Browsing by Subject "Speech-language-hearing sciences"
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Item Evaluation of a narrative language intervention for adolescents with down syndrome.(2012-02) Wennblom, Jamie AnnPurpose: The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of an animated computer-based narrative language intervention on the microstructure and macrostructure narrative language abilities of verbally expressive adolescents with Down syndrome. Method: This study used an interparticipant, multiple-baseline, single-subject design. Three females with Down syndrome aged 13, 14, and 16 years each with a mean length of utterance (MLU) greater than 2.5 morphemes participated in this study. Study sessions included 4-5 baseline sessions, 12 intervention sessions, and 1 follow-up session. Microstructure narrative elements (Total Number of Utterances, MLU, and number of Bound Morphemes) were analyzed using visual inspection of data points. Treated macrostructure narrative elements (Character, Setting, Initiating Event, and Consequence) as well as one control measure, Initiating Event, were scored using the Index of Narrative Complexity (Petersen, Gillam, & Gillam, 2008) and analyzed using visual inspection of data points, percentage of maximum data points, and Chi-square analysis. Results: Treatment gains were found on both microstructure and macrostructure narrative measures. However, there was heterogeneity in outcomes across participants, dependent measures, and elicitation contexts.Item Listener perception of naturalness for spoken utterances containing discourse markers um, uh, and like.(2012-07) Kawatski, Laura ElizabethThis study investigated the effect of discourse markers, uh, um, and like in spoken utterances on the overall naturalness of the utterance perceived by listeners. Two conditions were explored: um/uh contrasted in sentences of high and low predictability, and like contrasted in grammatically correct and grammatically incorrect locations within the sentence. Two listener groups consisted of a skilled group, composed of licensed speech language pathologists and graduate students in their second year of a Master’s degree program, and an unskilled group of listeners who had no formal training in speech language pathology. The results showed that all listeners, regardless of group, rated a difference in naturalness of sentences in the like condition, with ungrammatical like rated less natural than grammatical like. Listeners did not rate a difference between uh/um, nor did they rate a difference between high and low predictability sentences. As a group, unskilled listeners rated sentences, regardless of condition, as less natural than skilled listeners.Item Nonword repetition and word likeness judgments in speakers of African American English and standard American English(2012-07) Andrzejewski, Amy R.In this study, adult speakers of African American English and Standard American English completed a nonword repetition task and made word likeness judgments of those nonwords. The nonwords were constructed to vary in phonotactic probability. The initial consonant vowel sequences in the adults’ repetitions of the nonwords were analyzed for accuracy. The word likeness judgments and the accuracy of repetition were compared across the two speaker groups. Additionally, the participants’ word likeness judgments were compared with their repetition accuracy of the nonwords. Analyses were conducted to determine if the phonotactic probability of the nonwords affected repetition accuracy or word likeness judgments. The data collected from the adults will be used to select stimuli for a larger longitudinal study of children’s language development.Item Parent perspectives of the language development and services offered to their children with Down syndrome.(2011-09) Schmidt, Valerie NicoleThe language abilities of 99 children with Down syndrome and the speech and language services that these children receive were assessed using a parental survey. The survey addressed both the child’s current abilities and services based on their stage of language development as well as the services they received in previous stages of language development. Differences in language abilities were observed based on the child’s stage of language development, but not the child’s chronological age. Differences in the type of speech-language services received and parents’ perceptions of the benefits of language services provided were also observed based on the child’s language stage and chronological age. Overall, parents considered language services to be beneficial to their child’s communication abilities; however, some parents noted concerns regarding their child’s language treatment despite their general satisfaction with these services. Findings from this study should be used to guide the clinical services offered to children with Down syndrome as well as research efforts aimed to improve language interventions for children with Down syndrome.Item Perceptions of Racism and Racial Privilege Among Speech Pathology and Audiology Graduate Students(2022-05) Williams, LilianaWithin the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology, cultural responsiveness plays an integral role in ethical and successful service delivery. A key component of cultural responsiveness is assessment of cultural biases, including an understanding and acknowledgement of racial disparities and privilege. A 2013 survey of graduate students in speech-language pathology and audiology indicated that the majority of surveyed students viewed racial disparities and the effects of White privilege as minimal within the field (Ebert, 2013). This study builds on Ebert (2013), aiming to analyze how student perceptions of racial privilege have changed over time, as well as expanding to assess perceptions on systemic racism. A web-based survey was distributed to graduate students in speech-language pathology and audiology programs across the country. The survey contained a combination of repeat questions from Ebert (2013), to assess potential change over time, as well as novel questions to address perceptions on systemic racism within the fields. Both close-ended and open-ended questions were utilized, allowing for both quantitative and qualitative analyses of results. In total, 150 responses were included in analysis. Results of this study indicate that the majority of students in speech-language pathology and audiology graduate programs have at least a basic level of awareness and acknowledgement of White privilege and systemic racism. For responses that did not indicate this basic level of awareness, the most common viewpoint reflected was color blindness. A total of 34 themes were identified in qualitative analyses; the most common themes were reflections on the impact of racial privilege and systemic racism on quality of services, access and opportunities, and clinician-client mismatch. A significant increase in awareness regarding White privilege was noted when White students from Ebert (2013) and White students from the current study were compared. Revisiting these questions more than half a decade later provides insight into current perceptions among prospective professionals, how they differ from student perceptions in the past, and identifies potential areas of need for further training in regard to cultural responsiveness.Item Potential language impairment in a Vietnamese-English bilingual child: insights from narrative analysis.(2011-09) Duong, Irene Hien MinhWe performed a retrospective analysis of the narrative performance of a Vietnamese-English Language Learner who was struggling academically. We analyzed narrative samples in both English and Vietnamese for several variables that have been found to differentiate between children with language learning impairment (LLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers. Narratives were collected in both Vietnamese and English at two time points, separated by a one-year interval. We then compared these variables to those extracted from narrative samples collected from two TD peers matched to the struggling learner by age, gender, and language background. By comparing the performance in these variables, we explored the possibility that our struggling learner has LLI.Item Typically developing preschooler's location of digital photos on speech generating devices using visual scene displays(2012-07) Thompson, Dana LynnPurpose: This study examined preschoolers’ (19-25 months) accuracy in selecting graphic symbols on the main page of a dynamic visual scene display (VSD) using embedded and non- embedded symbols. Method: Twenty participants were equally divided into two experimental conditions that included embedded or non-embedded VSDs. Participants were assigned to one of the two experimental conditions and were subsequently taught to select a superordinate symbol on the main page of a symbol display that linked to a second page of each of nine symbols. The participant then selected the target symbol corresponding to the referent displayed at the beginning of the instructional opportunity. After an initial session of nine opportunities participants were provided with up to seven additional intervention sessions. Maintenance was examined subsequent to mastery. Results: Children in both embedded and non-embedded treatment groups demonstrated improvement over the course of the study. There were no statistically significant differences between children’s performance in the embedded and non-embedded VSD conditions. Post hoc analyses revealed that chronological age, receptive language level as measured by the Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (Brownell, 2000), and gender were significant predictors of participant accuracy. Descriptive analyses revealed some patterns suggesting that participants in the embedded condition made modestly greater gains than participants in the non-embedded condition. Conclusions: The differential effect of embedded and non-embedded symbol displays was not demonstrated with participants between 19-25 months of age. Based on the current evidence, if VSDs are to be used in an intervention it is likely best for educators to select embedded or non-embedded VSDs based on a comparison of individual learner needs and abilities and to use individual performance data to guide the intervention decision. Limitations of the current investigation are discussed.Item Unpacking listener bias:the effects of attitudes, knowledge, and experience on clinician’s ratings of African-American children’s speech.(2012-07) Evans, Karen ElizabethAbstract summary not availableItem Verbal fluency performance after traumatic brain injury: a cluster analysis.(2011-10) Peterson, Michael JamesThis study examines the sensitivity of two different analyses for comparing verbal fluency test performance of participants with mild cognitive impairment resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and healthy controls. The study uses a cluster analysis based on Troyer, Moscovitch, and Winocur (1997) of switching and clustering for the first time in a TBI-only sample. The sensitivity of number of correct words produced, a standard measure of verbal fluency performance, is also examined. The effects of demographic variables of education and estimated verbal IQ are reported. Participants included 31 adults with TBI and 26 adult controls. Significant group differences were found in estimated verbal IQ. Number of correct words produced was no more sensitive for detecting group differences in verbal fluency performance than total responses (correct and incorrect) in letter and category fluency conditions, but may be more sensitive in category switching. No group differences were found in any cluster analysis measure when estimated verbal IQ and total responses were controlled. Results highlighted the importance of controlling for demographic variables including estimated verbal IQ when interpreting verbal fluency data and that complex, multifaceted analyses of verbal fluency performance may not add to the ability of verbal fluency to detect mild cognitive impairments following TBI. Clinical implications are discussed.Item Working memory after acquired brain injury: listening span recall.(2011-06) Johnson, Shelley ChristineTwenty-three mildly impaired adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) and eighteen carefully matched healthy controls performed three commonly used working memory tasks (WM): the digit span, n-back task, and listening span task (Tompkins, Bloise, Timko, & Baumgaertner,1994). In a preliminary study, Baumgarten (2009) administered these to a small group of mildly impaired adults with ABI and controls and found that participants with ABI made more errors on the listening span task, but did not perform worse on the n-back or digit span tasks compared to controls. The present study followed the same methods and procedures used in Baumgarten (2009) with the addition of error analysis by type for recall errors made on the listening span task. Recall errors were coded as either intrusions or omissions. Intrusion errors were broken down into within-task intrusions, categorical intrusions, non-categorical intrusions and phonemic intrusions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used when there were both between- and within-group comparisons, and simple group comparisons were done in the absence of within-group variables. Adults with ABI made more total errors and more omission errors than controls on the listening span task, however groups iii Abstract Twenty-three mildly impaired adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) and eighteen carefully matched healthy controls performed three commonly used working memory tasks (WM): the digit span, n-back task, and listening span task (Tompkins, Bloise, Timko, & Baumgaertner,1994). In a preliminary study, Baumgarten (2009) administered these to a small group of mildly impaired adults with ABI and controls and found that participants with ABI made more errors on the listening span task, but did not perform worse on the n-back or digit span tasks compared to controls. The present study followed the same methods and procedures used in Baumgarten (2009) with the addition of error analysis by type for recall errors made on the listening span task. Recall errors were coded as either intrusions or omissions. Intrusion errors were broken down into within-task intrusions, categorical intrusions, non-categorical intrusions and phonemic intrusions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used when there were both between- and within-group comparisons, and simple group comparisons were done in the absence of within-group variables. Adults with ABI made more total errors and more omission errors than controls on the listening span task, however groups did not differ in total intrusion errors or in specific intrusion error types. All participants made more omission than intrusion errors on the listening span task. Performance on the digit span task and the n-back task were similar between groups. The listening span task appears to capture WM that has a linguistic base, including pre-injury vocabulary and post-injury word fluency. The clinical significance of this is discussed.