Editorial

EDITORIAL

Claudia Regina Furquim de Andrade

Professora Titular Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional

Dear Readers:

The first number of 2008. This will certainly be a year with several possibilities for research and health actions. There is a new expectation about incentives towards public health. The Ministries of Health and Education have as a purpose to broaden the education of students in the field of health. In 1991 I concluded my master in the field of public health and in my dissertation I presented a text that I would like to share with you.

"...To me, we were clay, only clay and nothing more. Not the clay with which Jehova as leisure or joke, in a paradise that never existed, casted an image to his resemblance and later, not wanting to get his hands dirty anymore, took away from himself a rib. But clay, the real clay crumpled at our feet and used by construction workers, not only to build the top of the domes of cathedrals and palaces but also the walls of shacks or of the cemeteries. Spirit, a concept that put us above animals; thought, a functional result of the brain; love, charity, honor, all of the virtues and all of the addictions were an unquestionable habit or special state of the physiological balance of our organs. No considerations were made about the soul because nothing existed outside the matter. Everything was it and everything resumed itself in it. The good feelings were a consequence of a good liver; the bad, a result of functional alterations in weakened organs. This was how I understood things until..."

Jorge de Andrade, my father, surgeon, 1943.

To make knowledge reach the population, to prepare pupils for the society, a grate challenge, a fight that has a history of many years.

In this first Number of 2008 eleven articles are presented, being ten research articles and one research letter.

The study presented by Martins & Andrade (2008) had as a purpose to verify the developmental profile of speech fluency through the analysis of the speech samples produced by 594 fluent participants, with ages between 2 and 99 years. The study concluded that the maturation of the neurolinguistic system for fluency, in terms speech disruptions, seem to be established since the first years of life and tend to maintain itself unaltered through life. On the other hand, the indexes of speech rate present variations along the different ages.

Giusti & Béfi-Lopes (2008) applied an American test for child language (Test of Early Language Development) in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking subjects. The purpose of the study was to compare the performance of normal Brazilian Portuguese and American English-speaking subjects. The results indicated differences in the performances of the subjects for certain age groups. The overall conclusion of the study is that the translation of diagnostic instruments that are already available in other languages can lessen the lack of such resources in countries where these instruments are not yet available, favoring cross-cultural studies.

The purpose of the study presented by Zaidan et al. (2008) was to compare the performance of 25 young adults in temporal resolution tests - the Gaps-in-Noise Test (GIN^©) and the Random Gap Detection Test (RGDT), and to examine potential differences between these two methods of assessment. The results indicated significant differences between genders, with female participants showing a poorer performance on both temporal processing tests. In the comparative study of the results obtained in the GIN^© and in the RGDT, significant differences were observed in the performance of the research sample. Overall, significantly better gap detection thresholds were observed for all of the participants on the GIN^©.

Gejão & Lamônica (2008) investigated the developmental profile of 35 children with congenital hypothyroidism, focusing on communication, and verified the influence of clinical history. The results suggest that most of the children presented adequate performances in the evaluated skills. For the children with altered performance, larger deficits were observed in the language section, for the expressive aspects, and in the cognitive section.

The influence of clinical history on the development profile was not confirmed. However, a tendency for an adequate performance was observed in those children who underwent neonatal screening, received an early diagnosis and treatment for the congenital hypothyroidism.

The purpose of the study presented by Salgado & Capellini was to verify the efficacy of a program for phonological remediation. The results indicate that the group of children with developmental dyslexia presented a lower performance in phonological skills, reading and writing when compared to the group of children with no alterations in the pre-testing situation. However, the group of dyslexic children who were submitted to the remediation program presented a performance similar to the one observed for the children in the group with no alterations in the post-testing situation. This study made evident the effectiveness of the phonological remediation program in scholars with developmental dyslexia.

Lopes-Herrera & Almeida (2008) presented a study about high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome. The purpose of the study was to increase the mean length of utterances produced by individuals with these disorders using verbal communicative skills. The results indicate that the use of verbal communicative skills was effective for the participants of this study.

Assuming that the evalution of the behavioral auditory processing allows the investigation of the neuroaudiological processes involved in the production of a fluent speech, the purpose of the study of Andrade et al. (2008) was to describe the results of the behavioral auditory processing evaluation of 56 sutterers comparing the type of auditory processing disorder with the severity of stuttering. The results indicated deficits for most of the participants of all age groups, with no correlation between these deficits with the severity of stuttering.

The study presented by Maia & Russo (2008) had as a purpose to investigate the hearing of 23 rock and roll musicians, analyzing the results of the audiological evaluation and the influence of time of exposure to amplified music. The results indicated that although hearing loss was not found in the studied population, alterations in the register of the otoacoustic emissions already exists. This result suggests an alteration of the cochlear function.

Lead poisoning was the theme of the study presented by Gahyva et al. (2008). The purpose of the study was to verify the occurrence of language disorders in children who suffered from lead poisoning and the correlation between the lead concentration level in the blood and the presented language disorders. The study concludes that the number of children with language impairment indicates lead poisoning as a risk factor for the presented alterations, even though other risk factors for language disorders were found and absence of correlation between the investigated variables.

In the study of Simões-Zenari & Latorre (2008), the purpose was to assess changes in behaviors that are considered, according to the specific literature, as having a negative impact on the voice, during a speech therapy intervention program offered to professionals of day care centers. The results indicate the gradual decrease in the use of voice out of work, a decrease in the habit of speaking in a very low or high pitch voice and in eating excessively before sleeping. The authors conclude the study suggesting actions that involve information about vocal well-being exclusively should be revised.

Last but not least, the research letter presented by Andrade et al. (2008) describes a study that had as a purpose to compare the muscle activation in fluent and stuttering individuals during verbal and non-verbal tasks. Surface electromyography was used, with the electrodes fixed on four different oral regions. The results indicate distinct performances between suttering and fluent individuals, suggesting that sutterers seem to present a poor control of timing in the coordination of motor processes.

Regards,

Claudia

Referências Bibliográficas

• Andrade AN, Gil D, Schiefer AM, Pereira LD. Avaliação comportamental do processamento auditivo em indivíduos gagos. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):43-8.
• Andrade CRF, Sassi FC, Juste FS, Meira MIM. Atividades de fala e não-fala em gagueira: estudo preliminar. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):67-70.
• Gahyva DLC, Crenitte PAP, Caldana ML, Hage SRV. Caracterização das alterações de linguagem em crianças com histórico de intoxicação por chumbo. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1)55-60.
• Gejão MG, Lamônica DAC. Habilidades do desenvolvimento em crianças com hipotireoidismo congênito: enfoque na comunicação. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):25-30.
• Giusti E, Befi-Lopes DM. Performance de sujeitos falantes do Português e do Inglês no Test of Early Language Development. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):13-8.
• Lopes-Herrera SA, Almeida MA. O uso de habilidades comunicativas verbais para aumento da extensão de enunciados no autismo de alto funcionamento e na síndrome de Asperger. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 janmar;20(1):37-42.
• Maia JRF, Russo ICP. Estudo da audição de músicos de rock and roll. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 janmar;20(1):49-54.
• Martins VO, Andrade CRF. Perfil evolutivo da fluência da fala de falantes do Português brasileiro. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):7-12.
• Salgado CA, Capellini SA. Programa de remediação fonológica em escolares com dislexia do desenvolvimento. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):31-6.
• Simões-Zenari M, Latorre MRDO. Mudanças em comportamentos relacionados com o uso da voz após intervenção fonoaudiológica junto a educadoras de creche. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):61-6.
• Zaidan E, Garcia AP, Tedesco MLF, Baran JA. Desempenho de adultos jovens normais em dois testes de resolução temporal. Pró-Fono Revista de Atualização Científica. 2008 jan-mar;20(1):19-24.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 Apr 2008
• Date of issue
  Mar 2008