Currently, not all children that need speech therapy have access to a therapist. With the current international shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), there is a demand for online tools to ...support SLPs with their daily tasks. Several online speech therapy (OST) systems have been designed and proposed in the literature; however, the implementation of these systems is lacking. The technical knowledge that is needed to use these programs is a challenge for SLPs. There has been limited effort to systematically identify, analyze and report the findings of prior studies. We provide the results of an extensive literature review of OST systems for childhood speech communication disorders. We systematically review OST systems that can be used in clinical settings or from home as part of a treatment program for children with speech communication disorders. Our search strategy found 4481 papers, of which 35 were identified as focusing on speech therapy programs for speech communication disorders. The features of these programs were examined, and the main findings are extracted and presented. Our analysis indicates that most systems which are designed mainly to support the SLPs adopt and use supervised machine learning approaches that are either desktop-based or mobile-phone-based applications. Our findings reveal that speech therapy systems can provide important benefits for childhood speech. A collaboration between computer programmers and SLPs can contribute to implementing useful automated programs, leading to more children having access to good speech therapy.
Virtual therapy (teletherapy) for patients with dysphonia has become ubiquitous in the COVID-19 era. However, barriers to widespread implementation are evident, including unpredictable insurance ...coverage attributed to limited evidence supporting this approach. In our single-institution cohort, our objective was to show strong evidence for use and effectiveness of teletherapy for patients with dysphonia.
Single institution, retrospective cohort study.
This was an analysis of all patients referred for speech therapy with dysphonia as primary diagnosis from 4/1/2020 to 7/1/2021 and in whom all therapy sessions were delivered in a teletherapy format. We collated and analyzed demographics and clinical characteristics and adherence to the teletherapy program. We assessed changes in perceptual assessments and vocal capabilities (GRBAS, MPT), patient-reported outcomes (V-RQOL), and metrics of session outcomes (complexity of vocal tasks, carry-over of target voice) pre- and post-teletherapy using student's t test and chi-square test.
Our cohort included 234 patients (mean SD age 52 20 years) residing a mean (SD) distance of 51.3 (67.1) miles from our institution. The most common referral diagnosis was muscle tension dysphonia (n = 145, 62.0% patients). Patients attended a mean (SD) of 4.2 (3.0) sessions; 68.0% (n = 159) of patients completed four or more sessions and/or were deemed appropriate for discharge from teletherapy program. Statistically significant improvements were seen in complexity and consistency of vocal tasks with consistent gains in carry-over of target voice for isolated tasks and connected speech.
Teletherapy is a versatile and effective approach for treatment of patients with dysphonia of varying age, geography, and diagnoses.
El objetivo del estudio es evaluar el bienestar físico-mental en académicos del área de la salud de universidades privadas y públicas en Chile que cumplen funciones de docencia a distancia en tiempos ...de confinamiento, producto de la Pandemia por COVID-19. La investigación es cuantitativa observacional analítica y transversal. La muestra incluyó 45 académicos que dictan clases en las carreras de Medicina, Odontología, Kinesiología, Nutrición y Dietética, Fonoaudiología, Enfermería y Terapia Ocupacional. Para la medición se utilizó la prueba de Estrés Laboral, adaptado del Cuestionario de Problemas Psicosomáticos (o CPP) de Hock (1988). Los resultados muestran que el puntaje obtenido en instituciones públicas presenta menores niveles de estrés asociado al confinamiento y a la realización de clases a distancia. Palabras clave: Académicos; salud; universidad; trabajo a distancia. The objective of the study is to evaluate the physical-mental well-being in academics in the health area of private and public universities in Chile, who perform distance teaching functions in times of confinement as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The research is quantitative, observational, analytical and cross-sectional. The sample included 45 academics who teach classes in the careers of Medicine, Dentistry, Kinesiology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Speech Therapy, Nursing and Occupational Therapy. For the measurement, the Work Stress test was used, adapted from the Psychosomatic Problems Questionnaire (or CPP) by Hock (1988). The results show that the score obtained in public institutions presents lower levels of stress associated with confinement and the realization of distance classes. Keywords: Academics; health; university; telecommuting.
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed health care delivery, including rapid expansion of telehealth. Telerehabilitation, defined as therapy provided by physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech ...and language pathology, was rapidly adopted with goals to provide access to care and limit contagion. The purpose of this brief report was to describe the feasibility of and satisfaction with telerehabilitation. A total of 205 participants completed online surveys after a telerehabilitation visit. Most commonly, participants were women (53.7%), 35-64 yrs old, and completed physical therapy (53.7%) for established visits of 30-44 mins in duration for primary impairments in sports, lower limb injuries, and pediatric neurology. Overall, high ratings ("excellent" or "very good" responses) were observed for all patient-centered outcome metrics (range, 93.7%-99%) and value in future telehealth visit (86.8%) across telerehabilitation visits. Women participated more frequently and provided higher ratings than male participants did. Other benefits included eliminating travel time, incorporating other health care advocates, and convenience delivering care in familiar environment to pediatric patients. Technology and elements of hands-on aspects of care were observed limitations. Recognizing reduced indirect costs of care that telerehabilitation may provide along with high patient satisfaction are reasons policy makers should adopt these services into future health care delivery models.
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