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Results 1 - 10 of 15
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: Ototoxic medications and chemical agents in the workplace can put individuals' hearing and vestibular health at risk for permanent injury. Proactive ototoxicity management (OtoM) strategies aim to minimize exposure, avoid onset of symptoms, provide ongoing monitoring, and manage auditory and vestibular changes as the clinical needs of the patient evolve. During a 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Groups Open House, members of the International Ototoxicity Management Group discussed how best to integrate OtoM into routine clinical practice, what tools to use, and what special considerations need to be understood to best support patients and their families. Here, we have summarized their viewpoints to encourage widespread adoption of improved OtoM services for at-risk individuals. The field of audiology needs to move to a place where we better understand the full extent of ototoxicity and can agree on expanding minimum guidelines that can be implemented more universally to mitigate, detect, and manage the damage from ototoxic exposures. Only recently has our field seen a therapeutic drug that can protect against ototoxicity; however, the population served is restricted only to children receiving treatment for nonmetastatic carcinoma. This is hopefully just the beginning of future therapeutic interventions to come, but, in the meantime, ototoxicity resulting from other medications in different patient populations and chemical agents persists.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: In this SIG 3 activity, experts in pediatric voice disorders present a series of interactive cases to help speech-language pathologists develop their knowledge and skills completing voice evaluation and treatment planning for children with bilateral benign vocal fold lesions, unilateral vocal fold paralysis, and sulcus vocalis.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: As a step toward developing an electrophysiologic method for validating the speech feature discrimination benefits of amplification, the article in this SIG 6 activity evaluates the effect of stimulus level and amplification on the acoustic change complex in adults with sensorineural hearing loss.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.15
Summary: In the rising digital era, and especially since the pandemic, implementation of telehealth and provision of auditory rehabilitation (AR) using digital platforms have notably increased. This has changed the outlook of service provision by audiologists and speech-language pathologists alike. Digital platforms have the potential to positively impact AR practices by improving accessibility of rehabilitation services as well as by facilitating a more effective way to share resources with both professionals and end users. This SIG 7 activity includes two articles about the accessibility and effectiveness of digital platforms to provide AR services for both adults and children with hearing difficulties. The first article discusses the differences in the distribution strategy, users’ experience, and satisfaction for two digital platforms (a static website and an active blog) offering AR materials for professionals. Their study concludes that social media–focused active distribution is effective because it results in more total traffic, a greater number of users, more frequent access, and an overall high level of satisfaction with the quality of information and resources. The second article discusses the details of a Zoom-based telepractice initial evaluation protocol used by speech-language pathologists serving children who are hard of hearing and their families. This clinical protocol was designed to synchronously share resources and questionnaires with family members of children who are hard of hearing. Authors suggest that providing AR services through telepractice facilitates high-quality diagnostics and counseling to the same extent as that of in-person diagnostic sessions.
Credit(s): PDHs: 3.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.35
Summary: This SIG 5 activity includes three articles from a forum aimed at sharing research conducted in clinical settings around the world. Two research articles analyzed surgical and parent-led therapy approaches for improved speech and resonance outcomes. A third tutorial described characteristics needed in an evaluation to analyze clinically obtained data for research purposes. The first research article is based in Brazil. It demonstrates positive long-term outcomes in children with hypernasality/velopharyngeal dysfunction using the Sommerlad procedure of palatal re-repair to treat residual velopharyngeal insufficiency. The reported scores were in the categories of: “hypernasality, global impression of velopharyngeal function, and/or active speech symptoms.” Overall, this study shows significant improvement in a large percentage of children, with less effect on older individuals ages 17–22 years. The second research article includes parents from a previously published twocenter study in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The aim was to analyze parents’ experiences with parent-led articulation therapy (PLAT) following in-depth training. After a detailed outline is provided regarding inclusion and teaching of the participants, four main themes are identified. These include growth of parents, undertaking PLAT, changes in children, and the future. Ultimately, the majority of parents are in favor of a parent-led therapy approach with the caveat that in-depth training and direct supervision from a speech-language pathologist is needed. The third article, a tutorial, addresses the research–clinical practice gap. A description is provided of a perceptual speech assessment protocol for cleft palate speech, to enable clinical data to be used for research purposes. The article provides detail related to determining the most appropriate standardized assessment tools as well as the best ways to collect and analyze this data. Further details related to implementation within the clinical setting are outlined. The data is easily accessible through networking between cleft teams and Sweden’s national cleft lip and palate registry, making retrospective research attainable in a clinical setting.
Credit(s): PDHs: 4.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.45
Summary: Meta-therapy is an integral pillar of clinical practice; however, the lack of formal training in this area often makes the concept and application of meta-therapy elusive to clinicians. The goal of this SIG 3 activity is to disseminate how meta-therapy can be effectively utilized in the clinical domains of voice disorders, fluency, dysphagia, and cognitive communication and aphasia.
Credit(s): PDHs: 0.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.05
Summary: The article in this SIG 6 activity focuses on the audiologic variations seen among patients undergoing the same type of ototoxic drug treatment (cisplatin). Results show a large amount of audiologic outcome variability among the two patients examined, despite similar demographic factors, drug treatments, and types of cancer. Factors relating to ototoxic susceptibility are discussed, and the importance of otoxicity monitoring programs for early detection of audiologic change is highlighted.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.2
Summary: It is well known within our field that identifying voice and upper airway specialized training opportunities and subsequent positions is challenging, competitive, and sometimes elusive. In this SIG 3 activity, various pathways to specializing in voice and upper airway disorders are explored from the viewpoint of different authors at various stages of their careers. The hope is to make the process of specialization more transparent and share components that have contributed to success, while also highlighting the diversity of training and experience that is so important in our field.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.15
Summary: These SIG 7 Perspectives articles focus on auditory rehabilitation (AR) for adults with cochlear implants. While the benefits of AR in the population are recognized in the literature, service-delivery models are variable, and there is no gold standard approach to developing and implementing a comprehensive AR program. Glade and colleagues provide an overview of clinical models currently being used for the provision of AR for adults with cochlear implants from nine clinics across the country. The article highlights the importance of interprofessional practice in AR and outlines the roles of professionals included on care teams. There is a discussion about barriers to successful implementation of AR programs, including distance to services, and recommendations for potential solutions, such as teletherapy. In the second article, Mosley describes the process of creating and implementing a comprehensive teleaudiology AR program for older adults who use cochlear implants at the University of South Alabama Speech & Hearing Center.
Credit(s): PDHs: 3.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.35
Summary: This SIG 5 activity analyzes the relationship between the opioid crisis and cleft lip and palate care across the life span. Two main themes of prevention and treatment after exposure are explained. The articles outline alternatives to opioid use after cleft-related surgeries, impacts on infants and children who were exposed in utero, and velopharyngeal insufficiency treatment after substance abuse.
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