There is growing evidence highlighting the significant prevalence and role of communication and feeding disorders. Swallowing disorders are caused by many neurodegenerative, vascular, and traumatic diseases. The impact of these disorders on the nervous system, especially in the brain, has not yet been fully investigated, especially within clinical settings. People suffering from major neurocognitive disorders, traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, etc., have to cope with and manage the communication and swallowing difficulties associated with these disorders on an everyday basis with the help of family members and caregivers. For instance, the maintenance of functional communication and the self-feeding ability of people living with Alzheimer's disease are mediated by their caregivers, who are regarded as the most important factor influencing their quality of life.

Disorders (e.g., aphasia, apraxia of speech, dysprosodia), alterations in facial expression, gestures, dysarthria, eating apraxia, agnosia of food, and dysphagia are common and often severely affect human health. Many of these disorders share common neural pathways and mechanisms. Therefore, they can occur simultaneously within the same patient. Cognitive disorders, mainly affecting executive functions and memory (e.g., attention systems and emotions) interfere with functional communication and food consumption, forming a complex nervous system. Despite the significant impact on the nervous system, screening, evaluating, diagnosing, and managing these disorders is not a regular clinical practice in many countries, and perhaps within the majority of clinical settings. The consequences are suboptimal care, earlier loss of independence, reduced quality of life, additional work for caregivers, and serious complications such as aspiration pneumonia. Helping people suffering from these disorders require multidisciplinary action and collaboration between neurologists, clinical neuropsychologists, neuro-radiologists, and specialised speech-language pathologists.

The aim of this Special Issue is to solicit original research articles and review articles highlighting pathophysiological, pathological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, or clinical aspects of these disorders occurring in degenerative, inflammatory, traumatic, or vascular central nervous system diseases.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Clinical presentation and co-occurrence of communication and eating disorders (e.g., dysarthria and dysphagia in Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or stroke)
• Screening and evaluation tools for assessment
• Neuroimaging correlation
• Neuromodulation techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the management of these disorders
• Tools for assessing the impact on quality of life
• Assessment and management of communication disorders
• Evaluation and management of feeding and swallowing disorders
• Ecologically valid measures of communication disorders
• Pharmacological interventions for the management of communication disorders