Literature Collection

Background/Objectives: Communication disorders in childhood, including expressive, receptive, pragmatic, and fluency impairments, have been consistently linked to mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, and behavioural difficulties. However, existing research remains fragmented across diagnostic categories and developmental stages. This scoping review aimed to synthesise empirical evidence on the relationship between communication disorders and mental health outcomes in children and adolescents and to identify key patterns and implications for practice and policy. Methods: Following the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and Arksey and O'Malley's framework, this review included empirical studies published in English between 2000 and 2024. Five databases were searched, and ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Data were charted and thematically analysed to explore associations across communication profiles and emotional-behavioural outcomes. Results: Four interconnected themes were identified: (1) emotional and behavioural manifestations of communication disorders; (2) social burden linked to pragmatic and expressive difficulties; (3) family and environmental stressors exacerbating child-level challenges; and (4) a lack of integrated care models addressing both communication and mental health needs. The findings highlight that communication disorders frequently co-occur with emotional difficulties, often embedded within broader social and systemic contexts. Conclusions: This review underscores the need for developmentally informed, culturally responsive, and interdisciplinary service models that address both communication and mental health in children. Early identification, family-centred care, and policy reforms are critical to reducing inequities and improving outcomes for this underserved population.

INTRODUCTION: The micro-induction method of initiating buprenorphine is becoming a popular method for initiating buprenorphine in patients with Opioid Use Disorder, who are on full opioid agonists, either prescribed or non-prescribed, in order to avoid precipitated withdrawal. Given the rising concerns around illicit fentanyl use, this method of initiating buprenorphine has become another tool for clinicians to help patients with Opioid Use Disorder, even when multiple full opioid agonists are involved. While the process for initiating buprenorphine through this process is well studied, the characteristics of patients who are able to tolerate this initiation method in an outpatient setting is not. CASE(S): We present the cases of two patients with Opioid Use Disorder in a community-based methadone maintenance program in whom micro-induction methods were used to initiate buprenorphine without lowering the methadone dose. Both patients successfully transitioned to buprenorphine without precipitated withdrawal. One of the patients was also using fentanyl at the time of induction and was able to abstain from fentanyl use following the induction process. CONCLUSION: Initiating Buprenorphine using micro-induction strategies in a community based outpatient clinic in patients who are already on full opioid agonists is feasible, in these particular cases, the methadone dose or concurrent fentanyl use did not affect the outcome. We present the characteristics of the patient and the community clinic hoping that this helps more clinicians in replicating this induction strategy.