When people think of someone with Parkinson’s disease, they probably envision physical difficulties—not how the disease can affect a person’s voice, speech, language, and swallowing. In recognition of Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, we’re highlighting the role that ASHA members play when working with these individuals.
Group Therapy and Speech Cueing
Variable Speech Cueing Effects in Talkers With Parkinson’s Disease: Encouraging people with Parkinson’s disease to speak loud, slow, and clear can improve speech intelligibility in many, but not all, of these individuals. This study aimed to find out which speech cue was rated more positively by listeners unfamiliar with this disease.
Did You Care for the Orchids This Week? Outcomes of External Strategy Group Treatment for People With Parkinson’s Disease: Cognitive decline related to Parkinson’s disease negatively impacts communication and quality of life. One way to help people with cognitive decline meet their personal goals is to promote new strategies and habits in these individuals.
Swallowing and Cough Training
Treatment Acceptability and Satisfaction With Cough Skill Training in Parkinson’s Disease: A Mixed-Methods Study: Cough skill training can help people with Parkinson’s disease improve their airway protection, but these rehabilitative therapies are underutilized. Patients completed two cough-skill training sessions and provided feedback that may assist in refining person-centered implementation of this training.
Respiratory–Swallowing Phase Pattern and Swallowing Impairment in Individuals With Parkinson’s Disease: Swallowing impairments that some people with Parkinson’s disease face could lead to atypical breathing and swallowing during swallow initiation. Clinicians may be able to retrain typical respiratory-swallowing patterns in this population.
Working With Care Partners
Navigating Communication, Social Connectedness, and Mental Health Burden as Hispanic/Latiné Care Partners of Individuals With Parkinson’s Disease: Care partners of individuals living with Parkinson’s disease navigate unique challenges, which can be exacerbated if they don’t receive support themselves. Read about the needs of Hispanic/Latiné female care partners and how to recommend culturally responsive support groups.
Dysphagia Symptoms Contribute to Greater Care Partner Burden in Neurodegenerative Disease: Caregivers of people with Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases have significant physical and psychosocial strain, which has been shown to increase care partner burden in this group. The authors of this study found that early, proactive inquiry into dysphagia-related care burden could decrease burnout and lead to greater adherence to clinical recommendations.
Even More Resources
These articles barely scratch the surface of the research on Parkinson’s disease published in ASHA Journals in the last year alone. Check out last year’s issues on Motor Speech Disorders in AJSLP and JSLHR for information on Parkinson’s disease and other motor speech disorders.
This month and every month, we honor the important role that ASHA members play in the lives of individuals with Parkinson’s disease. We hope that these resources can help you continue providing personalized services to people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners.
