With more than 100,000 Americans being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease every year, it’s likely that you’ve already worked with some of these individuals in the clinic or hospital. In recognition of Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, we’re spotlighting ASHA Journals articles published in the past year that offer new perspectives and techniques to use in your work.
Community, Speech, and Communication
Stronger Together: A Qualitative Exploration of Social Connectedness in Parkinson’s Disease in the Digital Era: Many individuals with Parkinson’s disease can feel social isolation, although digital technologies may help them connect. Read about conversations in a recent focus group, and learn how group rehabilitation can enhance social connectedness in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scores Do Not Associate With Communication Challenges Reported by Adults With Alzheimer’s Disease or Parkinson’s Disease: When screening people with Parkinson’s disease for cognitive-communication challenges, you need to consider a number of factors. Learn how patient-reported communication challenges complement information obtained using a cognitive screening assessment.
Higher Frequency of Stuttered Disfluencies Negatively Affects Communicative Participation in Parkinson’s Disease: Up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s disease develop communication difficulties such as receptive and expressive language changes. Researchers show that stuttering can affect communication participation in people with Parkinson’s, highlighting the importance of holistic speech therapy for these individuals.
Swallowing and Balance Concerns
Validation of the Caregiver Analysis of Reported Experiences With Swallowing Disorders (CARES) Screening Tool for Neurodegenerative Disease: Understanding the burden of swallowing disorders on caregivers is important to help offer support to these individuals. In this article, the authors tested a screening tool designed to detect burdens related to caring for individuals with neurodegenerative disease who have swallowing difficulties.
Characterizing Physiologic Swallowing Impairment Profiles: A Large-Scale Exploratory Study of Head and Neck Cancer, Stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Dementia, and Parkinson’s Disease: As a swallowing expert, you see individuals with a number of different diagnoses, including Parkinson’s disease. Read about commonalities and differences in swallowing profiles of individuals with five dysphagia-associated diagnoses.
Evaluating the Effects of Levodopa on the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex in Parkinson’s Disease: A Case Series: Audiologists working with vestibular issues may also see people presenting with Parkinson’s disease. This article explored the use of levodopa to help people who have Parkinson’s with their vestibular responses.
Find Even More on Parkinson’s Disease
If you’re looking for even more information, you can use our advanced search feature to find resources that can help you. You may also be interested in a forum published in Fall 2024 in JSLHR containing information on the role of language, dialect, and accents in dysarthria—including articles specific to Parkinson’s disease.
As an ASHA member, you may work with people with Parkinson’s disease in a number of ways. We appreciate all the work that you do—and we hope that you took some time during Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month to spread the word about how you and your colleagues can help people with this diagnosis.
