit is reported in this disorder and the condition is more severe when a sensory integration problem exists. Auditory integration training (AIT) can improve attentiveness. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of AIT on auditory processing in ADHD children.The effect of auditory integration training sessions on auditory processing of ADHD child In this study four children with ADHD were assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® (WISC) (4th edition) and Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance (IVA+Plus) pattern analyses. IVA+Plus is a unique approach designed to evaluate visual and auditory processing of attention variables. IVA+Plus testing was performed before and after participation in a 10-day program of AIT. Pre- and post-session performances were analyzed by t-test and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The AIT sessions significantly affected auditory processing in ADHD children. Auditory integration training significantly improved attention levels and auditory processing in ADHD children. This study indicates that such training should be included in rehabilitation plans.

Voice Onset Time (VOT) is one of the most important acoustic features in human speech and has a key role in discrimination of voicing contrasts in stop consonants. The aim of this study was to measure and compare the VOT of stop consonants in Farsi and Semnani dialects and evaluate whether the succeeding vowels influence the VOT of stop consonants in these dialects. Voiced stop consonants /b، d، and g/ were combined with high vowel /â/ and low vowel /i/ and extracted from carrying words. Microphone M-Audio Session Producer was used to record the speech samples of the participants and Praat 5. 2. 24 was used for the acoustic analysis of these samples. One hundred twenty-two subjects with normal Farsi (n = 60) and Semnani dialects (n = 62) were randomly selected to participate in this study. Significant differences were observed between the mean VOT of the stop consonants with succeeding vowels /i/ and /â/ in both normal Farsi and Semnani dialects. It seems that succeeding vowels significantly influence the VOT of stop consonants in normal Farsi and Semnani dialects.

The term basal ganglia applies to a collection of masses of gray matter situated within each cerebral hemisphere of the brain. These masses are referred to as the corpus striatum، the amygdaloid nucleus، and the claustrum. The basal ganglia are joined together and connected with many different regions of the nervous system by many neurons and associated with a variety of functions such as voluntary motor control، learning، eye movements، and cognitive and emotional functions. The basal ganglia have four loops that include the motor، cognition، eye movement، and limbic system loops. The motor loop has a cortico – basal – cortical pathway. Because of their association with the cerebral cortex، especially with Broca''s area in the left inferior frontal gyrus، the basal ganglia can influence the motor features of speech and voice. Some speech disorders، such as stuttering and monotone speech، can result from disturbances in the circuits between the basal ganglia and the language motor area of the cerebral cortex..

Normal swallowing consists of voluntary and involuntary neuromuscular contractions that occur coordinately and sequentially and cause the translocation of food and liquid from the mouth through the pharynx and esophagus to the stomach. Dysphagia can occur due to problems in any of these stages. Factors causing dysphagia can be divided into two groups: structural and neurological. Myasthenia Gravis is a neurological factor. Here، we study a patient with dysphasia due to Myasthenia Gravis who was referred to one of the Semnan speech therapy clinics.