Objectives: Movement disorders in Parkinson's disease (PD) can affect not only letter size but also pen pressure and writing speed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of writing with focus on pressure, size, and speed in PD. Methods: Sixtythree subjects (38 in a PD group and 25 in a normal adult [NA] group) performed tasks involving drawing along dotted lines and sentence writing using a tablet PC, digital pen, and software that could measure pen pressure, stroke length, and duration. Results: In the task involving drawing along a dotted line, the PD group showed significantly slower writing speed compared with the findings in the NA group. Additionally, in the task involving sentence writing, the PD group showed significantly weaker pen pressure, smaller letter size, and slower writing speed compared with the NA group. Moreover, both groups showed a positive correlation between letter size and writing speed, but only the PD group showed a positive correlation between pen pressure and writing speed. Conclusion: Difficulty in motor control of strength, size, speed, etc. owing to PD is reflected in pen pressure, letter size, and writing speed when performing a writing task. Our results show an importance in measuring multiple factors such as pen pressure and writing speed in the characteristics of writing in PD, which has until now, has been focused only on letter size.

Objectives: Difficulty in word finding and retrieval frequently occurs during the normal aging process. Interventions in middle-aged or elderly adults in the preclinical stage may possibly improve naming ability and further promote brain function in terms of brain plasticity and functional reorganization. If so, this intervention can be used not only to treat communication disorders among middle-aged or older dementia patients, but also to prevent cognitive decline. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of a semantic feature analysis intervention program in middle-aged and older adults with subjective or objective naming difficulties. Methods: Forty-two participants, aged 55 to 84 years, were screened using a cognitive communication test and divided into two groups of healthy and abnormal participants using the Korean Boston Naming Test (K-BNT) criteria. All participants received a total of 20 sessions of intervention using open-ended induction questions by semantic category and home assignment using a grid. Neuropsychological evaluations and detailed language evaluations were conducted before and after the intervention to assess behavioral changes. Results: All participants had better accuracy on the K-BNT and better accuracy and reaction time in the post-treatment probe test than in the pre-treatment condition regardless of objective naming difficulty. In addition, with regard to cognitive functions, significant improvements in the word fluency test (phonemic) and verbal learning test (immediate and delayed recalls) were observed. Conclusion: The results suggest that word finding difficulties or naming impairments can be improved by activating the network for the whole semantic system.

The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of the language sample analysis of patients with acquired neurogenic language disorder by experts in clinical or educational fields through qualitative research methods based on the grounded theory. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 speech language-pathologists who had experience in evaluating and managing adult patients and analyzed the data according to the procedures of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Results: Through the axial coding, the central theme that was revealed was 'although the importance of language analysis is recognized, it has not been actively implemented in the clinical field' . The causal conditions of this phenomenon were 'strengths and limitations of language analysis exist' , 'insufficient education and experience for analysis' , and 'difficulties associated with conducting language analysis' . 'Poor surroundings for language analysis' and 'less utilization of results' functioned as contextual conditions. The examples of speech language pathologists' action/interaction strategy were 'simple analysis of the utterances collected in the formal tests' , 'no language analysis' , and 'additional analysis conducted for some cases' . The intervening conditions were 'differences in views on the value of language analysis among adult subjects' and 'differences in experience and perception of various technology applications related to analysis' . The action/interaction consequences towards the phenomenon were 'demands for criteria and standard' , 'needs to support multiple aspects related to language analysis' , and 'recognition of limitation and reality compliance' . Conclusion: Through this study, we observed speech-language pathologists' current state, difficulties, and examined solutions regarding language analysis in the clinical setting.

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