Progressive dysarthria and augmentative and alternative communication in conversation: establishing the reliability of the Dysarthria‐in‐Interaction Profile

Bloch, Steven; Tuomainen, Jyrki

doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12258

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Communicative intervention in ALS has till now focused on difficulties in speech. As argued elsewhere, approaches such as conversational analysis could be key to expand the scope of intervention in order to take into account conversational difficulties (Bloch and Tuomainen 2017) and pragmatic difficulties at large (Bambini and Ceroni 2021). Here we argue that humour should be integrated too, focusing in particular on remediating impairment in comprehension, but possibly also on potentiating appreciation, especially as the disease progresses, in order to increase the quality not only of communication but also of life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the motor account of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Verbal humour and its relationship with the cognitive and pragmatic profile

Bambini

Bischetti

Bonomi

et al. 2020

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) was traditionally described as a disease restricted to the motor system. However, recent findings suggested that it also affects cognition, especially executive functions, social cognition, language and pragmatics. A relevant issue in current research is thus the description of the cognitive phenotype of ALS and the identification of the most vulnerable aspects. Aims The focus was on a communicative phenomenon placed at the crossroads of pragmatic and other cognitive domains, namely humour, which till now has been poorly explored in ALS. The first aim was to investigate whether ALS is associated with impairments in understanding and appreciating jokes. The second aim was to explore the predictors of humour comprehension and appreciation in patients, to confirm the involvement of pragmatic skills and to explore the role of other cognitive and clinical aspects. Methods & Procedures A total of 30 non‐demented patients with ALS and 27 controls were assessed with a task of verbal humour comprehension and appreciation, including two types of jokes: phonological and mental. We also administered a battery of pragmatic and other language tasks, and cognitive and socio‐cognitive tasks. Mixed‐effects models were used to test differences in the humour task between the two groups. Multiple regressions determined the best predictors of humour comprehension and appreciation in patients. Outcomes & Results Patients obtained lower comprehension accuracy scores than controls in the humour task, independently of the type of joke. Conversely, patients and controls did not differ in joke appreciation and both rated mental jokes as funnier than the phonological ones. Patients’ comprehension accuracy was predicted by pragmatic skills and ALS severity, whereas appreciation was predicted by several clinical variables and, to a smaller extent, by language skills. Conclusions & Implications The findings suggest that humour is a very vulnerable aspect in ALS, and that impairment in humour comprehension might be part of the larger cognitive impairment, being linked to pragmatic impairment. Clinical variables were also important, especially in relation to humour appreciation. More generally, these data speak in favour of pragmatics as a relevant aspect to sketch the cognitive phenotype of ALS. On the practical level, these findings point to the need of supporting communication at large, not only motor‐related aspects such as dysarthria but also social–pragmatic aspects such as understanding jokes, to increase well‐being in ALS.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the motor account of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Verbal humour and its relationship with the cognitive and pragmatic profile

Bambini

Bischetti

Bonomi

et al. 2020

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, empirical research focused on the fine details of communicative behaviours is required for developing novel SP assessment and intervention strategies (see, e.g. Beeke et al, 2015;Bloch & Tuomainen, 2017;Herbert, Best, Hickin, Howard, & Osborne, 2013). This will support the number and validity of clinical resources conventionally related to the Activity component of the ICF, which is a priority for many stakeholders in SP services (e.g.…”

Section: The Mopeds Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why is measuring communication difficult? A critical review of current speech pathology concepts and measures

Barnes

Bloch

2018

Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human society is organised through communicative interactions between co-present people. Speech pathology (SP) assessment and intervention strategies aim to access these sites of communication in order to facilitate participation in life situations for people with communication disorders. Surprisingly, however, there is no explicit theory of communication underpinning SP practice and research. As a result, the conceptual and practical basis for rigorous, empirical measurement of communication remains limited, which is a significant challenge for professional practice and research. This critical review discusses the prevailing ways that co-present communication has been conceptualised and measured in SP. In particular, we examine how models of health have informed current ideas and measurement practices. We argue that although patently valuable for SP, they are largely incommensurate with the realities of co-present communication. Drawing on current empirical research in Sociology and Linguistics, we specify the properties of real-time co-present communication and discuss their relationship to current SP concepts and measurement practices. We conclude by suggesting directions for conceptual development and empirical research that will draw SP assessment and intervention strategies closer to real-time co-present communication.

show abstract

“…Bulbar impairment is common and has received considerable research attention (Makkonen et al, 2016;Yunusova et al, 2010). The relationship between these impairments and their impact on communication in daily activities, such as conversation, is unclear, but understanding these associations is important for tailoring interventions to meet the needs that are relevant to clients (Bloch & Tuomainen, 2016). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health has provided a vocabulary for describing the consequences of health conditions, including the domain of participation (World Health Organization, 2001).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated With Communicative Participation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Yorkston

Baylor

Mach

2017

J Speech Lang Hear Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis frequently experience bulbar impairment and dysarthria that may restrict their ability to take part in everyday communication situations. The aim of this study is to examine selected variables that may contribute to restrictions in communicative participation. Method Community-dwelling participants with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( N = 70) who reported communication changes but continued to use natural speech completed a survey, including the Communicative Participation Item Bank, demographics (age, sex, living situation, employment status, education, and time since diagnosis), and self- reported symptom-related variables (physical activity, emotional problems, fatigue, pain, speech severity, speech usage, and cognitive and communication skills). To identify predictors of restrictions in communicative participation, these variables were entered into a backward stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Results Three variables (speech severity, swallowing severity, and speech usage) were included in the final model and accounted for 55% of the variability. Conclusions Better speech and swallowing skills and higher speech usage are associated with better communicative participation in this sample. Thus, when making clinical decisions regarding intervention, clinicians should continue their efforts to target speech and swallow abilities, while recognizing other variables that have the potential of restricting communicative participation.

show abstract

Progressive dysarthria and augmentative and alternative communication in conversation: establishing the reliability of the Dysarthria‐in‐Interaction Profile

Cited by 15 publications

References 26 publications

Beyond the motor account of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Verbal humour and its relationship with the cognitive and pragmatic profile

Beyond the motor account of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Verbal humour and its relationship with the cognitive and pragmatic profile

Why is measuring communication difficult? A critical review of current speech pathology concepts and measures

Factors Associated With Communicative Participation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About