Communication disorders are wide ranging and extend across the entire lifespan. However, research into speech and language impairment has only recently started to focus on the impact of these for individuals and their families. The literature has moved from largely case study approaches to also embrace larger scale studies; and has moved from medical investigation to encompass the views and perspectives of those experiencing communication difficulties. Understanding and reporting what it is like living life with a communication disorder is a vital aspect of research. It enables academics, professionals and families to prepare and prioritise resources and raises awareness of communication needs.
In this issue we present papers involving people who have had laryngectomies, adolescents and children with developmental language disorders, individuals with cochlear implants, and clients with stroke and aphasia. We have also tried to represent research on a range of different types of life-impact, from general quality of life, through social opportunities and friendships, to more specific areas of life such as legal decision making.
Living life with a communication disorder is never straightforward, and we hope that this issue brings together and highlights some of the leading work in this area.
Katerina Hilari and Nicola Botting
Editors of IJLCD
The Virtual Issue:
Perceptions of parents and speech and language therapists on the effects of paediatric cochlear implantation and habilitation and education following it
K. Huttunen and T. Välimaa
‘A place where I can be me’: a role for social and leisure provision to support young people with language impairment
L. Myers, C. Davies-Jones, S. Chiat, V. Joffe and N. Botting
Children with speech, language and communication needs: their perceptions of their quality of life
C. Markham, D. van Laar, D. Gibbard and T. Dean
Self-esteem of adolescents with specific language impairment as they move from compulsory education
G. Lindsay, J. Dockrell and O. Palikara
Gender differences in health-related quality of life following total laryngectomy
M.T. Lee, S. Gibson and K. Hilari
Legal decision-making by people with aphasia: critical incidents for speech pathologists
A. Ferguson, G. Duffield and L. Worrall
Social participation through the eyes of people with aphasia
R.J.P. Dalemans, L. de Witte, D. Wade and W. van den Heuvel
Why do people lose their friends after a stroke?
S. Northcott and K. Hilari