[Normative data of semantic fluency in adult Persian speakers]

In some disorders, word finding is difficult. There is different ways to assess naming process that verbal fluency is one way. So far has not been an index to verbal fluency assessment and treatment, the aim of this study was to determine normative data of semantic fluency for 18-69 -year - old adult Persian speakers. This study was cross sectional and analytic. Participants were 540 normal adults 18-69 -year - old. They were divided in 4 age groups [18-30, 31-43, 44-56, 57-69] and 3 educational groups [0-8, 9-12, >12]. The peoples were asked to name animals and fruits in 60 seconds, words were recorded and analyzed whit Troyer method and SPSS 16 software. The findings of this study did not show significant differences in semantic verbal fluency, clusters mean and number of switches between two genders. But significant differences were found in semantic verbal fluency [P=0.000] and number of switching [P=0.000] between educational groups. Also significant differences were found in semantic verbal fluency [P=0.014], clusters [P=0.000] mean and number of switching [P=0.000] between age groups. Semantic verbal fluency and number of switching increase by promoting the education but decrease by rising of participant age. Clusters mean increase by rising of participant but the education had not significant effect. Gender had no effect on none of them. The findings of this study are consistent with other studies and difference in findings in some of studies, could cause of different in educational and age partitions

[Comparison of picture naming ability in fluent and non-fluent aphasics: an analysis of 4 cases]

Impairment of noun retrieval is common among aphasic patients, but some of previous studies represent differences between noun retrieval ability of various aphasia syndromes. Current study investigates and compares the picture naming ability of 4 patients with fluent and non-fluent aphasia. Present study investigated the naming ability of 2 fluent and 2 non-fluent aphasic patients with oral picture naming test. This test contains line drawing of 109 nouns. Patients were asked to name each picture with a single word. Responses were classified according to Philadelphia Naming Test scoring system as correct and semantic, formal, mixed, non-word, unrelated and others error [no response, description/circumlocution, miscellaneous error]. Then, the data were investigated in terms of descriptive statistics and analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. The score of non-fluent aphasics was more than fluent ones. The percentage of semantic errors in fluent group and no responses among non-fluent patients were more than the other types. Despite of personal differences, all error types were found in responses of patients. The difference between score and error types in fluent and non-fluent patients was not significant [p>.05]. This scoring system can define a variety of word retrieval errors. The fluent aphasics have more noun retrieval problems than non-fluent patients. Although, there are differences between two groups, but error type in picture naming is not a precise factor for distinguish between various aphasia syndromes and there is similarity in impaired underling mechanisms and naming behavior of them

[Investigation of acoustic correlation of intonation and intelligibility of speech in children with cochlear implant and comparison with normal hearing children]

Intonation has important roles on increase in intelligibility and conveyance correct meaning especially in conversational speech. Recognition of intonation correlates with three acoustic parameters: fundamental frequency, intensity and duration. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the acoustic correlation of intonation and intelligibility of speech in children with cochlear implant [CI] and compare with normal hearing [NH] children. This study has been carried out on 25 cochlear implant children and 25 children with normal hearing in primary school age ranges. Ten pictures were shown to children and statement and question sentences were elicited from them. To investigation of intelligibility, produced sentences were perceptually judgment by seven speech therapists and were scored by five point rating value. Acoustic correlation were determined using Praat software. The results showed that there were significantly difference between two groups in each of acoustic correlations [P<0.05]. Intelligibility scores of CI children were significantly lower than ones of NH children [P<0.05]. There were significantly correlation between intonation and intelligibility scores, also between intelligibility and duration of implant use [P<0.05]. According to the findings of the present study, cochlear implant children's performance in using of acoustic correlation of intonation is lower than normal hearing peers that results in inappropriately intonation. Inappropriately intonation can be the cause of low intelligibility in cochlear implant children. Thus, intervention of intonation should be considered in treatment program of cochlear implant children

Translation of the test of childhood stuttering into Persian and investigation of validity and reliability of the test

The communicative functioning of children who stutter can be assessed in a variety of ways. Standardized tests are an important tool to assess communication skills particularly in stuttering children .The purpose of the present study was to translate the Test of childhood Stuttering [TOCS] into persian and investigation of validity and reliability of the test. In this research, 40 stutterers and 40 non-stutterer were evaluated. After the translation of the Test according to Protocol 1QOLA and its equalization to Persian Language, Content validity and Face validity of it were determined by the opinions of experts. Then, for concurrent validity determination 80 stutterer and non-stutterer children were examined by TOCS and SSI3 .In order to test reliability, test -retest and Cronbach's alpha were used. Entirely relevant items had simple translation. The translation items had content and face validity correlation between the marks of TOCS and SSI3 [p=0.000, r=%92]. TOCS has high Test-retest [p-0.000, ICC-%97] and internal reliability [p=0.000,a=%90]. Persian equalized TOCS [Test of childhood stuttering] have high validity and reliability, it might be useful to differentiate stuttering children among normal ones

Immediate effect of lateral-wedged insole on postural control in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy [CP] is the most common motor impairment in childhood and affects 2 in 1000 live births, in which postural and motor control involved. In hemiplegic type, two sides of the body have differences in postural tone that cause weight shift to the intact side. In these children postural disorders appear as postural stability disorder. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of lateral wedge insole on postural control in cerebral palsy children. Sixteen hemiplegic children attended in this program and stood in two conditions on the force plate with and without lateral wedge on the hard plate. Center of pressure displacement measured for medio-lateral and antro-posterio directions. Every test took 20 seconds. It was repeated 3 times. Range of sideways decreased significantly with use of 5° wedge. Also a shoe wedge of 5° provided symmetrical weight distribution. The results represent that a 5° lateral wedge applied to the unaffected limb, can improve factors of postural control and gain the symmetry in hemiplegic children

Investigation of perception of intonation in primary school ages cochlear implant children and comparison with normal hearing children

Intonation perception mainly relies on fundamental frequency changes perception that is not available for individual with profound to severe hearing loss. The aim of the present study is to investigate the perception of intonation in cochlear implanted children and compare with normal hearing children. This study has been carried out on 25 cochlear implanted children and 50 children with normal hearing. An adult who her first language was Persian, expressed some questions and statement sentences. These sentences were playing for child and was asked him/her to determine whether it was in a question form or statement one. The results showed that perception of question and statement sentences intonation had significantly differences between two groups [P<0.05]. Perception of question and statement sentences intonation had significantly correlation with age at implantation and duration of implant use [P<0.05]. According to the findings of the current study and previous studies, cochlear implant has some deficits in facilitating the perception of intonation. However, this limitation has been compensated partly for early surgery. Thus, speech language pathologists should consider intervention of intonation in treatment program of cochlear implanted children

Assessment of balance impairments in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems, can affect on patient's daily activity and produce dependency in their daily activity and functional disability; The aim of present study is to compare static balance in patients with knee osteoarthritis and healthy subjects using force plate. Postural stability in knee OA patients and healthy subjects [each group 20 subjects] were measured by force plate. Two positions were selected double stance with closed or opened eyes. Range of fore/aft [Rfa] and Range of side ways [Rsw], were measured as static postural stability. Rsw increased significantly in the double stance position in patients group [P<0.05]. Also in both groups, Rsw and Rfa in the double stance with closed eyes were more than of open eyes position [P<0.05]. Postural control deficits and increase of center of pressure's sway were identified in participants with knee osteoarthritis. Therefore, one of the most important goals of rehabilitation is to improve balance control in knee OA patients