Stuttering is one of the more vexing communication challenges that speech-language pathologists address. This is in part due to the fact that there is a certain cohort of children who appear to spontaneously “recover” from stuttering while others continue to stutter throughout their adult lives. (Note: I put the word recover in quotes because there are… (read more)
The Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research just published some very interesting research into the use of speech-recognition technology to assess a child’s vocal development. In an article titled Automated Assessment of Child Vocalization Development Using LENA, the authors explain that they set out to use an automated speech recognition (ASR) system to predict a child’s level… (read more)
One of the biggest challenges facing the wide-spread adoption of online speech therapy (or telepractice, as it’s called in the biz) in the United States is the lack of reimbursement by Medicaid and private insurers.We’re consistently re-assured that “it’s coming,” but it’s an area of tremendous and ongoing frustration for those of us engaged in this… (read more)
A group of researchers in the UK have published a study in The Lancet that indicates significant long-term benefits of parent led social communication intervention for young children with autism. What do these findings mean? Well, a couple of things. First, it is as-good-as-it-gets evidence that intensive, parent-involved early intervention around social communication skills has benefits that… (read more)
Calling all SLPs! A new study published in the Journal of Special Education found a lack of cultural and ethnic diversity in research done with children with autism. Researchers at the University of Washington found that out of the studies that report race, 63.5% of participants were white and 20.6% were multi-racial. In contrast, black,… (read more)
Remember the days when dolls didn’t talk on their own and toy cars didn’t produce a revved engine sound without your help? Electronic toys are a popular choice for many parents (and proud aunts and uncles) when it comes to gift-giving but a new study shows that these sound-generating toys can actually be a detriment… (read more)