Journal Reviews
A song for my future self
People with aphasia experience a loss of friendships and social networks and, with this, a loss of identity. Interventions targeting participation, social and emotional wellbeing for people with aphasia have received more attention in the research literature. Storytelling is a...
A match made in heaven: being a good supervisor
Supervision is a core component of clinical training for all healthcare professionals. Most colleges advocate supervisors be trained in the skill of supervision, but this is not standard practice. Often supervisors rely on the skills they learn from their own...
Therapeutic alliance: more than the ‘nice person’ effect
Therapeutic relationship is considered a key component of many healthcare interventions, including speech and language therapy. Yet definitions and descriptions of what this concept comprises are ambiguous and sparse. This scoping review used the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines to guide...
Motor learning: better knowing how, not how well
Motor learning is described as the ability to perform a motor skill due to practice and/or experience. Research on interventions to enhance limb motor skills can be influenced through the amount, distribution, variability and schedule of practice as well as...
I saw it on the internet: gathering evidence for clinical decision making
Evidence-based practice is often described as the integration of three sources of information to inform clinical practice, namely: 1) research evidence/practice guidelines; 2) client preferences/needs, and: 3) clinical experience. Speech and language therapists have reported a lack of time and...
The nice therapist effect: does the therapeutic relationship matter?
Quality of relationships is considered a core component of all speech and language therapy work, yet there is little agreement of what constitutes a therapeutic relationship. This study describes a scoping review to map existing evidence that has investigated this...
Disrupting assumptions: how to teach queer concepts to speech and language therapists
Policy requiring speech and language therapy courses in America to include multicultural content in their courses was only formally introduced in 1994. Yet sexual orientation was still considered a controversial topic at this time, and it was only in the...
Foretelling: post-stroke recovery of dysphagia is predicted by cognition
Around two thirds of people in the acute phase of stroke recovery will experience dysphagia. Up to six months following a stroke this may be present in 13-18% of cases. The degree of cognitive impairment seems to be associated with...
Justice for all: role of registered intermediaries
The United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development 2015 advocates equal access to justice for all. In recognition of this, a number of countries have introduced a new professional role; a registered intermediary in England, Wales and NI. The registered intermediary...
The case of the women and the words: intensive therapy can help many years post stroke
Aphasia, a language impairment impacting on a person’s ability to speak, understand, read and write, is most commonly caused by a stroke. Speech and language therapists are trained to work with people with aphasia, often aiming for restitution and rehabilitation...
Sing it, say it, sort it: singing for Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) occurs in 1% of the population aged over 60. Changes in voice and speech are among the earliest and most prevalent symptoms of PD; reduced vocal intensity, monopitch, monoloudness, breathy and hoarse voice quality, imprecise articulation, vocal...
Does speech and language therapy provide value for money?
Within the NHS (and outside it), managers, commissioners and consumers will consider value for money as a key component in making a decision about whether to pay for speech and language therapy (or any other service for that matter). Yet...
