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Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) impairment is present in several neurological disorders. Although activation in SVF-related areas has been reported, how these regions are connected and their functional roles in the network remain divergent. We assessed SVF static and dynamic functional connectivity (FC) and effective connectivity in healthy participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We observed activation in the inferior frontal (IFG), middle temporal (pMTG) and angular gyri (AG), anterior cingulate (AC), insular cortex, and regions of the superior, middle, and medial frontal gyri (SFG, MFG, MidFG). Our static FC analysis showed a highly interconnected task and resting state network. Increased connectivity of AC with the pMTG and AG was observed for the task. The dynamic FC analysis provided circuits with connections similarly modulated across time and regions related to category identification, language comprehension, word selection and recovery, word generation, inhibition of speaking, speech planning, and articulatory planning of orofacial movements. Finally, the effective connectivity analysis provided a network that best explained our data, starting at the AG and going to the pMTG, from which there was a division between the ventral and dorsal streams. The SFG and MFG regions were connected and modulated by the MidFG, while the inferior regions formed the ventral stream. Therefore, we successfully assessed the SVF network, exploring regions associated with the entire processing, from category identification to word generation. The methodological approach can be helpful for further investigation of the SVF network in neurological disorders.

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OBJECTIVE: To generate normative data for the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) and the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in the Costa Rican population. METHOD: The sample consisted of 563 healthy older people (aged 59-90 years). Polynomial multiple regression analyses were run to evaluate the effects of the age, sex, and education variables on VFT and BNT scores. RESULTS: The results showed a significant linear effect of education on the four-letter VF scores and an effect of sex on the letter P score, with females performing better than males. The explained variance ranged from 20.9% to 28.3%. A linear effect of age and education was also found for the four semantic VF scores, with scores decreasing with increasing age and lower education. The sex variable was significant for all semantic categories, with females performing better than males except in the animal category. The explained variance ranged from 21.7% to 30.9%. In the BNT, a linear effect of education was found, so that the more education, the better the score. In addition, a sex effect was also found, with males having higher scores than females. The predictors of the model explained 9.6% of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that generates normative data for the VF and BNT in the Costa Rican population over 59 years of age based on demographic variables. The use of these normative data will help clinicians in Costa Rica to better understand language functioning in the elderly, allowing for better classification and diagnosis in the future.

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OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to carry out a cross-cultural analysis by comparing Five-Point test scores for two different countries. The Five-Point test measures design fluency, an executive function, and is an inexpensive test that makes it more accessible to assessment settings, including under-resourced settings. METHODS: Adults in Argentina (n = 90) and South Africa (n = 90) with tertiary levels of education were tested on the Five-Point Test. ANOVA was applied to compare the scores of the two groups on the total number of unique designs produced (Total Unique Designs). RESULTS: The study found no significant differences in the Total Unique Designs scores between the two groups (p = .13; η = 0.01). Correlations between demographic variables and the Total Unique Designs scores varied slightly across both samples. CONCLUSIONS: Despite large cultural differences between both samples (language, race, religion, income) scores on this test did not differ significantly. These findings provide initial evidence of scalar equivalence on the test across these samples. Norms for the Five-Point Test Total Unique Designs scores might be used interchangeably between these two highly educated groups from different countries.

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Stuttering, affecting approximately 1% of the global population, is a complex speech disorder significantly impacting individuals' quality of life. Prior studies using electromyography (EMG) to examine orofacial muscle activity in stuttering have presented mixed results, highlighting the variability in neuromuscular responses during stuttering episodes. Fifty-five participants with stuttering and 30 individuals without stuttering, aged between 18 and 40, participated in the study. EMG signals from five facial and cervical muscles were recorded during speech tasks and analyzed for mean amplitude and frequency activity in the 5-15 Hz range to identify significant differences. Upon analysis of the 5-15 Hz frequency range, a higher average amplitude was observed in the zygomaticus major muscle for participants while stuttering (p < 0.05). Additionally, when assessing the overall EMG signal amplitude, a higher average amplitude was observed in samples obtained from disfluencies in participants who did not stutter, particularly in the depressor anguli oris muscle (p < 0.05). Significant differences in muscle activity were observed between the two groups, particularly in the depressor anguli oris and zygomaticus major muscles. These results suggest that the underlying neuromuscular mechanisms of stuttering might involve subtle aspects of timing and coordination in muscle activation. Therefore, these findings may contribute to the field of biosensors by providing valuable perspectives on neuromuscular mechanisms and the relevance of electromyography in stuttering research. Further research in this area has the potential to advance the development of biosensor technology for language-related applications and therapeutic interventions in stuttering.

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OBJECTIVE: We conducted two empirical studies (in a cross-sectional and a longitudinal design) with the aim at establishing normative data (including norms for strategy use [i.e., clustering and switching strategies] and performance over time), and examining the convergent validity, the test-retest reliability (3-4 wks interval) and the changes in performance with practice (1 year interval) of the different verbal fluency (VF) quantitative and qualitative scores in Spanish-speaking children and adolescents. METHOD: In S1 (n = 620 6- to 15-year-old Spanish-speaking children and adolescents), MANCOVA and Pearson's correlations were employed. In S2 (n = 148 6- to 12-year-old Spanish-speaking children), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), paired t-tests, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used. RESULTS: S1 results showed an age effect on all VF measures (quantitative and qualitative). The number of switches/clusters was more related to total word productivity and to executive functions (EF) than the mean cluster size. In S2, a significant increase in phonological VF performance was observed on number of switches and word productivity scores from baseline (Time 1) to repeat testing at Time 2. Practice effects were observed at Time 3 on all measures except for semantic and phonological mean cluster size. Test-retest reliability coefficients at Time 2 for number of clusters and switches, but not for mean cluster size, fell in the moderate range, ranging from ICCs .61 to ICCs .81. Test-retest reliability coefficients for total word productivity were higher (ICCs above .80) and stronger when testing as a unity with CFA methods (ϕ=.94, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These data may be relevant for informing the neuropsychological assessment of spontaneous cognitive flexibility in children with typical development (TD) and those with developmental or acquired disorders.

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BACKGROUND: This study explored the effects of attention shifting on Chinese children's word reading. OBJECTIVE: The sample consisted of 87 fourth-grade children from Shaoxing City, China. METHODS: The students completed measures of the attention shifting task, reading accuracy test, reading fluency test, and rapid automatized naming test. RESULTS: The results showed that reading fluency was significantly correlated with attention shifting scores, specifically with tag1 and tag6 (ps < 0.05). The reading accuracy score was also significantly correlated with tag6 (p < 0.05). According to the regression analysis of attention shifting on word reading, even when controlling for rapid automatic naming, attention shifting significantly affected word reading fluency at approximately 600 ms (p = .011). Attention shifting did not affect children's word reading accuracy. SHORT CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that attention shifting is significantly associated with children's word reading. Educators should focus on developing children's attention shifting to improve their word reading ability.

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Abstract Background This study explored the effects of attention shifting on Chinese children's word reading. Objective The sample consisted of 87 fourth-grade children from Shaoxing City, China. Methods The students completed measures of the attention shifting task, reading accuracy test, reading fluency test, and rapid automatized naming test. Results The results showed that reading fluency was significantly correlated with attention shifting scores, specifically with tag1 and tag6 (ps < 0.05). The reading accuracy score was also significantly correlated with tag6 (p < 0.05). According to the regression analysis of attention shifting on word reading, even when controlling for rapid automatic naming, attention shifting significantly affected word reading fluency at approximately 600 ms (p = .011). Attention shifting did not affect children's word reading accuracy. Short conclusion These findings suggest that attention shifting is significantly associated with children's word reading. Educators should focus on developing children's attention shifting to improve their word reading ability.

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BACKGROUND: Semantic and Phonological fluency (SF and PF) are routinely evaluated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). There are disagreements in the literature regarding which fluency task is more affected while developing AD. Most studies focus on SF assessment, given its connection with the temporoparietal amnesic system. PF is less reported, it is related to working memory, which is also impaired in probable and diagnosed AD. Differentiating between performance on these tasks might be informative in early AD diagnosis, providing an accurate linguistic profile. OBJECTIVE: Compare SF and PF performance in healthy volunteers, volunteers with probable AD, and patients with AD diagnosis, considering the heterogeneity of age, gender, and educational level variables. METHODS: A total of 8 studies were included for meta-analysis, reaching a sample size of 1,270 individuals (568 patients diagnosed with AD, 340 with probable AD diagnosis, and 362 healthy volunteers). RESULTS: The three groups consistently performed better on SF than PF. When progressing to a diagnosis of AD, we observed a significant difference in SF and PF performance across our 3 groups of interest (p = 0.04). The age variable explained a proportion of this difference in task performance across the groups, and as age increases, both tasks equally worsen. CONCLUSION: The performance of SF and PF might play a differential role in early AD diagnosis. These tasks rely on partially different neural bases of language processing. They are thus worth exploring independently in diagnosing normal aging and its transition to pathological stages, including probable and diagnosed AD.

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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver-related deaths. It is estimated that 40-74% of patients with hepatitis C will experience at least one extrahepatic manifestation within their lifetime. The finding of HCV-RNA sequences in post-mortem brain tissue raises the possibility that HCV infection may affect the central nervous system and be the source of subtle neuropsychological symptoms, even in non-cirrhotic. Our investigation aimed to evaluate whether asymptomatic, HCV-infected subjects showed cognitive dysfunctions. Twenty-eight untreated asymptomatic HCV subjects and 18 healthy controls were tested using three neuropsychological instruments in a random sequence: Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), and Continuous Visual Attention Test (CVAT). We performed depression screening, liver fibrosis assessment, blood tests, genotyping, and HCV-RNA viral load. A MANCOVA and univariate ANCOVAS were performed to examine group differences (HCV vs. healthy controls) in four scores of the CVAT (omission errors, commission errors, reaction time-RT, and variability of RT-VRT), and the scores derived from the SDMT, and the COWAT. A discriminant analysis was performed to identify which test variables effectively discriminate HCV-infected subjects from healthy controls. There were no group differences in the scores of the COWAT, SDMT, and in two variables of the CVAT (omission and commission errors). In contrast, the performance of the HCV group was poorer than the controls in RT (p = 0.047) and VRT (p = 0.046). The discriminant analysis further indicated that the RT was the most reliable variable to discriminate the two groups with an accuracy of 71.7%. The higher RT exhibited by the HCV group may reflect deficits in the intrinsic-alertness attention subdomain. As the RT variable was found to be the best discriminator between HCV patients and controls, we suggest that intrinsic-alertness deficits in HCV patients may affect the stability of response times increasing VRT and leading to significant lapses in attention. In conclusion, HCV subjects with mild disease showed deficits in RT and intraindividual VRT as compared to healthy controls.

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Physical exercise is a very promising non-pharmacological approach to prevent or reduce the cognitive decline that occurs in people aged 60 years or older. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a high-intensity intervallic functional training (HIFT) program on cognitive functions in an elderly Colombian population with mild cognitive impairment. A controlled clinical trial was developed with a sample of 132 men and women aged >65 years, linked to geriatric care institutions, which were systematically blind randomized. The intervention group (IG) received a 3-month HIFT program (n = 64) and the control group (CG) (n = 68) received general physical activity recommendations and practiced manual activities. The outcome variables addressed cognition (MoCA), attention (TMTA), executive functions (TMTB), verbal fluency (VFAT test), processing speed (Digit Symbol Substitution Test-DSST), selective attention and concentration (d2 test). After the analysis, improvement was found in the IG with significant differences with respect to the CG in the level of cognitive impairment (MoCA), attention (TMTA), verbal fluency and concentration (p < 0.001). Executive functions (TMTB) showed differences in both groups, being slightly higher in the IG (p = 0.037). However, no statistically significant results were found for selective attention (p = 0.55) or processing speed (p = 0.24). The multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed the influence of the education level on all cognition assessments (p = 0.026); when adjusting for sociodemographic variables, the influence of the intervention remained significant (p < 0.001). This study empirically validates that the implementation of a HIFT program has a positive effect on cognitive functions in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, professionals specialized in the care of this population could consider including functional training programs as an essential part of their therapeutic approaches. The distinctive features of this program, such as its emphasis on functional training and high intensity, appear to be relevant for stimulating cognitive health in the geriatric population.

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BACKGROUND: Verbal fluency tests (VFT) are highly sensitive to cognitive deficits. Usually, the score on VFT is based on the number of correct words produced, yet it alone gives little information regarding underlying test performance. The implementation of different strategies (cluster and switching) to perform efficiently during the tasks provide more valuable information. However, normative data for clustering and switching strategies are scarce. Moreover, scoring criteria adapted to Colombian Spanish are missing. AIMS: (1) To describe the Colombian adaptation of the scoring system guidelines for clustering and switching strategies in VFT; (2) to determine its reliability; and (3) to provide normative data for Colombian children and adolescents aged 6-17 years. METHODS & PROCEDURES: A total of 691 children and adolescents from Colombia completed phonological (/f/, /a/, /s/, /m/, /r/ and /p/) and semantic (animals and fruits) VFT, and five scores were calculated: total score (TS), number of clusters (NC), cluster size (CS), mean cluster size (MCS) and number of switches (NS). The intraclass correlation coefficient was used for interrater reliability. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to investigate which strategies were associated with VFT TS. Multiple regressions were conducted for each strategy, including as predictors age, age2 , sex, mean parents' education (MPE), MPE2 and type of school, to generate normative data. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Reliability indexes were excellent. Age was associated with VFT TS, but weakly compared with strategies. For both VFT TS, NS was the strongest variable, followed by CS and NC. Regarding norms, age was the strongest predictor for all measures, while age2 was relevant for NC (/f/ phoneme) and NS (/m/ phoneme). Participants with higher MPE obtained more NC, and NS, and larger CS in several phonemes and categories. Children and adolescents from private school generated more NC, NS and larger CS in /s/ phoneme. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: This study provides new scoring guidelines and normative data for clustering and switching strategies for Colombian children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. Clinical neuropsychologists should include these measures as part of their everyday practice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject VFT are widely used within the paediatric population due to its sensitivity to brain injury. Its score is based on the number of correct words produced; however, TS alone gives little information regarding underlying test performance. Several normative data for VFT TS in the paediatric population exist, but normative data for clustering and switching strategies are scarce. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The present study is the first to describe the Colombian adaptation of the scoring guidelines for clustering and switching strategies, and provided normative data for these strategies for children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Knowing VFT's performance, including strategy development and use in healthy children and adolescents, may be useful for clinical settings. We encourage clinicians to include not only TS, but also a careful analysis of strategies that may be more informative of the underlying cognitive processes failure than TS.

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Objective: To investigate the relationship between of distinct domains of childhood disadvantage and cognitive performance among older adults within the context of a middle-income country. Methods: This study used baseline data (2015/2016) from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI), a nationally representative cohort of 9412 adults aged 50 and over. Nine childhood exposure variables were grouped into three domains (family SES, childhood health, and cultural capital), for which scores were created. Survey-weighted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions estimated the association childhood disadvantage with cognitive performance as measured by immediate memory, late memory and semantic verbal fluency. Mediation analysis assessed whether adulthood socioeconomic status (SES) mediated this relationship of interest. Results: Important disparities in cognitive performance were observed, particularly in terms of age, education, income, occupational status. Before controlling for adulthood SES in the multivariable analysis, all domains of childhood disadvantage were found to be associated with lower cognitive performance across all three measures. After inclusion of adulthood SES variables, the observed associations only remained for semantic verbal fluency. Formal mediation analysis indicated that adulthood SES mediates 47.9% (95% CI: 34.3%-78.6%) of the association between later-life verbal fluency and poor childhood health, and 49.9% (95% CI: 43.6%-57.8%) of the association between later-life verbal fluency and low childhood cultural capital. Conclusions: We found that childhood disadvantage is associated with low performance in memory tests and semantic verbal fluency tests among older Brazilians. Adulthood SES fully mediated the association between all domains of childhood disadvantage and memory performance and only partially mediated its association with verbal fluency. Our findings support policy efforts to enhance early childhood development and improve adulthood SES, and guide additional research to better the mechanisms driving these relationships.

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This study aims to investigate the effects of dual-task physical-cognitive the training on body balance (BB), gait performance (GP), lower limb muscle strength (LEMS), and cognitive performance (CP) in a group of cognitively normal older adult women (n = 44; 66.20 ± 4.05 years). Of these, 22 were randomly allocated to the dual-task training (DT) group, and 22 participated in the control group (CG). Assessments were performed at baseline, after 12 weeks of intervention, and at the end of 12 weeks of follow-up, using the following instruments: Timed Up & Go (TUG), Timed Up & Go manual (TUGm), Timed Up & Go cognitive (TUGc), Balance Test (TEC), sit-to-stand test (STS), and verbal fluency test (VF). After 12 weeks of DT training, participants showed a significant time × group interaction in all motor assessments (BB, GP, LEMS), as well as in three cognitive tests (VF-grouping, VF-exchange, VF-total). No time-group interaction effect was indicated for the VF-category test. At all evaluation times, CG members maintained constant physical and cognitive performance. We conclude that 12 weeks of physical-cognitive DT training was effective in promoting BB, GP, and LEMS, as well as CP in cognitively normal older adult women, with lasting effects up to 12 weeks after the intervention.

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Resumen Más allá de la frecuente coexistencia del trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (TDAH) y el trastorno específico del aprendizaje de la lectura, la presente revisión pretende examinar la evidencia empírica disponible sobre cómo el TDAH impacta negativamente sobre el aprendizaje de la lectura. Los datos existentes apuntan a que la presencia del trastorno (especialmente los síntomas de falta de atención), puede afectar a i) la correcta adquisición de lectura, ya sea de manera directa o a través de su influencia sobre los precursores de la lectura; ii) las propias habilidades de decodificación (precisión y fluidez lectora), tanto de manera directa como indirecta a través de su influencia sobre procesos cognitivos como la distracción o las funciones ejecutivas; y ii) la comprensión lectora, probablemente de manera indirecta por las dificultades eje cutivas y en la memoria de trabajo verbal características del TDAH. Estas conclusiones presentan importantes implicaciones para caracterizar e intervenir mejor sobre las dificultades lectoras en el TDAH, ya sean clínicas o subclínicas.

Abstract Beyond the frequent coexistence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading dis order (dyslexia), the present review aims to examine the available empirical evidence on how ADHD negatively impacts on learning to read. Existing data suggest that the presence of the disorder (especially inattention symp toms), may affect i) the correct acquisition of reading, either directly or through its influence on the precursors to reading; ii) decoding skills themselves (reading accuracy and fluency), both directly and indirectly through its influence on cognitive processes such as distractibility or executive functions; and iii) reading comprehension, probably indirectly through the executive and verbal memory difficulties characteristic of ADHD. These findings have important implications for better characterizing and intervening on reading difficulties in ADHD, whether clinical or subclinical.

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Beyond the frequent coexistence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disorder (dyslexia), the present review aims to examine the available empirical evidence on how ADHD negatively impacts on learning to read. Existing data suggest that the presence of the disorder (especially inattention symptoms), may affect i) the correct acquisition of reading, either directly or through its influence on the precursors to reading; ii) decoding skills themselves (reading accuracy and fluency), both directly and indirectly through its influence on cognitive processes such as distractibility or executive functions; and iii) reading comprehension, probably indirectly through the executive and verbal memory difficulties characteristic of ADHD. These findings have important implications for better characterizing and intervening on reading difficulties in ADHD, whether clinical or subclinical.

Más allá de la frecuente coexistencia del trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (TDAH) y el trastorno específico del aprendizaje de la lectura, la presente revisión pretende examinar la evidencia empírica disponible sobre cómo el TDAH impacta negativamente sobre el aprendizaje de la lectura. Los datos existentes apuntan a que la presencia del trastorno (especialmente los síntomas de falta de atención), puede afectar a i) la correcta adquisición de lectura, ya sea de manera directa o a través de su influencia sobre los precursores de la lectura; ii) las propias habilidades de decodificación (precisión y fluidez lectora), tanto de manera directa como indirecta a través de su influencia sobre procesos cognitivos como la distracción o las funciones ejecutivas; y ii) la comprensión lectora, probablemente de manera indirecta por las dificultades ejecutivas y en la memoria de trabajo verbal características del TDAH. Estas conclusiones presentan importantes implicaciones para caracterizar e intervenir mejor sobre las dificultades lectoras en el TDAH, ya sean clínicas o subclínicas.

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Introduction: Across multiples languages, research demonstrates the important relationship between reading fluency and comprehension. Put simply, a fluent reader has greater attention and memory resources to use higher-order functions in reading, resulting in better comprehension of text. Some reading fluency interventions have shown positive results in improving students' text reading fluency and comprehension; however, this research has predominantly been conducted with English-speaking students. For instance, until this report, a comprehensive search revealed only one prior study that evaluated an intervention strategy designed to improve students' reading fluency in Brazilian Portuguese and no prior studies evaluated an intervention program with that population of students. Methods: The main goals of this two-part project were to (a) systematically translate, culturally adapt, and pilot test the Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) reading fluency program for use in Brazilian Portuguese (referred to as, HELPS-PB); and (b) conduct a preliminary quasi-experimental study of the HELPS-PB program with 23 students in grades 3 to 5 who needed a reading fluency intervention. Results and Discussion: This report documents the processes and successful adaptation of existing English- and Spanish-versions of HELPS into a new HELPS-PB program. It also offers preliminary evidence showing that students receiving HELPS-PB significantly improved their text reading fluency comparted to students in a control group. Implications for research, practice, and the adaptation of reading fluency programs into other languages are discussed.

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In Brazil, schools remained closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 for approximately two years. In this study, we investigated how COVID-19 school closures were associated with gaps and losses in Brazilian students' reading skills. We contrasted the reading comprehension and fluency of 2nd- to 4th-graders in 2022 with a 2019 cohort. Furthermore, we investigated how 2022 5th graders' reading comprehension and fluency skills have improved since 2019. Overall, results showed that COVID-19 school closures were associated with gaps but not losses in reading comprehension and fluency. Therefore, these skills should be targets of educational interventions.

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For this observational cross-sectional study, different modalities of verbal fluency tasks (VFTs) were compared between 143 participants: 35 cognitively healthy controls (CHCs), 71 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 37 mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Binomial logistic regression models were defined to identify VFT variables associated with MCI and AD, with respect to CHC. The results showed that the best errors/repetitions variable associated with MCI and AD was the phonemic task, and with every error the odds of being in the MCI group increased 9.9 times and 12.2 times in AD group, accompanied by high accuracy values (MCI: AUC = 0.824, sensitivity = 0.676, specificity = 0.943; AD: AUC = 0.883, sensitivity = 0.784, specificity = 0.943). The results suggest that, in addition to solely register raw scores, a simple counting of errors and repetitions during VFT can offer valuable clues in detecting MCI and AD, especially in the phonemic task.

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RESUMO Objetivo Comparar os resultados da fluência e da autopercepção do impacto da gagueira na vida de adultos que gaguejam, antes e depois de terapia fonoaudiológica intensiva. Método Trata-se de estudo descritivo longitudinal com coleta de dados antes e após terapia fonoaudiológica intensiva de quatro pacientes com gagueira. O programa de terapia intensiva constituiu-se em trinta encontros, de uma hora cada, realizados em cinco sessões individuais na semana. As amostras de fala coletadas antes e após a terapia foram analisadas por dois juízes especialistas em Fluência. A análise descritiva dos dados foi realizada por meio da distribuição de frequência das variáveis categóricas e análise das medidas de tendência central e de dispersão das variáveis contínuas. A verificação da concordância entre as análises realizadas pelos dois juízes foi realizada por meio do coeficiente de correlação intraclasse (CCI). Foi realizada também a análise de correlação pelo coeficiente de correlação de Spearman, entre as variáveis da amostra de fala e os escores do OASES-A. Resultados Houve redução do percentual de descontinuidade da fala e do percentual de disfluências gagas, aumentando o fluxo de palavras por minuto dos participantes. Na análise descritiva do OASES-A observou-se que em todas as partes do questionário, houve diminuição do grau de impacto da gagueira na vida dos participantes. Conclusão Verificou-se melhora de todas variáveis analisadas após terapia intensiva. Observou-se melhora na fluência da fala e redução do impacto da gagueira na vida dos participantes, sugerindo a relevância da proposta de terapia fonoaudiológica intensiva na gagueira.

ABSTRACT Purpose To compare the results of fluency and self-perception of the impact of stuttering on the lives of adults who stutter, before and after undergoing intensive speech-language pathology therapy. Methods This is a descriptive and longitudinal study with data collection before and after intensive therapy in four patients who stutter. The intensive care program consisted of thirty one-hour sessions held in five individual sessions a week. Speech samples collected before and after therapy were analyzed by two fluency experts. Descriptive data analysis was performed through the frequency distribution of categorical variables and analysis of measures of central tendency and dispersion of continuous variables. The verification of agreement between the evaluations carried out by the two judges was performed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Correlation analysis was also performed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between the variables in the speech sample and the OASES-A scores. Results There was a reduction of the percentage of stuttering disfluencies, increasing the flow of words per minute of the participants. The descriptive analysis of the OASES-A showed a decrease in the degree of impact of stuttering on the participants' lives in all parts of the questionnaire. Conclusion There was an improvement in all variables analyzed after intensive care, including an improvement in speech fluency and a reduction in the impact of stuttering on the participants' lives, which suggests the relevance of the intensive speech therapy proposal for stuttering.

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RESUMO Objetivo mapear as publicações que abordam a relação entre habilidade lexical e gagueira em crianças na faixa etária dos 2 anos aos 9 anos. Estratégia de pesquisa busca nas bases de dados Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase. Critérios de seleção estudos clínicos comparativos, longitudinais ou caso-controle, que incluíam análise do vocabulário expressivo e receptivo de crianças com gagueira na faixa etária de 2 a 9 anos. Análise dos dados: após a busca inicial com 426 artigos, 42 foram selecionados para leitura na íntegra, dos quais, 16 atenderam aos critérios de elegibilidade. Resultados a maior parte dos registros analisados referiu haver relação entre desenvolvimento ou desempenho lexical e gagueira em crianças. No entanto não houve consenso sobre a relação entre maior ou menor desenvolvimento lexical. Conclusão o mapeamento dos estudos incluídos indicou que não há evidências suficientes que relacionem gagueira e desenvolvimento lexical.

ABSTRACT Purpose to search and analyze publications that address the relationship between lexical ability and stuttering in children aged 2 to 9 years old. Research strategy search in Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE databases. Selection criteria comparative, longitudinal or case-control clinical studies that included analysis of the expressive and receptive vocabulary of children with stuttering aged between 2 and 9 years. Results most of the analyzed studies report a relationship between lexical development or performance and stuttering in children, however there is no consense about the relationship between greater or lesser lexical development. Conclusion there is not enough evidence to relate stuttering and lexical development. More studies are needed in order to understand the relationship between lexical performance and stuttering in children.

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