-

-

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with variable communication difficulties and disorders, mostly detected in pragmatic language abilities, sensory integration, and imitation. These components are important for a comprehensive speech-language therapy (SLT) intervention. This article describes the application of a new evaluation material for assessing imitation abilities, partial pragmatic abilities based on the recognition of graphical visual diagrams, and sensory integration in two boys with ASD (diagnosed with childhood autism in accordance with International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, WHO) with sensory integration difficulties, dyspraxia symptoms, and imitation skill disturbances. The main objective is to identify potential obstacles to SLT efficiency and the causes of disturbed pragmatic language abilities. The analysis of the case studies shows some progress in communication ability; however, some of the abilities related to sensory integration have been partially inhibited. In one case, we suggest the possible influence of the individual therapy based on the described detailed assessment.

This article is concerned with the important issue of communication between doctors and patients. A patient’s agreement to proposed therapy, his or her cooperation, and engagement in the therapeutic process to a large extent depend on the communicative skills of a doctor or therapist. This article stems from the survey carried out among the patients of the Clinical Hospital of the University Medical Centre in Gdansk, and, thereby, it attempts to evaluate the aforementioned skills.

Alcohol dependence is a chronic disease which damages many systems and organs. The toxic influence of alcohol on the central nervous system leads to the durable reduction of neurons and neural connections in number and size, especially those within the frontal structures, the limbic system, and the cerebellum. These changes result in cognitive impairments, including executive cognitive impairments, memory deficits, and emotional information processing disorder. Cognitive deficits, in turn, affect the way of understanding human reality and the possibility to represent it in language. The diagnosis of speech disorders among alcohol-dependent patients can be accomplished by evaluating their narrative skills. The article contains selected narrative statements of two men maintaining short- and medium-term alcohol abstinence, and the description of the exponents of a particular attitude and neurocompensatory mechanisms.

In the research on children’s articulation, several types of attempts to assess the implementation of phonemes are usually taken into account. An image questionnaire is a tool allowing us to study articulation. The purpose of using this kind of aid is to either indicate or exclude a speech disorder – in this case, for example, regarding the faulty implementation of individual phonemes. The article analyses quantitatively one of the phonological aspects of the lexical content of ten selected diagnostic tests used to study the articulation of children between the ages of three and seven. The studies include the occurrence of consonant groups, the attention to the position of the appearance of consonant clusters, their number in the lexical unit, and the quantity of consonant elements adjacent to each other.

Epilepsy in children leads to disorders in their psychomotor development or the loss of their acquired skills. Successful pharmacological treatment of epilepsy provides grounds for effective therapeutic measures. The goal of this article is to present the dynamics of neurodevelopmental disorders in the course of the severe symptomatic epilepsy with status epileptici which affected a 10-year-old girl. As a result of longitudinal studies, four stages were distinguished which determined the dynamics of development of the disease: 1) up to the age of 10, when the child’s psychomotor development proceeded correctly, 2) between the ages of 10 and 15, when, because of epilepsy, the disorders in the cognitive, linguistic, emotional, behavioural, motor, and vegetative spheres occurred, which assumed the form of profound dementia, 3) between the ages of 16 and 17, when the balance of the bioelectric activity of the brain was achieved owing to the optimisation of pharmacological treatment, 4) between the ages of 17 and 25, when, after the multi-specialist therapy, there was a significant improvement in the functioning of all the disordered spheres, which enabled the patient to finish junior and senior high school, apply to a university, obtain very good results in learning, and to achieve spectacular successes in sport.

Basing on a case study, this article presents the theoretical and practical investigations into the use of cognitive behavioural techniques in the logophobia therapy. It discusses the role of psychological therapy in the context of fluency of speech disorders and analyses cognitive behavioural techniques. Moreover, it presents the practical application of cognitive behavioural trends, taking into consideration the implications of speech therapy. The case study is devoted to a man diagnosed with physiological stuttering of a mixed, tonic-clonic type, and deep logophobia. The subject of this article is a therapy plan, its results for the patient, and recommendations it poses for future treatment. The case study reveals the positive influence of psychological therapy on the patient’s progress in the context of fluency of speech and decrease in the fear of speaking.

The article discusses the issue of using relaxation in work with an aphasic patient. The first part of the article presents basic information about the types and forms of relaxation. The second part presents the case study of a patient with aphasia who has refused to work with a speech therapist. This study shows that we can help such patients improve the quality of their communication (even if they are not willing to undertake speech therapy) and, as a result, change their lives (a little).

This case study shows the consequences of a late diagnosis and treatment of a child suffering from a chronic, recurrent inflammation of the middle ear, resulting in conductive, fluctuating, mild hearing loss. The article presents the child’s communication and psychological problems stemming from hearing difficulties. This study uses three diagnostic tools in order to comprehensively assess the individual developmental spheres of the boy. The final part of the article contains conclusions and postulates regarding the importance of early therapeutic care.

A child with pervasive developmental disorder shows the disturbances in the developmental dynamics, an effect that might be strengthened if autism or intellectual disorders have been diagnosed as well. This article is an attempt to compare the condition of the perceptual functions of an eight-year-old boy who suffers from multiple developmental disorders, that is, autism and moderate intellectual disorder, to that of the developmental age of a six-year-old child. The empirical data contain numerous observations, the studies based on the self-prepared questionnaires assessing the child’s psychomotor development, and the interviews with parents, teachers, and therapists. The outcomes show the disproportion between the examined cases and indicate significant development delay of the child with autism – absent in his healthy friend – which results in the decreased participation in his environment.

The article presents the tasks of psychological therapy, speech therapy, sensory integration, and the planned activities undertaken to support the development of communication in children with the autism spectrum disorder. This attempt to describe communication disorders and their relationship with therapy is based on the selected case study. It should be emphasised that the theoretical part of the article discusses social and emotional deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders, and describes their communication disorders. Moreover, two classifications used in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders are presented.

The aim of the article is to show the degree of speech development of a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. The article also presents, among others, the development of the child’s motor skills, medical documentation, and the results of specialist research. Finally, the proposal of a speech therapy plan is presented, and the need to work on accompanying disorders is emphasised.

The article presents the tasks of speech therapy and the planned activities undertaken to support the communication development of the child with the Asperger syndrome. An attempt to describe communication disorders and the relationship with the aforementioned therapy is based on the selected case study. The article also presents such issues as the development of the child’s motor skills, the medical documentation, and the results of specialist and authors’ research.

Cerebral palsy is a set of symptoms caused by the damage of the central nervous system during its development. People affected by cerebral palsy require care from a multidisciplinary team of therapists. The positive impact of the people close to a patient plays a crucial role. Since playing board games is a popular leisure activity, this article aims at encouraging people to engage a disabled person in this form of entertainment. The conclusions are based on the observations made by the author, who has worked with people affected by cerebral palsy for several years.

-