Canine-assisted Speech Therapy for Children with Communication Impairments: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Developmental dysphasia (DD) is a disorder resulting in a communication impairment. Children diagnosed with this condition are usually referred to a speech therapist. Further to conventional speech therapy it is possible to adopt a complementary animal-assisted approach. For the present study, we assembled a cohort comprising 69 children diagnosed with DD. The children in the experimental group (n = 31; 21 male, 10 female) ranged from 4 to 7 years (M = 5.53 years, SD = 0.81 years). The control group was comprised of children (n = 38; 31 male, 7 female) aged from 4 to 6 years (M = 4.85 years, SD = 0.51 years). While the latter received traditional speech therapy, the experimental group experienced sessions enhanced by animal-assistance therapy (AAT) with a dog present for co-therapy purposes. As primary outcome measures, the Kwint-Stambak (KS) test was adopted (for assessing facial motricity), together with the Bruininks-Oseretsky (BO) test (for evaluating motor proficiency). Both of these revealed statistically significant improvement in some primary outcome measures for the experimental group over the control group. Regarding narrowing and shutting of the eyes, as well as filling up the cheeks with air and smiling (as measured by the KS test), the experimental group did significantly better than the control group. The inclusion of dogs in such therapy increased the chances of success in certain abilities, when assessed by the KS and BO tests (odds ratios for success: 1.6 and 2.0, respectively), compared with the control group. Canine-assisted speech therapy may be a valuable tool for enhancing the effect of speech therapy on children with DD, and we speculate that the reason for this relates to the nature of communication between children and companion animals.     

Structure,phosphorylation and U2AF65 binding of the N-terminal domain of splicing factor 1 during 3′-splice site recognition

Recognition of the 3′-splice site is a key step in pre-mRNA splicing and accomplished by a dynamic complex comprising splicing factor 1 (SF1) and the U2 snRNP auxiliary factor 65-kDa subunit (U2AF65). Both proteins mediate protein–protein and protein–RNA interactions for cooperative RNA-binding during spliceosome assembly. Here, we report the solution structure of a novel helix-hairpin domain in the N-terminal region of SF1 (SF1^NTD). The nuclear magnetic resonance- and small-angle X-ray scattering-derived structure of a complex of the SF1^NTD with the C-terminal U2AF homology motif domain of U2AF65 (U2AF65^UHM) reveals that, in addition to the known U2AF65^UHM–SF1 interaction, the helix-hairpin domain forms a secondary, hydrophobic interface with U2AF65^UHM, which locks the orientation of the two subunits. Mutational analysis shows that the helix hairpin is essential for cooperative formation of the ternary SF1–U2AF65–RNA complex. We further show that tandem serine phosphorylation of a conserved Ser80-Pro81-Ser82-Pro83 motif rigidifies a long unstructured linker in the SF1 helix hairpin. Phosphorylation does not significantly alter the overall conformations of SF1, SF1–U2AF65 or the SF1–U2AF65–RNA complexes, but slightly enhances RNA binding. Our results indicate that the helix-hairpin domain of SF1 is required for cooperative 3′-splice site recognition presumably by stabilizing a unique quaternary arrangement of the SF1–U2AF65–RNA complex.