Dobrinka Georgieva

South-West University "Neofit Rilski" · Department of Speech Therapy

Introduction: The move towards evidence-based practice (EBP) requires speech-language pathologists (logopedists) to understand the types of studies that build an evidence base for the field as well as the standards for assessing the quality of evidence. Objectives: This article discusses the conceptual and methodological issues associated with EBP...

There is strong research evidence that F2 transitions may be used to differentiate the speech of persons who stutter from that of persons who do not stutter. However, what is known about F2 transitions in stuttering is based mostly on speakers of English. In this paper we present the first experiment on F2 transition in native Bulgarian speakers. S...

The purpose of this study was to conduct a survey of public awareness of dyslexia in five Balkan countries. Participants were surveyed about basic knowledge of dyslexia and included the populations of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Croatia. The general public has insufficient knowledge of dyslexia in most Balkan countries...

The outcomes measurement of an intensive non-avoidance group therapy for adult clients with stuttering was presented. The adults who stutter (AWS) in this study included 15 persons (average age 25.2 years) who were enrolled in the First, Second and Third Stage of the study. The male female ratio was 4:1. According to the initial SSI score (percenti...

International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF, WHO, 2001) is a constructive framework for quality assessment and treatment in Logopedics (Speech Language Therapy). The current research study makes an attempt to introduce this standard into logopedical practice and applied research to measure the quality of life of persons...

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate and document the use and efficacy of intensive non-avoidance group treatment for Bulgarian adults who stutter (AWS), to specify that changes are adopted in different speech situations (in the stabilization phase), and to demonstrate that changes are maintained after intensive therapy. Meth...

To provide an overview of student training in speech and language therapy/logopedics (SLT) in selected Central and Southeastern European countries (Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey). Data were collected using a special questionnaire developed by Söderpalm and supplemented by Georgieva. Results fr...

The present preliminary study is a research on the linguistic features related to stuttering events in Bulgarian adults, as there are no strong evidences for this relation in Bulgarian literature. Recently studies of this kind have not been focused on conversational speech. The present study is an observation on dialogues of fi ve Bulgarian adult wh...

We describe our perception of the link between teaching and research at South West University (SWU) in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. This analysis is based on a reflection of the existing curricula and research infrastructure at the Faculty of Public Health and Sports (FPHS) and a literature review of currently explored concepts and definitions connected...

This article deals with the current paradigm of evidence-based practices of the Speech Therapy (Speech language pathology), especially diagnosing based on evidences of voice disorders. One of the main goals of this article is to define voice disorders according to the World Health Organization's ICF multidimensional concept. Using a comparative met...

Purpose. Using an adaptation of the Experimental Edition of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes (POSHA-E), investigators sought to compare public attitudes toward cluttering with those toward stuttering in four country samples, each in a different language. The POSHA-E was developed to measure public attitudes of stuttering but was modifi...

The investigators sought to explore and compare the identification of cluttering vs stuttering in four different country samples. After reading lay definitions of the two fluency disorders in their own language, convenience samples of 60-90 adult respondents from Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, and the US identified 51-119 children or adults who either c...

This article provides an overview of student training programs in logopedics in Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Poland and the Russian Federation. The data were collected using a special questionnaire developed by Söderpalm in 2006 and supplemented by the author. Bachelor's, master's and PhD programs in the field of pure logopedics no longer exist in...

It is a fact that voice pathology has an expressed frequent appearance in the last decades and the problem of voice disorders and their speech ther­apy assessment is not elaborated enough in the logopedical literature in Bulgaria and Macedonia. One of the basic factors on which treatment effec­tiveness depends is the correct diagnosis from logopedi...

BACKGROUND: people typically regard stutterers as shy, nervous, introverted, and fearful, a so-called "stuttering stereotype". Many stutterers are also subjected to teasing and bullying or to illegal discrimination. AIM: currently, there are no widely-accepted, standardized instruments used to measure public attitudes toward stuttering around the w...

People typically regard stutterers as shy, nervous, introverted, and fearful, a so-called "stuttering stereotype". Many stutterers are also subjected to teasing and bullying or to illegal discrimination. Currently, there are no widely-accepted, standardized instruments used to measure public attitudes toward stuttering around the world. Accordingly...

Fifteen stutterers, primarily children, who visited the Medical Pedagogical Department at the University of Blagoevgrad were evaluated for a variety of criteria used in Bulgaria to differentiate cluttering, stuttering, and mixed cluttering and stuttering. The same battery of tests was administered to all subjects. Based on these criteria, five subj...

This paper describes the present situation of special education in Bulgaria and discusses the results of a study of attitudes toward the mainstreaming of students with intellectual disabilities. The first part of the paper discusses the classification of children with intellectual disabilities into "educable" and "non-educable" categories and the h...

The purpose of this paper is a comparative analysis between Bulgaria and Greece regarding professional awareness of cluttering at the present and ten years ago. The main topics concerning this study are connected with knowledge about the definition of cluttering; typical cluttering symptoms; etiology of cluttering; diagnosis and differential diagno...