Communication and Swallowing Disorders in Parkinson's Disease

Numerous books have been written on various medical aspects of Parkinson's Disease. Until now, however, there has not been published a text which focuses specifically on the debilitating speech, cognitive-linguistic, and swallowing disorders associated with this disease. The current body of literature in the field of speech pathology pertaining to the description, assessment, and management of the communication and swallowing difficulties experienced by people with Parkinson's Disease is extensive. However, the majority of this literature is published in research journal article format, or as individual book chapters in various books. The first of its kind, Communication and Swallowing Disorders in Parkinson's Disease condenses and organizes this information into an accessible format in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of these disorders and their management in this clinical population.

Deborah Theodoros, PhD is Professor and Head of the Division of Speech Pathology in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. She has published extensively on the assessment and treatment of adult motor speech disorders, and in the area of telepractice. She is co-director of the Telerehabilitation Research Unit at the University of Queensland and holds an executive position within the Telerehabilitation Special Interest Group of the American Telemedicine Association. Dr. Theodoros has over 130 publications, including journal articles, book chapters, and two co-edited texts. She has received several large competitive research grants within Australia. Her research is regularly presented at international and national conferences. She has been an invited speaker at international conferences and seminars in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Sweden. Dr. Theodoros is an editorial consultant for several international speech pathology journals. Lorraine Ramig PhD, CCC-SLP is a Professor in the Department of Speech-Language and Hearing Science (SLHS) at the University of Colorado-Boulder, a Senior Scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS), a division of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, located in Denver, Colorado an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Teacher's College in New York City, and Founder/President of the LSVT Foundation (a nonprofit organization). Dr. Ramig received her PhD at Purdue University, her Master's degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Bachelor's Degree the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She holds the Certif icate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Hearing Association and is a Fellow in this organization. Dr. Ramig and her colleagues developed the LSVT treatment for patients with Parkinson disease and she has been the principal investigator of LSVT treatment studies with over 15 years of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Dr. Ramig is currently a member of the NIH-NIDCD (National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders) Advisory Council.