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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: 4.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.4
Summary: The first article in this SIG 18 activity investigates the applications speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists used most frequently during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also discusses the main obstacles to providing speech, language, and hearing services through telepractice. Through the international distribution of an electronic survey, a total of 1,466 surveys from SLPs and audiologists from 40 countries were used for the analysis. The second article discusses the Auditory Verbal UK's training program for prospective listening and spoken language specialist certified auditory verbal therapists delivered globally via telepractice. The article explores, from a global perspective, audiology and early intervention services and perspectives regarding telepractice. The third article explores parents' and therapists' views of the benefits and challenges of telepractice for early intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through survey and analysis, the article probes the views of parents, Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certified Auditory Verbal Therapists in using telepractice to deliver auditory verbal sessions.
Credit(s): PDHs: 3.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.35
Summary: These four SIG 13 articles provide information for dysphagia practice. They address a unique array of special populations and challenges in patient care involving swallowing and feeding difficulties.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.25
Summary: Clinical practice for SLPs in health care settings has changed dramatically – and continues to evolve – due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This journal self-study highlights evidence-based best practices and considerations for clinicians providing care to patients with voice and upper airway disorders, tracheostomy, and head and neck cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic to maximize patient and clinician safety while ensuring efficacious care.
Credit(s): PDHs: 3.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.35
Summary: These three articles center on aspects of audiology and speech-language pathology providers in pediatric hearing loss. First, “eHealth Coaching: Counseling Characteristics of Coaches Used With Parents” centers on identifying clinician communication behaviors and missed opportunities during an eHealth intervention. Themes were identified within each category. Trends included greater use of close-ended questions over open-ended questions, frequent responses to parent emotions, and engagement in a shared process through providing information and exploring progress on parent goals. Missed opportunities occurred within each category. Coaches' communication behaviors demonstrated support for parent learning that was positively received. Joint planning to address parent challenges was a missed opportunity to support parent behavior changes regarding hearing-aid routines. The aim of “Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory–Verbal Certification: Self-Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Inform Change” was to explore the professional's viewpoint on the path to the Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) certification. There were 295 participants from different parts of the world: certified LSLSs, mentees pursuing certification, and professionals interested in certification. The study addressed motivation, self-perceived gains, challenges, and barriers in an international cohort. The purpose of the study was to guide future changes within the certification system. Several indicators pointed to the need for more awareness of significant gains LSLS certification can bring to professionals. There is also a need to address, minimize, and overcome perceived barriers in the process. Similarly, research is warranted to explore obtaining LSLS certification outside English-speaking countries and with a larger, more population-based sample. In the closing article, “Comfort Levels of Providers Serving Children Who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing: Discrepancies and Opportunities,” Blaiser and Mahshie discuss that while best practice outlines specific skills and expertise from highly qualified providers, in reality, many lack confidence related to hearing technology and resources related to serving children who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH). The study surveyed 459 professionals in ASHA serving children who are DHH. The intent was to compare differences in confidence, training, and using resources between providers who have a self-selected interest in working with children who are DHH (membership in SIG 9) and those who serve children who are DHH and are not part of the hearing-related SIG. The results indicate that there is limited provider confidence in working with this population. These conclusions provide graduate training programs opportunities to explore provision of more intensive, comprehensive experience to better serve children who are DHH.
Credit(s): PDHs: 1.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.1
Summary: How can audiologists enhance patient-centered communication, even during the COVID-19 pandemic? This self-study is from the journal, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, SIG 7: Auditory Rehabilitation and Its Instrumentation. It features two articles focused on patient-centered strategies for effective communication, from initial consultations to prioritizing follow-up care, during COVID-19. It also includes the article that won the 2021 ASHA Journals Editor’s Award for Perspectives (for SIGs 6, 7, 8, and 9) by Davidson and Marrone. The first article is, “How to Provide Accessible Hearing Health Information to Promote Patient-Centered Care.” Kelly-Campbell and Manchaiah review the literature within audiology on patient-provider communication. They focus on research studies of communication during initial audiology consultation sessions. Through a summary of themes in the literature, they categorize important research findings that provide insight into communication between patients and their audiologists. Finally, they identify five key strategies for effective patient-centered communication. Each strategy is then reviewed in detail, with clinical examples and specific recommendations that can be immediately implemented in practice. The second article is, “A Clinically Valuable Interaction in the Midst of COVID-19 and Beyond: A Viewpoint on the Importance of Patient-Centered Outcomes in Rehabilitative Audiology.” Davidson and Marrone discuss patient-centered communication following hearing aid device fittings. They identify challenges facing patients and audiologists related to follow-up hearing aid services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a literature review and their own recent research, they developed a decision-tree algorithm to help audiologists prioritize clinical activities following hearing aid fittings, including remote formats for care. The algorithm was based on use of a patient-centered outcome measure, the Measure of Audiologic Rehabilitation Self-Efficacy. Patient-centered outcomes measurement is suggested as an engagement strategy for continued communication with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.0, ASHA CEUs*: 0.2
Summary: This activity includes two articles related to language and literacy intervention for children with hearing loss and deafness. In the first article, Stephanie Mary Raymond and Tring D. Spencer investigate the effect of narrative language intervention on the narrative retelling skills and vocabulary use of children with hearing loss. In the second article, Krystal L. Werfel and Sarah Lawrence describe specific considerations for print-referencing interventions for children with hearing loss along with a case study. The respective authors conclude that print referencing, with specific considerations for children with hearing loss, may be an effective emergent literacy intervention to increase conceptual print knowledge for children preschool-age with hearing loss; and narrative intervention is promising for facilitating language skills improvement for children with hearing loss. Both studies require replication for their findings.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.25
Summary: This assemblage of articles provides information on interesting topics encountered in adult dysphagia practice. Aarthi Madhavan, Nicole Shuman, Claire Snyder, and Nicole Etter provide insight on the comparative consistency of the Eating Assessment Tool and Sydney Swallow Questionnaire scores for self-reported swallowing difficulties in a group of community-dwelling older adults completing both questionnaires. Georgina Papadopoulos-Nydam, Jana Maureen Rieger, and Gabriela Constantinescu evaluate the usability of a mobile health (mHealth) system designed for dysphagia exercise in persons with a history of stroke. Renata Mancopes, Fernanda Borowsky da Rosa, Lidia Lis Tomasi, Adriane S. Pasqualoto, and Catriona M. Steele demonstrate concern for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and share information regarding dysphagia in people with COPD, synthesizing knowledge both from the literature and from studies performed in the context of a multidisciplinary clinical pulmonary rehabilitation program abroad. Additionally, Talia H. Schwartz brings to light the importance and utility of the clinical swallow evaluation while caring for patients with COVID-19.
Credit(s): PDHs: 6.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.65
Summary: This journal self-study course explores best practices for dysphasia assessment and recent innovations in dysphagia treatment. The articles – from an American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology special issue “Select Papers From the 2018 Charleston Swallowing Conference at Northwestern University” – will help SLPs develop a deeper understanding of how to select appropriate treatment techniques, as well as why those techniques can be impactful in improving swallowing function. The articles delve deeply into past, current, and future treatment approaches for dysphagia and will be helpful for established clinicians as well as those who are new to the field of dysphagia assessment and treatment.
Credit(s): PDHs: 2.5, ASHA CEUs*: 0.25
Summary: This trio of SIG 13 articles provides information regarding managing and treating dysphagia with adult patients. First, Abrams and co-authors underscore the importance of hydration and discovered that individuals consuming thickened liquids are often at risk for dehydration. Factors to increase fluid intake through different strategies are discussed. Next, Arguello and Kerr discuss the mechanism of a facial burn injury and how it may cause functional impairments that can be directly impacted through early intervention utilizing speech-language pathology services. Finally, Warner and colleagues completed a pilot study investigating the prevalence of pretreatment dysphagia in oncologic patients and individual factors influencing post treatment dysphagia.
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