Objective: Main Objectives of research were: 1) developing a lip-reading test for Persian adults, 2) Standardization of the test in a group with normal hearing and 3) Evaluation of it in a group of adults with acquires hearing impairment.

Materials & Methods: First according to "Denver Quick Test of lip-reading" (Alpiner et al, 1970), a lip-reading test, composed of 20 simple and common sentences was developed. Then the test was performed on 105 normally hearing and vision adults with male and female talkers. Also 48 adults with acquired hearing impairment were evaluated twice, lip-reading alone and lip-reading + residual hearing.

Results: According to the results, "Sara Lip-reading Test" is a valid and reliable test for assessing lip-reading ability of Persian adults.

The baby's first words producing is one of the most important index of development. Development of talking is through a complex process that is influenced by both neuromaturation and human relationships (environment). It is not an imitative function in which children learn to repeat what they hear, but also it is a creative process through which children master a rule based, symbolic system. Talking development can be evaluated in 5 important dimensions: phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax and pragmatic. The receptive and expressive abilities of the child must be evaluated also. This paper discusses about the epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, how to assessment and make early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, management (treatment and rehabilitation) and prognosis of delayed or atypical talking in addition to above definitions. This paper also emphasizes on early intervention for children who develop significant behavior problems secondary to their communication difficulties and for whom long-term problems in social development are a major concern.

Objective: The objective of this study is to obtain the prevalence of speech and language disorders among elementary girls students in 3 and 19 educational regions in Tehran.

Materials & Methods: The population of this study is composed of two regions 3 and 19. Among of them 1010 students selected randomized. (Average 200 students from each -grade). Then completed questionnaire by examiners and then the speech of students was assessed. If there was any disorder, the result was registered in formal sheet, assessment tools was the last year Farsi book and a series of action pictures. Also oral cavity of the all samples with a view of movement, anatomy, and occlusion were assessed.

Results: The findings of this research indicate that, from 1010 students, 163 (16.1%) students had one of the disorders including: Articulation disorders, stuttering, dysphonia, tongue thrust, resonance disorders, and dyslexia. In region 19.75 students (46%) and in region 3.88 students (54%) had one of the mentioned disorders.

Objective: One of the most common and complete ways to communication between humans is “Speech”. Speech has lots of complicates in both acquisition and performing steps. Therefore it is at risk of many disorders. One of these disorders is stuttering. Stuttering is a syndrome in that there are interruptions in fluency of speech like repetition, block, prolongation, pause, etc. Many factors affect on stuttering. One of these factors which are mentioned in many references, are allergies. About 15% of communities suffer from allergy. In this study, the main goal is to investigation of the relationship between stuttering and various kinds of allergies, including asthma, rhinitis, and dermatitis. Materials and

Materials & Methods: In this study 33 stutterer cases referred to speech therapy clinics as the “case group” and 57 non-stutterer individuals as matched control group have selected. The checklist for investigation the allergy was applied by both case and control groups and was analyzed.

Results: In the case group 9 out of 33 stutterers, had asthma (27.3%) and in the control group 6 out of 57 non-stutterers were involved by asthma (10.5%) and in case group 6 out of 33 stutterers had rhinitis (18.2%) and in control group 6 persons had rhinitis (L O. 5%) and 1 out of 33 stutterer in case group had dermatitis (3%) and 4 persons in control group had it (7%).

Conclusion: Results of this research showed there is a significant relationship between stuttering and asthma but there is no significant relationship between the other two kinds of allergies-rhinitis and dermatitis and stuttering.

Objective: We need lipreading tests in order to evaluate patient’s lipreading skills and necessary instructions. These are two kinds of lipreading test: synthetic & analytic. Sara (2) lipreading test is an analytic test and complementary of Sara (1) lipreading test which was a synthetic one (Movallali, 2000). Developing a lipreading test and standardization of the test in a group with normal hearing and vision was the aim of this study.

Materials & Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical survey and its subjects included: 1) All Persian phonemes that were put in a VCV context. 2) 88 normally hearing and vision adults (58 males, 30 females) ranged from 17 to 85 years old).

Results: 1) “Sara Lipreading Test” (Number 2), composed of 23 nonsense two syllable VCVs. 2) Lipreading ability of Persian phonemes in 6 groups of homophones. 3) Subjects could distinguish between visems in 6 different homophone groups. 4) Content validity of the test. 5) No significant difference between test and retest.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, “Sara (2) Lipreading Test” is a valid and reliable analytic test for assessing lipreading ability of Persian phonemes and despite of its simple structure, gives us a lot of valuable information about lipreading skills and is complementary of synthetic lipreading tests.

Due to the mental and physical impairments in family and neonates born with cleft lip and palate, basic understandings of pre, intra and post- operative measures in such patients are considered to be highly crucial. In post- operative period, patients as well as their relatives, need to be informed about the scope and the different dimentions of the problem. A thorough evaluation within a specialised team is necessary. The specialised team is consisted of speech pathologist, reconstructive surgeon, dentist, craniofacial surgeon, pediatrist, and etc. In addition, basic health check and speech rehabilitation must be conducted, as soon as possible. Furthermore, velopharyngeal movements, tonsils, uvula, palatopharyngeal walls with relation to the nasopharynx area also need to be assessed. A precise therapeutic program is essential in this matter. Evaluation of both clinical and paraclinical as well as speech therapy within six weeks, six month and twelve months post- surgery is needed. Any success or failure should be identified and discussed within the specilised team for further different speech therapy actions. Either prosthesis or re- operation might be recommended if the team reaches to an agreement after the proper assessment.

Objective: The main aim of this research was to set up Persian stimuli for diagnostic experimental analysis of speech in order to measure Nasality and Motor Speech Profile by two Speech Lab Systems: SNORS + & VISIPITCH III in native speakers of Persian.

Materials & Methods: The linguistic stimuli of the two lab systems were standardized in accordance with the structural properties of Persian. Two groups of subjects (n=46) with an age range of 19 to 37 years were selected to test the reliability of the experimental analysis of the Persian stimuli.

Results: Based on the results the present linguistic stimuli can be used to measure nasality in SNORS + with standard deviation of %5 and MSP in VISIPITCH III with p=0 and STD=33.06 and mean of 38.165.

Conclusion: Based on the statistical analysis of the present Persian stimuli¡ the data in both lab systems can be used to measure Nasality and Motor Speech Profile in the native speakers of Persian.

Objective: There is an assumption that pragmatic competence and performance in deaf loss students is less than normal students , so this research notice to this pragmatic aspects in two groups of deaf students of Baghcheban schools and normal students in Tehran.

Materials & Methods: Subjects were 70 girls and boys from deaf students with severe impaired hearing (70 - 90 dB) and mean of education 15 - 18 in 4 levels high school. Then those comparied with 70 normal students that was matched in terms of sex, educational level, course of education and area of live. Method of research was comparative and cross - sectional. Instruments include questionnaire and pragmatic test (reception and expression of metaphors, reception and expression of proverbs, reception of indirect speech acts, reception of inferential meaning, select of best topic and reception of humour sentences). Then the data was analyzed with the use of Kruskal Wallis test, Mann - Whitney U, t - test and paired t – test.

Results: Analysis of data demonstrated significantly different (P < 0.05) between average scale of pragmatic competence and performance in two groups. There was significantly difference between average scale of pragmatic competence and performance with the increase of educational level in hearing loss students also. But there weren’t significantly difference between average scales of pragmatic with the increase of educational level in normal students.

Conclusion: The deaf students understand pragmatic competence less then normal students and they are unable to use them appropriative in different contexts and situations.

Objective: The negative effects of hearing loss rendered to the processes of fast motor skills of articulators, speed and intelligibility of speech have been proved scientifically. The main question is how different thresholds are, can effect in such and try to find relations between mentioned three speech skills specially if there are relations between tests in evaluating speed articulators such as oral diadochokinesis and speed of speech.

Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional–analyzical study was performed on 46 hearing-impaired (profound, sever, moderately sever) and 15 normal -hearing high-school students that were selected randomized. Subjects were measured by oral diadochokinesis test (The records were analyzed by speech analyzer of Dr. Speech Software), 100 words text to evaluate speed of speech according read words per minute), and use of rate scale method to define the rate of intelligibility of speech in reading text. Data were analyzed by SPSS software.

Results: The general pattern suggest that the high threshold hearing subjects spend more time to repeat oral diadochokinesis syllables and have decreased speed and intelligibility of speech. In respect to speed of speech and oral diadochokinesis ability, there were only significant differences between profound hearing-impaired subjects and both sever and moderately sever subjects (P<0.05). There was significantly negative relationship between speed of speech and spent time to repeat the oral diadochokinesis syllables in hearing-impaired groups (P=0.02). There was not any relationship in normal-hearing group (P>0/05). General findings suggest some significant relationship between intelligibility and speed of speech (P>0.05).

Conclusion: Respect to the negative effects of hearing loss on fast oral motor skills, speed of speech and intelligibility of speech and such relationships between these three variables, suggested interventions on each of the above variables may be useful in other comparative subjects.

Objective: Current study took place in order to deliver a comprehensive assessment of oral and speech motor abilities in verbal and non-verbal tasks in normally children based on oral/speech motor control protocol and determination of this protocol validity and reliability after translation.

Materials & Methods: First stage of this research was a descriptive study and validity assessment and in second stage it was done cross – sectional and comparatively. After translating the protocol into Farsi, some items relating to speech coordinated movements were modified to conform in Farsi. Three hundred normally Farsi speaking children were selected by radom sampling from day care centers and preschool classes. The means and standard deviations of the main variables were computed and some comparisons were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA.

Results: The scores of 5-6 years children usually was more than other groups and their difference was significant (P<0/001). Reliability coefficient of protocol in different age groups were 0/19-0/59 in TSS and 0/75-0/80 in TFS.

Conclusion: The results imply a meaningful increase in TFS, and MPT scores by age groups and decrease in TSS and imply increase in speech functions. This protocol can be used in researches and clinical evaluations.

Objective: The respiration role is not limited to vital function but it also important in speech process. The present research is aimed to measure different parameters of speech breathing values in patients suffering Mustard Gas injuries versus normal individual.

Materials & Methods: Research was applied as case-control, cross – sectional and analytical method. The sampling pattern was convenience. Among patients, 19 were selected within injured patients from Baghiatallah hospital and 20 from those of normal individuals from welfare and rehabilitation sciences university stuffs. Normal people were matched based on their age, gender and other criterias within 30-50 years of age. ST1 Dysphonia manufactured by G.M. Instruments Ltd.) was used to measure parameters of speech breathing, that include “Vital capacity”, “Phonation time”,” Phonation volume”,” Mean flow rate”,” Total expired volume”. And also,” Vocal velocity index” and “Phonation Quotient” were calculated. The independent T-test was used for data analysis. 

Results: Research findings shown statistically significant difference between two groups in Vital capacity (P<0/001), Phonation time (P<0/001), Phonation volume (P<0/001), Vocal velocity index (P=0/004), Total expired volume (P<0/001) and Phonation Quotient (P=0/046), but there was no significant difference in Mean flow rate between case and control group (P=0/615). 

Conclusion: present research has indicated, chemical war substance, not only has rendering effects upon vital respiration, but also has alternate patient’s speech breathing capabilities greatly. Such finding can be measured and evaluated the disturbed phonatory criteria in such patients and be a valued guide for speech & language phatologists, during treating such patients.

Objective: Gestures of the hands and arms have long been observed to accompany speech in spontaneous conversation. However, the way in which these two modes of expression are related in production is not yet fully understood. So, the present study aims to investigate the spontaneous gestures that accompany speech in adults who stutter in comparison to fluent controls. 

Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative research, ten adults who stutter were selected randomly from speech and language pathology clinics and compared with ten healthy persons as control group who were matched with stutterers according to sex, age and education. The cartoon story-retelling task used to elicit spontaneous gestures that accompany speech. Participants were asked to watch the animation carefully and then retell the storyline in as much detail as possible to a listener sitting across from him or her and his or her narration was video recorded simultaneously. Then recorded utterances and gestures were analyzed. The statistical methods such as Kolmogorov- Smirnov and Independent t-test were used for data analyzing.

Results: The results indicated that stutterers in comparison to controls in average use fewer iconic gestures in their narration (P=0.005). Also, stutterers in comparison to controls in average use fewer iconic gestures per each utterance and word (P=0.019). Furthermore, the execution of gesture production during moments of dysfluency revealed that more than 70% of the gestures produced with stuttering were frozen or abandoned at the moment of dysfluency.

Conclusion: It seems gesture and speech have such an intricate and deep association that show similar frequency and timing patterns and move completely parallel to each other in such a way that deficit in speech results in deficiency in hand gesture.

Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder that occurs as a consequence of the left hemisphere lesions. This syndrome is usually manifested by a combination of segmental & suprasegmental deviations in production. Despite the segmental difficulties, prosodic errors often are considered as the main feature of Foreign Accent Syndrome. In this article, we report a case of a fifty three years old Persian – speaker woman who presents, in marked degree, with the characteristic features of FAS as a result of a stroke. To our knowledge, she is the first reported case of this syndrome in Iran. The suprasegmental features of this patient were analyzed by Praat Software (Version 4.1.9.), and were compared with the speech characteristics of Persian normal speakers’. The results, in accordance with the previous findings, confirm major deviations in the prosodic aspects of stress, rate of speech and junctures in the patient’s speech

Objective: To evaluate some speech and language features of children born after assisted reproductive techniques (ART).

Materials & Methods: In this descriptive and analytical study, fifty children between 0– 49 months were selected simply and conveniently by consecutive method and evaluated via interview with their parents and clinical observation, by a speech and language pathologist. A questionnaire was completed after parent interview. The ELM–2 (Early Language Milestone Scale–2), MLU (Mean Length Utterance) test and POSP (Paediatric Oral Skill Pakage) were employed. Data were analyzed by Independent T Test, Mann–Whitney Test, Chi Square and Kolmogorov Smirnov Test.

Results: 33 children (66%) were born through intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) , and the reminder through invitro fertilization (IVF) or intrauterine insemination (IUI). Mean Length Utterance (MLU) was 3.3 words. 8% of these children had some structural anomalies in speech organs and 6% of them showed speech organs dysfunction. There was no gender priority in MLU (P=0.069), cooing (P=0.125), number of words (P=0.079) and structure and function of speech organs (P=0.327). There was significant difference between boys and girls in lalling (P=0.026).

Conclusion: Speech and language of children born after assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are normal but more comprehensive studies are needed.

Objective: This research was aimed to investigate the relation between non-verbal imitation and naming ability and effect of non-verbal motor imitation exercises on ability of naming in autistic children.

Materials & Methods: In the first phase of this research which was done comparatively, 22 autistic and 22 normally developed children were selected conveniently and their ability of naming and non-verbal imitation was examined. In the second phase, which was an experimental-interventional study with a pretest-posttest and control group design, the autistic children were assigned into two matched groups by balanced randomized method. Then non-verbal motor exercises intervention executed in experimental group for 60 days (one hour a day). During this period the control group received routine educational program. Before and after intervention, naming ability of two groups was assessed by naming test. Data were analyzed by Independent T- test and Variance analysis.

Results: Research findings showed statistically significant difference between autistic group and normal group in naming ability (P<0.001). In autistic group, there was a positive correlation between naming ability and non-verbal imitation ability (r=0/878). Furthermore findings showed significant difference in naming ability between control and experimental group after intervention (P<0.001).

Conclusion: This finding reveals that non-verbal motor imitation has a positive correlation with naming ability and non-verbal imitation exercises increases the naming ability in autistic children.

Objective: This study compares the effect of speech therapy and picture exchange communication system (PECS) on communication development of 4-8 year old autistic children.

Materials & Methods: This is an experimental and comparison study. In this study 10 subjects including PECS and speech therapy groups were selected using the available sampling method on the base of including and excluding criteria. Both groups were matched according to age and developmental indices of Niusha scale. Dependent variables were listening, receptive language, expressive language, cognition, speech and social communication. Intervention was applied for both groups similarly divided in 40 minute sessions 3 times a weak for 3 months. Our parameters were evaluated by Niusha development scale before and after interventions. The results were analyzed clinically and statistically by sum-ranks willkokson and rank- signed willkokson.

Results: Post test comparison between the two groups revealed that the members of PECS group had a more progress in listening, receptive language, cognition and social communication skills rather than speech therapy group. But these differences were not significant statistically and T(sum ranks) was between critical values.

Conclusion: considering the results, it could be concluded that PECS is a effective strategy to train non-verbal autistic children. Moreover it could be used as a supplement teaching method beside other therapeutic method such as speech therapy.

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the lip reading ability and Speech perception of hearing impaired students of special schools for the hearing impaired in different speech levels.

Materials & Methods: In this cross- sectional study, 44 deaf students (9-12 years old) were selected with multi-stage cluster sampling method, from two special schools for the deaf in Tehran. Tools were a demographics questionnaire, the Auditory Perception Test (APT-HI), Sara lip reading test (No 2) and Speech Discrimination Score Test (SDS). T test were used to analyze the data.

Results: The lip reading ability and speech perception of 97.3% of deaf students was very poor and only 67% had degrees of speech perception. (P-value<0.001). There was the significant difference between Sara lip reading test scores (phonemes) with and without sound (P-value<0.001), but no significant difference between SDS test scores (words) with and without sound. Also there was no significant difference between male and female sample scores in all of tests.

Conclusion: lip reading and speech perception, the first index of oral method, were not desirable in deaf students in special schools for the deaf in Tehran. More research is needed to explore solutions.

Objective: The purpose of the present research was to compare speech intelligibility in children with cochlear implant, with hearing aids and normal hearing in Tehran province. 

Materials & Methods: Sixty children underwent this analytic and comparative research. They were divided into three groups and each group contains 20 children. First and second group were selected, ordinarily, from children with cochlear implant and hearing aids by the in available method while that third group were selected from children with normal hearing randomly. The instruments of this research were Riven intelligence test and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR). The obtained data were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Post-Hoc Scheffe.

Results: The findings of the research showed that mean scores of speech intelligibility in normal hearing children was significantly more than children of the two groups (P<0.05), while that mean scores of speech intelligibility in children with cochlear implant had not a significant difference with children with hearing aids (P>0.05).

Conclusion: Speech intelligibility in children with normal hearing was better than children with cochlear implant or hearing aids. Since, speech intelligibility is multidimensional and complex phenomenon, requires specific rehabilitation program in order to achieve more development in speech skill of children with cochlear implant or hearing aids.

Objective: Early detection of children who are at risk for speech and language impairment and those at early stages of delay is crucial for provision of early intervention services. However, unfortunately in Iran, this disorder is not identified or referred for proper treatment and rehabilitation at early critical stages.

Materials & Methods: This study was carried out in two phases. The first phase which was qualitative in nature was meant to identify all potentially affective factors through literature review as well as by acquiring the viewpoints of experts and families on this issue. Twelve experts and 9 parents of children with speech and language disorders participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews, thereby completing the first draft of potentially affective factors compiled through literature review. The completed list of factors finally led to the design of a questionnaire for identifying “factors affecting late referral in childhood speech and language impairment”. The questionnaire was approved for face and content validity. The cronbach’s alpha was determined to be 0.81. Two groups of parents were asked to complete the questionnaire: the parents of children who had attended speech and language clinics located on the west and central regions of Tehran city, after their child was 3 years old and those who had attended before their child was 3 years old, as the case and control group, respectively.

Results: According to the results, among the seven factors which showed significant difference between the two groups of children before definite diagnosis of speech and language disorders was arrived for the child, 3 factors were related to the type of guidance and consultation received by the family from physicians, 2 factors were related to parents’ lack of awareness and knowledge, and 2 factors were related to the screening services received. All six factors showing significant difference between the two groups after definite diagnosis of speech and language disorders was arrived for the child were somehow related to the parents’ misbeliefs and incorrect attitude towards the issue.

Conclusion: We suggest that executive managers in the field of child health promote awareness programs for families in order to increase their knowledge and correct their beliefs and attitudes, and also to implement complementary training programs for pediatricians and other physicians related to the field of child health.

Objective: This study was a basic investigation of the ability of concurrent speech segregation in hearing impaired children. Concurrent segregation is one of the fundamental components of auditory scene analysis and plays an important role in speech perception. In the present study, we compared auditory late responses or ALRs between hearing impaired and normal children.

Materials & Methods: Auditory late potentials in response to 12 double vowels were recorded in 10 children with moderate to severe sensory neural hearing loss and 10 normal children. Double vowels (pairs of synthetic vowels) were presented concurrently and binaurally. Fundamental frequency (F0) of these vowels and the size of the difference in F0 between vowels was 100 Hz and 0.5 semitones respectively.

Results: Comparing N1-P2 amplitude showed statistically significant difference in some stimuli between hearing impaired and normal children (P<0.05). This complex indexing the vowel change detection and reflecting central auditory speech representation without active client participation was decreased in hearing impaired children.

Conclusion: This study showed problems in concurrent speech segregation in hearing impaired children evidenced by ALRs. This information indicated deficiencies in bottom-up processing of speech characteristics based on F0 and its differences in these children.