About this Research Topic
Speech and communication impairments may occur across the lifespan (e.g. Damico et al., 2010). People may be born with disabilities that limit communication, such as autism spectrum disorder. In childhood, the development of speech and language or reading and writing may be impaired. At any age, neurological communication disorders can occur after (traumatic) brain injury. In older adulthood, there are more problems due to strokes or degenerative diseases such as dementia or Parkinson's disease.
The various dimensions of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, WHO, 2001) make clear the significance of the role of communication and language in activities and participation. This becomes all the more obvious in regard to digital activities and participation (e.g. via emails, messenger services, video channels). A large part of digital development involves changes with respect to (interindividual) interaction and, accordingly, language and communication. People with language impairments are therefore particularly affected by the digital divide (Johansson et al., 2021). Nevertheless, a nuanced consideration of digital participation in the case of communication disorders is still lacking in the literature.
We invite contributions on digital participation and communication disorders, including adult or developmental language disorders (aphasia, cognitive communication disorder, (developmental) language disorder, autism spectrum disorder, etc.) or speech impairment (stuttering, dysarthria, apraxia of speech etc.) with regard to diagnostics and assessment, treatment, counseling, prevention etc. We accept all types of manuscripts accepted into Frontiers’ Language Sciences section: empirical reports, review articles, methodological contributions. Empirical studies should demonstrate methodological and statistical rigor. Theoretical papers should provide new insights crossing different disciplines, if possible. Potential themes may include, but are not limited to:
• comparisons of clinical and non-clinical subject groups
• demographic variables such as age, gender, language status (e.g. monolingual, multilingual)
• influence of different technological devices on digital participation
• comparisons of the different aspects of digital inclusion, i.e. participation IN digital technologies, participation THROUGH digital technologies, participation WITHIN the digital world
• consequences of the digital divide for people with communication disorders
• new methods that offer opportunities for the assessment of digital participation.
Keywords: Digital participation, digital inclusion, communication disorders, digital divide
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.