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A group of learning disabled children, matched with a control group for degree and type of sensory integratiie dysfunction, showed greater gains than the control group on academic tests after an intervention program designed to enhance sensory integration. Children with auditory-language problems but without other evident perceptual-motor involvement made significant gains, as did those with more generalized problems. The remedial program, based on understanding how the brain integrates sensations, stressed controlled vestibular and somatosensory stimulation and normalizing brain-stem sensory and motor mechanlsms. Language ws employed for communication purposes only and not as part of the remedial program.

Sensory processing disturbance in autistic children as a predictor of response to sensory integrative procedures was investigated. Ten autistic children, ages 3-1/2 to 13 years (mean, 7.4 years), were initially evaluated in regard to their hypo-, hyper-, or normal responsivity to visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli. After evaluation, each child received therapy that provided somatosensory and vestibular stimulation and elicited adaptive responses to these stimuli. At the end of one year of therapy, each child's progress was judged in relationship to that of the others, and the group was divided into the six best and the four poorest respondents. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified which initial test variables predicted good or poor responses to therapy. The good respondents showed tactile defensiveness, avoidance of movement, gravitational insecurity, and an orienting response to an air puff. Results suggest that children who registered sensory input but failed to modulate it responded better to therapy than those who were hypo-responsive or failed to orient to sensory input.

Analysis of test scores made by 100 children with and 50 without suspected perceptual deficits lead to hypothesizing five syndromes characteristic of dysfunction: (a) developmental apraxia, distinguished by deficits in motor planning, tactile perception and finger identification; (b) tactile, kinesthetic and visual perceptual dysfunction in form and position in space; (c) tactile defensiveness, demonstrated by hyperactive-distractible behavior, faulty tactile perception and defensive responses to tactile stimuli; (d) deficit of integration of the two sides of the body, identified by difficulty in right-left discrimination, avoidance in crossing the mid-line, and incoordinate bilateral hand movements; (e) deficit of visual figure-ground discrimination.

Though "learning disabilities" is recognized to be an umbrella term for a collection of diverse disorders, research studies too frequently treat the LD group as homogeneous, comparing its functioning with that of a normal control group. This study examines a subpopulation of LD youngsters, those with disorders in the vestibular system which responds to gravity and changes in one's rate of movement. While the outcomes themselves are interesting, the structure of the research approach has distinct advantages over the "LD versus normal comparison" approach. - G.M.S.

Sixty-four neuromuscular, perceptual, and cognitive measurements made on 36 children with educational handicaps were subjected to Q-technique factor analysis. The two major patterns of deficits associated with low academic achievement were (1) auditory, language, and sequencing, and (2) postural and bilateral integration. Both of these syndromes were differentiated from syndromes of apraxia and tactile defensiveness.

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Introduction  Dysphagia is a common symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) and it has been associated with poor quality of life (QoL), anxiety, depression.Objective  The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life in individuals with PD before and after SLP therapy.Methods  The program consisted of four individual therapy sessions. Each session comprised guidelines regarding food and postural maneuvers (chin down). The Quality of Life in Swallowing Disorders (SWAL-QOL) questionnaire was applied before and after therapy.Results  The sample comprised of 10 individuals (8 men), with a mean (SD) age of 62.2 (11.3) years, mean educational attainment of 7.5 (4.3) years, and mean disease duration of 10.7 (4.7) years. Thirty percent of patients were Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage 2, 50% were H&Y stage 3, and 20% were H&Y stage 4. Mean scores for all SWAL-QOL domains increased after the intervention period, with significant pre- to post-therapy differences in total score (p = 0.033) and domain 4 (symptom frequency) (p = 0.025). There was also a bias significance for domain 5 (food selection) (p = 0.095).Conclusion  Patients exhibited improvement in swallowing-related quality of life after a SLP therapy program. The earlier in the course of PD, greater the improvement observed after therapy.