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The present article summarises the specialised literature related to foundation of logopaedics and the key stages of its development in Bulgaria. Five main stages in development have been identified: the first “pseudo-medical” period, the second period marked by first individual steps, the third period of formative years (<1900–1945), the processing period (1945–1989), and the contemporary transition period (1989–present). Challenges from a Global European Union Perspective are also described and analysed. Students training in the field of logopaedics as well as research and international collaboration are an essential part of the article. It could be said that the history of the discipline and education in logopaedics in Bulgaria is a relatively young yet dynamic and growing field.

The article focuses on the theoretical frame of the speech therapy care problem in various mental illnesses. It presents psychiatric disorders particularly associated with speech and communication problems and diversifies the character of speech disorders in psychiatry, indicating that they can oscillate between variously intensified language pathology and different ways of thinking and speaking; as such, they may be permanent or may disappear spontaneously after the episode of the disease is managed. The study defines the relationship between speech and mental disorders, and lists their short- and long-term effects in mental illnesses. Subsequently, it proceeds to circumscribe the place of a speech therapist in an interdisciplinary team, specifies what the logopaedic diagnosis in the process of a mental disorder is, and indicates other roles of a speech therapist in the broadly understood diagnostic and therapeutic process, e.g. the preventive one. The article formulates general goals and guidelines for speech therapy in mental disorders and discusses those aspects of the treatment which are closely related to the patient and the place of speech therapy care. The article concludes that speech pathologists in psychiatry have a chance to consolidate their position. The conditions which have to be met in order to do so are: the profound description and interpretation of speech disorders in psychiatry, the balanced assessment of diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities, and cooperation within an interdisciplinary team.

The article discusses the influence of behaviorist theory on logopedic science. Describes the historical experience in the application of behavioral techniques speech therapy intervention and formation on its basis of individual plans of impact specialists and speech therapists. Such an excursion seems to be relevant in connection with the introduction of individual programs of correctional work into Russian education. The results of the author’s study of the experience of using different types of reinforcements in the modern activities of speech therapists in Russia are discussed.

The author of the article tackles the problem of human language grammar from the point of view of several scientific disciplines: theoretical and mathematical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. The subject of the work is a grammar parser, and, especially, the limitations imposed on its structure and function by such factors as: the brain and the mind, the computer and the programme.

The author of the article focuses on the problem of the grammar parser from the point of view of psycholinguistics. Perceptual-syntactic strategies are the subject of this work. The author tries to prove that the theory of perceptual speech comprehension strategies does not describe the processing of more difficult sentences. This theory is insufficient as a model of a grammar parser.

From the times of Leon Kanner, autism was presented as a clinical image of behaviours. The descriptions were as comprehensive as possible, the diagnostic systems and therapies were optimised, and the analyses of various approaches to the etiology of autism were carried out. The contemporary knowledge is founded mainly on the analyses of behaviours, observations, and experiments. Cognition or self-awareness, which is a priority concept in this matter, can also be seen in the objects human beings create: in this case, people diagnosed with autism. The research was conducted at the turn of 2018 and 2019. The aim of the study was acquiring knowledge of autism perception by the individuals who are affected by ASD and able to communicate, according to the age and sex of the respondents. The research was conducted on 168 individuals diagnosed with autism (90 women and 78 men). The innovative aspect of this project lies in using the netnography method for collecting and analysing data. The findings of the research have helped to expand the knowledge of problems that ASD individuals experience and have allowed the subjects of the research to share their own perspectives, including the effect of social labeling on their position in the society.

The pronunciation of consonant groups in three-, four-, and five-year-old children is an exponent of the acquired phonological competences. A genuine study has to consider the pronunciation of consonants characteristic of specific early stages of speech development. The element of phonetic neighborhood is also an important aspect, being a decisive feature for the final implementation of a specific consonantal connection. In the speech of preschool children, the implementation of consonant groups (CCV-, -VCC- and -VCC), in addition to the pronunciation consistent with the standard one, includes substitutions, reductions, assimilation, and other phenomena, for instance, epentesis. Moreover, there is the coexistence of several types of pronunciation violations of consonant clusters.

This article presents the results of research carried out to assess the potential non-auditory causes of articulation defects in deaf children. Who was tested were twenty people with hearing impairment between the ages of eleven and seventeen, whose functional hearing is 40 dB on average, as assessed on the basis of tonal audiometry in a free sound field. The study involved a questionnaire assessing the structure of the articulation apparatus, a questionnaire assessing the fitness and muscle tone of the articulation apparatus, and a questionnaire assessing functions (physiological functions) within the articulation apparatus. The obtained results point to the need for an in-depth diagnosis of articulation and its condition among deaf patients, the determination of pathomechanisms of sound disturbances in the assessed speech, and the inclusion of broadly understood preventive mechanisms derived from logopaedics in the therapeutic process.

A woman who drinks alcohol while being pregnant puts her child at risk of numerous birth defects that can negatively affect a child’s cognition, physical growth and behaviour. It is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – FAS. Among all these dysfunctions, hearing problems might occur, including the disorders of phonematic hearing and phonematic analysis which result in improper executive functioning. The deficits in executive functioning can lead to real-life implications. According to studies, the children’s ability to operate phonemes should develop with age. Approximately sixty per cent of six-year-old children and almost all ten-year-old children successfully perform phoneme analysis. Undoubtedly, this ability is strongly connected with reading and writing, that is, the basic skills for school children. However, studies on FAS children show that only twenty per cent of sixyear- olds and fifty per cent of ten-year-olds can manage the task of phoneme operations. It is a natural consequence of the problems with memorising sounds and the linear order of words. This failure in developing the skill of phoneme analysis in children leads to dysfunctions in reading and writing.

The incidence of stroke in the Czech Republic is increasing. Approximately one-third of people after stroke develop aphasia, manifesting various symptoms in speech production, understanding, reading and writing. In acute stage of disease, screening tools are used to detect aphasia. The aim of this article is to present and describe Afaziologický screeningový test (ASTcz) to determine the presence or absence of aphasia. This Czech version is an adaptation of the original German Aphasie-Schnell-Test. In the process of validating the adapted instrument, persons without aphasia and persons with aphasia in acute and chronic stages of the disease were tested. The results of testing the psychometric properties of the test (i.e. validity, reliability and discriminatory ability) are described and commented on. They indicate a very good applicability for clinical practice.

Creating false memories with words is a research procedure mainly used in psychology. It is based on a high correlation between the probability of remembering-knowing a critical word (the memories of the fact of learning it) and the likelihood of providing this word as an association with a list of words. An unrepresented critical word appears as a memory because it is associated with thewords presented to the participants of the study. The falsehood of the memory lies in the fact that the probability of providing a false word, i.e. a critical word, is as strong as the possibility of giving a listed word, whereas the respondents report that they remember the very moment of remembering a critical word. The aim of this article is to present the results of research on causing false memories and their effects carried out on the group of people with motor aphasia and the control group of those without this type of disorder. The study was conducted using the modified DRM procedure on the group of people with motor aphasia (N = 46) and the control group (N = 46). The study was conducted individually and the material was presented by means of visual and auditory ways. The conclusion is that the people with aphasia are prone to the effect of causing false memories to a similar extent as those without aphasia, even though this fact may be due to the non-linguistic deficits associated with aphasia.

The article discusses the factors determining the occurrence of voice emission problems, including internal, external, and psychosocial ones. It was proposed to distinguish the psychological / psychosocial factors as a separate group. The results of the research conducted among teachers (N = 265) in schools in the Silesian provinces show how psychological factors affect the self-assessment of voice (emotional, functional, and physical, measured by means of the Voice Handicap Index
scale); these factors are: the level of perceived stress (PSS10), anxiety (STAI I and II – anxiety as a trait and anxiety as a state), self-assessment (SES) and life satisfaction (SWLS). The article describes the results of original research on the dependence of psychosocial factors and voice disability.

In addition to limiting the perception of sound stimuli, hearing impairment can affect human functioning in various spheres of life: including physical, mental, and social ones; at the same time, it might affect the development of communication and, above all, language skills as well. The results of scientific research briefly presented in the introductory part of this article report on the varying severity of these difficulties. Then, on the basis of the secondary literature, the principles of creating spoken and written texts are discussed. In the following part, the characteristic features of narrative forms of expression are listed, especially description, which is significantly different from the story. Next, the results of our own research on the ability to structure description based on the oral and written statements of 12 students with varying degrees of hearing loss are presented. Based on the collected material, it was noticed that the composition of written texts produced by the people with hearing disabilities are more thoughtful, more complex and more complete, although they also contain stylistic and linguistic errors. A significant number of people also used such sentences which clearly finish and/or summarise their descriptions. Spoken texts are short and concise, which is most noticeable in listing the distinctive elements or parts of a provided illustration, or individual features of one’s appearance. There are also fewer texts in which the emotions of travellers are noticed and described. Single sentences and extended single sentences prevail. Moreover, features typical of spoken language are present as well. Finally, there are some difficulties in building a compositionally and logically correct statement.

The article presents the case study of a sixteen-year-old girl with autism, who communicates by means of one of alternative and augmentative communication methods: Facilitated Communication, and the analysis of the results of working with the child. The theoretical part (two sections) presents the essence of interpersonal communication and focuses on the role of word in familiarizing oneself with the world. The paper also discusses relationships between disorders of cognitive functions and the development of communication skills in order to introduce Facilitated Communication as an alternative method of communication used among others by autistic persons.

The aim of this article is to capture the influence of shortened tongue frenulum (ankyloglosia) on primary functions such as breathing, sucking, swallowing, as well as on food activities – biting and chewing. The publication is a review and is an attempt to combine the available professional literature (national and world) on the above topic, as well as to discuss the conclusions from the cited studies. One of the paragraphs is devoted to several cases of children with ankyloglossia and its impact on primary activities in these children. The article also includes own reflections and considerations from the literature and case description discussed in the publication, children with shortened sublingual frenulum.

This article presents the exemplary types of dysarthria with its characteristic respiration, phonation, and prosody disorders. The author examined the voice capabilities of three patients, aged 52, 74 and 81, respectively, described them, and composed short session programmes in voice therapy (comprised of three meetings) adapted to their individual needs. The author carried out the part of the therapy and then listed tendencies resurfacing during the exercises performed by the patients. Finally, the expected effects of further exercises (following previously applied methods) were presented.

The article discusses the speech therapy diagnosis of children growing up in multilingual environments. The authors present the desiderata of global standards used in the assessment of speech and language among bilingual children. Particular attention is paid to the important role of an interpreter in the differential diagnosis of the typical operations of speech/language development, bilingualism and communication, and language deficits. The cases of speech patterns among bilingual children analysed both by the speech therapist and the interpreter complement the theoretical part of the article.

Early childhood bilingualism, natural bilingualism, and multilingualism, which occurs more often than ever before, are widely discussed in the secondary literature. Bilingualism entails acquiring a new identity and induces a change in linguistic thinking. This article contributes to the studies concerning the methods and strategies that are undertaken by such families that either raise or aim at raising a bilingual child; moreover, it puts forward a case study of a boy who is 2 years and 9 months old. In the introduction, the essential issues of raising a bilingual child are presented with a special emphasis put on the parents’ attitude towards bilingual education and their conviction of its underlying benefits for the boy. The empirical part of this article focuses on language proficiency and communication competences, and their assessment.

Music is able to stimulate the human brain at different levels, resulting in greater durability of treatment results, as well as the overall health of patients is improved. The aim of the article is to present the use of cognitive neurological music therapy techniques in the treatment of acousticmnestic aphasia patients. In the theoretical part of the article, the language and communication deficits occurring in the acoustic-mnestic aphasia are described. The basic assumptions and mechanisms of neurological music therapy were also presented, as well as the neuromuscular therapeutic techniques were briefly characterized and divided into three groups due to the area of influence (sensomotor, speech therapy and cognitive). Next, a case study of a patient with acoustic-mnestic aphasia was presented. Based on the characteristics and description of linguistic and communication disorders of the patient, appropriate cognitive techniques of neurological musicotherapy were selected and their use in the therapy of the described patient was described.

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