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Orthographic Knowledge And Phonological Awareness In Children With Speech Sound Disorder, Anna Marie Ehrhorn

Theses and Dissertations

Speech sound disorder (SSD) puts children at risk for word reading difficulties but does not guarantee them. Research on early literacy skills in children with SSD has primarily focused on phonological awareness due to speech sound deficits associated with SSD. Researchers have begun to examine multiple factors beyond phonological awareness that may impact word reading and spelling development. Orthographic knowledge is another essential factor understudied in children with SSD. Previous research has shown that orthographic properties of words influence phonological awareness performance in skilled readers and children with reading difficulties. No known previous studies have examined whether orthography influences phonological …

Behavioral And Neurophysiological Measures Of Speech Auditory Feedback Processing Impairment In Left Hemisphere Stroke, Stacey Sangtian

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral and neural correlates of impaired speech auditory feedback processing in people with a history of left-hemisphere stroke (LHS). To do this, we used the altered auditory feedback (AAF) paradigm to externally induce speech errors by randomly shifting the pitch frequency of the online auditory feedback up or down at ±100 cents in 38 LHS and 27 neurologically intact control participants under two experimental conditions: 1) active vocalizations of a steady speech vowel sound “ah,” and 2) passive listening to the playback of the same self-produced vocalizations. Randomized control trials were included …

Feasibility And Preliminary Outcomes Of A 6-Week Mindful Walking Program To Maintain And Improve Cognition In Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’S Disease Or Other Related Dementias, Caroline Mannion Wood

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the impact of a 6-week Mindful Walking intervention. Participants completed 30 minute walking sessions twice a week for 6 weeks. Ten older adults attended 100% of the supervised walking sessions. Pre-post comparison of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and examination of subtests of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment did not reveal a significant change in mean scores (p.05, one-tailed). The number of steps accumulated as a result of Mindful Walking and other activities measured with the ActivPAL and change in MoCA total scores did not reach significance. Generally, the Mindful Walking program was well-liked (4 on a scale …

Investigating The Impact Of Nonlinguistic Cognitive Reserve On Naming Pre- And Post-Treatment, Lillian Jarold

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The relationship between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognition in persons with aphasia is complex and often debated in the literature. Furthermore, the impact of nonlinguistic cognition on aphasia treatment outcomes is unclear. The present study sought 1) to examine the relationship between WAIS scores and performance on a test of naming and 2) to examine the relationship between WAIS scores and change scores on a test of naming between baseline and post-treatment in persons with chronic aphasia.

Method: This retrospective study utilized data from participants (N=102) who were recruited for a multi-center cross-over trial (POLAR: Predicting Outcomes of Language Rehabilitation). …

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation As An Adjuvant For Nonfluent Aphasia Therapy: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Lynsey Mcgrath Keator

Theses and Dissertations

Identifying effective and efficient rehabilitation tools is crucial to improve language outcomes for persons living with chronic aphasia. Speech entrainment has proved to be particularly successful in improving speech output in nonfluent aphasia. It is hypothesized that, for patients with aberrant oscillatory synchronization between anterior and posterior language regions of the left hemisphere, speech entrainment may act as an external gaiting mechanism to bolster an impaired efference copy and improve synchrony between these regions. Theoretical and empirical evidence supports this idea that speech production relies on anterior-posterior connectivity in the left hemisphere.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) delivers low, periodically-alternating …

Measuring Orthographic Influences On Phonological Processing In Beginning Readers: An Eyetracking Study, Emily Grace Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose – Both orthographic and phonemic awareness are essential to reading. However, the role of orthographic knowledge in phonemic awareness has not been thoroughly investigated in beginning readers until recently. The purpose of this study was to examine if orthographic knowledge influenced phonological processing in beginning readers and to establish a proof of concept for the use of eyetracking measures to examine these skills in young children.

Method – 22 participants, aged 6-7 years, completed norm-referenced assessments of language and reading ability as well as experimental measures of orthographic and phonological awareness while their eye movements were monitored.

Results – …