Speech and Language Disorders in Adults, 9 credits

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• Analyse how impairments in specific speech and language functions can affect communication activities in adults
• Identify different forms of speech and language disorders in adults based on case descriptions, and relate them to typical lesions and disease conditions
• Propose appropriate methods to assess and treat speech and language disorders in adults using a biopsychosocial perspective based on The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and current research
• Formulate how alternative and augmentative communication, including cognitive support and different access techniques, can be implemented together with the network around adult persons with speech and language disorders to enhance communicative participation 
• Discuss ethical considerations related to the concept of a person, health equality, patient autonomy and decision-making capacity in adult persons with speech and language disorders 

The course provides students with knowledge of how acquired neurological disorders affect the communication skills of adults and how such conditions can be treated in speech and language pathology. It deepens the understanding of how nervous system lesions produce typical symptoms of speech and language disorders and how such disorders affect communicative activities and participation. Important conditions covered in the course are motor speech disorders such as dysarthria and apraxia of speech, language disorders such as aphasia and cognitive communication disorders in dementia and traumatic brain injury. Methods for assessing speech and language disorders are treated as well as intervention based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), from function training to conversation support for people with aphasia as well as aspects of alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) such as access techniques for AAC, cognitive-communicative support and applications for people with speech and language disorders. Communicative management strategies are discussed especially in connection with challenging behavior in adults with cognitive disorders. The course also touches on how  speech and language pathologists work with multilingual adults with aphasia and how they can work with the social networks around people with speech and language disorders as well as adults with developmental cognitive impairments. Ethical considerations in speech and language disorders are treated in connection with the concept of a person, equal treatment, patient autonomy and decision-making ability.

Lectures, literature, seminars, and workshops.