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The main aim of the current study was to identify and analyze the most significant clinical and sociodemographic predictors of parents’ perceptions regarding their child’s stuttering. 139 parents, with at least one child who stutters, completed both the Persian version of the Palin Parent Rating Scale (P-Palin PRS) and a sociodemographic and clinical checklist. To investigate the relationships between scores on the Palin PRS factors and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, we conducted univariable analyses using Pearson correlation coefficients, independent t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. The study analyzed the P-Palin PRS factors: Impact of Stuttering on the Child, Severity of Stuttering and Impact on the Parents, and Parent’s Knowledge and Confidence in Managing it. Mean scores were 5.37, 3.87, and 5.42, respectively, with correlations ranging from 0.371 to 0.507. Higher stutter severity negatively correlated with Impact on the Child (r=-0.364, P < 0.001). History of speech therapy (ST) failure and family history of speech and language disorders (SLDs) showed lower Impact scores (P = 0.053 and P = 0.057). Severity of Stuttering and Impact on the Parents negatively correlated with stutter severity (r=-0.546, P < 0.001) and positively with parents’ ages. Parent’s Knowledge and Confidence correlated negatively with stutter severity (r=-0.242, P = 0.004) and was lower in those with family history of SLDs (P = 0.008). The high stutter severity, ST failure, and family history of SLDs were associated with lower scores across all PRS factors. In conclusion current study identified key predictors influencing parents’ perceptions of their child’s stuttering, including stutter severity, speech therapy history, and family background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the consequences of a stroke inhumanis a foreign accentual syndrome, which is often caused by trauma or stroke. One of the most important injuries in this syndrome is a disruption in prosodic units. The present report is about a 47-year-old woman with a brain tumorwhospeaks with a different accent than hers. Acoustic analyses were performed using the Praat software version 6.0.35. This paper indicates consistency with most of the damage reports in prosodic units, including stress, rhythm, pause, and speed of speech. Significant changes occurred in the prosodic units of the patient under study within 12 weeks. In addition to the decrease in the number of pauses and speech duration of the patient, pitch variations, increased coordination, and precision in articulation, also an increase in the expression of the number of words was observed during the patient's speech. Due to the rarity of foreign accent syndrome, further research in this area is important for speech and language pathologists in terms of differential diagnosis and speech therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Stuttering is a speech disorder examined in many studies on motor speech deficiency in people with stuttering. In the area of language, some studies have also shown that people with stuttering are different from people without stuttering in terms of phonological, lexical, and syntactic processing .In this area, studies on the evaluation of phonological processing in Iranian people with stuttering are a few. One of the tasks for evaluating phonological processing is anon-word repetition task. This study aimed to examine the ability of adults who stutter to repeat words/non-words compared with those with fluent speech. Materials and Methods: This research is across-sectional descriptive-correlational study. The participants included 20 adults with stuttering (18-30 years old) selected by the convenience sampling method from those referred to speech therapy centers and hospitals in Tehran Province. Besides, 30 age-matched peers participated in this study as the control. The phonological processing of participants was examined in terms of reaction time and word/nonword repetition accuracy. To detect stuttering, we asked the subjects to read a text in Persian, and its severity was detected by stuttering severity instrument-3. For measuring reaction time, DMDX software was used, and data were analyzed in SPSS V. 21. Results: Mann-Whitney test results showed a significant difference between adults with and without stuttering in terms of repetition accuracy (P<0.05), but no significant difference was found between them in terms of reaction time (P>0.05). Conclusion: Phonological processing in adults who stutter is different compared with those with speech fluency, but this difference is non-significant. Results indicated slow phonological processing in an adult with stuttering. This can raise the awareness of therapists during the evaluation and treatment of stutterers in terms of phonological processing and phonological working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune debilitating disease affecting the central nervous system. Dysphagia can be seen in 58% of patients with MS. The present research investigates dysphagia rehabilitation strategies in a case study analyzing a 43-year old man suffering from MS. This individual was evaluated using a clinical bedside swallowing assessment (CBSA) test enduring multiple problems at swallowing phases. Rehabilitation interventions consisted of improvement of respiratory support and strengthening the oral musculoskeletal function. Therefore, rehabilitation services may provide an effective approach to improve dysphagia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Fluent speech requires inhibitory control for the modification of speech interruptions before the onset or during the speech. The current study aimed at comparing the inhibitory control skill in 6 to 8-year-old children with fluent speech and developmental stuttering. Materials and Methods: This research is a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study. The participants included 31 children with developmental stuttering (6-8 years old) selected based on the convenience sampling method. Also, 32 healthy children were selected from elementary schools in Tehran Province that matched in terms of age and gender with the first group. The children of two groups were selected from the same district (The fifth district) of Tehran Province. Visual Go/No-Go task was used to measure inhibitory control. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the groups. Results: The result showed that the mean score of children with stuttering in the inhibition index was lower than normal children. According to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the data distribution was not normal (P=0.042). Therefore, the parametric test of the Mann- Whitney U test was used. Despite the lower mean score of inhibition in children with stuttering than healthy children, there was no significant difference in the inhibition index between the groups (P=0.550). Conclusion: The findings indicated that Children Who Stutter (CWS) had less efficiency in inhibitory control skill compared to normal children, and this problem could be because of the exacerbation or persistence of stuttering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Awareness of the nasality norm condition in normal people's speech (children and adults) is very important for assessment and treatment of nasality disorders. The main goal of this study was to determine normative nasalance scores among Persian-speaking adults. Material and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, nasalance value of 152 adults (54 males and 98 females) older than 18 years was examined by access method. Nasality test which included vowels (front/back, high/low), syllables (with oral and nasal consonants), words (with oral and nasal consonants), and sentences (with oral and nasal consonants) was done using Nasometer II model 6450. The data were then analyzed using paired t- test and Wilcoxon statistical test. Results: The results indicate that the nasalance mean score for back vowels is significantly higher than front vowels. Also, the amount of nasalance mean score for low vowels is significantly higher than that in high vowels. The results also indicate that the nasalance mean scores for syllables, words, and sentences with nasal consonants is significantly higher than those with oral consonants (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results of the present study have provided the mean scores of nasalance for vowels, syllables, words, and sentences separately with oral and nasal consonants in normal Persian-speaking adults. Also, the data obtained in this study can be used to compare the function of the resonance system in people with suspected resonant disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: An essential need in Iran for the application of stuttering self-rating tools for the people who stutter (PWS) and its conversion into Persian language has encouraged this research to examine the validity and reliability of Wright and Ayre Stuttering Self-Rating Profile (WASSP) test to the benefits of adult Persianspeaking individuals who stutter. WASSP is an excellent tool for assessment and measuring outcomes and a beneficial tool for clinicians and clients as well. So, the purpose of this study is to examine the content validity by some speech and language pathologists in Iran, then to evaluate the reliability of the WASSP test for adult Persianspeaking people with stutter. Methods and Procedure: The participants were 24 (20 males and 4 females) stutterers who were Persian speaking, 18- 30 years old (mean 24 years) with no medical or behavioral problems. 20 skilled Speech - Language pathologists (SLPs) who were independent of the research, participated in the study to evaluate translation and content validity of the test. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to assess internal consistency of items and reliability assessed by estimating Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) in test-retest study. Results: Results indicate that ICC for all sub-scales were in 0.76-0.99 and all correlation coefficients among total subscales scores at each time of testing in 0.87-0.97 range. Internal consistency coefficients for items of sub-scales at each time of testing were above 0.78 (0.78-0.96). Conclusions: The Persian version of WASSP test provides a valid and reliable tool to assess the self-rating of stuttering in Persian language and overt and covert aspects of stuttering. SLPs will be able to determine PWS test scores to manage their accurate treatment and future planning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Palin Parent Rating Scale (Palin PRS) is a structured questionnaire filled out by parents of children who stutter. It is designed to assess the effects of stuttering on both the children and their parents. The goal of this study was to translate the Palin PRS into Persian and to evaluate its validity and reliability for application in preschool children who stutter. Methods: This research was conducted from August 2021 to December 2022, involving 139 parents of children who stutter. The parents completed the Palin PRS and provided their demographic data. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the floor and ceiling effects on all subscales of the Palin PRS. The internal consistency of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha method, while the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to determine its test-retest reliability. An exploratory factor analysis was also performed to clarify the factor structure of the scale. Results: The exploratory factor analysis results were highly consistent with the factor structure found in the original version. No floor or ceiling effects were observed for the factors of the Palin PRS. The three factors of the Persian version of the Palin PRS (P-Palin PRS) showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha >0.8) and excellent test-retest reliability (ICC >0.9). Additionally, normative scores were derived by converting raw scores into Stanine scores. Conclusion: The P-Palin PRS showed strong reliability, thereby establishing it as a suitable instrument for evaluating how parents perceive the effects of stuttering on their children and themselves. Further research may explore its application in diverse clinical settings and populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The success of rehabilitation centers depends on several factors, one of the most important of which is patient's satisfaction. Therefore, suitable instruments must be used to assess the quality of services in rehabilitation centers. Materials and Methods: In this research, we used the random sampling method to select the sample and the survey research method to collect data. The statistical population included all patients visiting the selected rehabilitation centers of Tehran City. In this regard, 4 rehabilitation centers; Rofaydeh Rehabilitation Hospital (public), Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital (public), Imam Zadeh Hassan Rehabilitation Center (private), and Arman Rehabilitation Center (private) were selected. Given the infinite statistical population size, the sample size was calculated using the scientific research methodology and Cochran's sample size formula. The statistical sample size estimated for the infinite statistical population of this research was 486 with 95% confidence level. The research variables were assessed using a researcher-made questionnaire called the "patient's satisfaction with rehabilitation services questionnaire". The content and face validity of the questionnaire was approved by the experts. The estimated reliability of the questionnaire was 0.83 using Cronbach's α coefficient method. The descriptive and inferential statistics methods (i.e. the independent t test and 1-way analysis of variance) were used to analyze the data. Results: The research findings reflected the clients' satisfaction with the rehabilitation services and their components (i.e. reception services, therapist services, and waiting time) in public and private hospitals. Also a significant difference was found between the levels of patients' satisfaction with rehabilitation services in private and public hospitals (P≤0.005), and clients were more satisfied with the services of public hospitals than private hospitals. Conclusion: In addition, there was no significant difference between the levels of patients' satisfaction with rehabilitation services with respect to demographic variables (including age, education, gender, and respondent), but a significant difference was observed in terms of ward. Finally, the results of the Friedman test revealed that satisfaction with therapist services had the first rank followed by patient's satisfaction with the waiting time and then with reception (admission) services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processing of sensory-motor aspect of word's meaning, and its difference between nouns and verbs, is the main topic of neurolinguistic research. The present study aimed to examine the lexical-semantic processing of Persian non-action nouns and action verbs. The possible effects of semantic correlates on noun/verb dissociation were evaluated without morphological confound. A total of 62 neurologically intact Persian speakers responded to a computerized semantic similarity judgment task, including 34 triplets of non-action nouns and 34 triplets of action verbs by pressing a key. Response Time (RT) and percentage error were considered as indirect measures of lexical-semantic encoding efficiency. We also assessed the latency of hand movement execution with no linguistic demand. The results showed that action verbs elicited more errors and had slower RT compared with object nouns. Mixed ANOVA revealed that the observed noun/verb distinction was not affected by demographic factors. These results provided evidence that the lexical-semantic encoding of Persian action verbs, compared to non-action nouns, requires more support from cognitive sources‏ ‏during the processing of the motor‏-‏related semantic feature. The possible accounts for the different processing of action verbs in terms of semantic view are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It is unknown whether %SS during a 10-minute phone call is a valid estimate of adolescent stuttering severity in everyday life. • No significant differences were found between %SS scores during a 12-hour day and unscheduled 10-minute phone calls. • A caveat to this finding is that it may not pertain to %SS scores of individual participants. Karimi, O'Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) reported, for adults, no systematic differences between percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS) scores during a 12-hour day and 10-minute phone calls. The present study replicated that finding with adolescents, using valid methods for the age group. The present study also extended that initial report by determining whether the gender of the caller influenced %SS scores. Participants were 17 adolescents with stuttering. Percentage of syllables stuttered scores were obtained from a 12-hour day of the adolescents' lives, and two 10-minute unscheduled phone calls made before and after that day. One phone call was from a male caller and the other from a female caller. For adolescents, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and intraclass correlations (ICC) replicated the overall Karimi, O'Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) finding. No significant differences were found between the %SS scores of the three speech samples, and these %SS scores were found to be highly correlated. However, in contrast to the Karimi, O'Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) finding with adults, Bland-Altman plot results revealed a caveat to this finding when applied to individual adolescents. Additionally, there was no effect due to the gender of the caller. A 10-minute phone call can be used confidently to assess group mean %SS scores during stuttering research with adolescents. However, a 10-minute phone call cannot be used confidently to assess %SS scores of individual adolescent participants. For the latter context, such as with data-based case studies and single-subject experimentation, we recommend supplementing %SS scores with self-reported severity scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stuttering is a developmental disorder of speech production with a dynamic and multifactorial nature. Scientific theories mentioned the role of auditory processing disorder in stuttering. Investigating the auditory processing in stuttering would provide insights into the mechanisms of stuttering. The details of basic auditory processing in children with stuttering (CWS) continue to remain uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the auditory temporal processing (ATP) in CWS and also its relationship with the stuttering severity. The participants of this comparative cross-sectional study were 54 CWS and 63 children without stuttering (CWOS). All children were between 7 and 12 years old. ATP ability of the participants was measured using the Backward Masking (BM), Duration Pattern (DP), and Gap in Noise (GIN) tests. Then, the groups were compared in terms of ATP results. The correlation between the scores of these tests and stuttering severity was assessed. According to the results, CWS showed poorer performance on DP, BM and GIN tests when compared with CWOS. Moreover, the stuttering severity had a significant negative correlation with the DP scores and percentage of correct identification scores in GIN; whereas it had a significant positive correlation with the BM thresholds. The results showed that some CWS have ATP disorder, which could exacerbate their stuttering. These findings highlighted the role of ATP disorder in stuttering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]