Digital Commons Network^™

Home-Literacy Environments And Language Development In Toddlers With Down Syndrome, Madison S. Dulin, Susan J. Loveall, Laura J. Mattie

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Introduction: The present study aimed to (1) characterize the home-literacy environments (HLE) of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) and (2) examine if richness of the HLE, child engagement during shared storybook reading activities, quality of a caregiver-child shared storybook reading activity, and exposure to language in the home environment predicted child receptive vocabulary concurrently (Time 1) and 6 months later (Time 2).

Methods: Participants were toddlers with DS (n = 13 at Time 1, 11–29 months of age; n = 10 at Time 2) and their mothers. Mothers completed a Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire at Time 1, …

Revisiting The Rainbow: Culturally Responsive Updates To A Standard Clinical Resource, Angela M. Dietsch, Richard Mocarski, Debra A. Hope, Nathan Woodruff, Miechelle Mckelvey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose

Cultural responsivity is essential for efficacious and affirming clinical relationships. This may be especially important with historically marginalized clients, such as transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people seeking behaviorally based affirming communication services. We recommend modifications to standard tools for diagnostics and training that otherwise might undermine our efforts to create an inclusive and affirming environment.

Method

Modifications to the Rainbow Passage, a standardized paragraph utilized for eliciting speech samples in clinical settings, focused on nongendered terminology and the elimination of content with religious connotations.

Results

The recommended edits to the Rainbow Passage maintain similar length, cadence, and phonetic balance …

Assessing Pre-Literacy Behaviors In Infants And Toddlers: Psychometric Evaluation Of The Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (Itla-3), Barbara J. Jackson, Christine Marvin, Amy J. Encinger, Nicole Buchholz, Becky Zessin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Assessment of emerging literacy in young children is generally limited to either skill development in children over 3 years of age or the quality and context of young children’s early literacy experiences. Although there has been promotion of their early literacy experiences, assessment of emerging pre-literacy behaviors in children younger than 3 years has yet to be organized into a single tool.

Preliminary work on the Infant Toddler Literacy Assessment (ITLA) has progressed through initial steps of scale development and shown promise as a criterionbased, standardized assessment for tracking children’s pre-literacy behaviors and guiding practitioners in supporting development of those …

The Perspectives Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication Experts On The Clinical Integration Of Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces, Kevin Pitt, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

As brain-computer interface for augmentative and alternative communication access (BCI-AAC) development continues to consider avenues for translation into the clinical setting, the perspectives of clinician experts in AAC should be considered. Therefore, 11 USA-based speech-language pathologists who are experts in AAC completed a semistructured interview along with Likert scale measures to assess their perspectives on BCI-AAC. The interviews and scales explored the potential impact of BCI-AAC, along with barriers and solutions to BCI-AAC implementation. Speech-language pathologists estimated that 1.5% to 50% of their caseload may benefit from BCI-AAC across various settings. Further, identified barriers and solutions included (a) BCI-AAC implementation …

Strategies For Highlighting Items Within Visual Scene Displays To Support Augmentative And Alternative Communication Access For Those With Physical Impairments, Kevin Pitt, John W. Mccarthy

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: In contrast to the traditional grid-based display, visual scene displays (VSDs) offer a new paradigm for aided communication. For individuals who cannot select items from an AAC display by direct selection due to physical impairments, AAC access can be supported via methods such as item scanning. Item scanning sequentially highlights items on a display until the individual signals for selection. How items are highlighted or scanned for AAC access can impact performance outcomes. Further, the effectiveness of a VSD interface may be enhanced through consultation with experts in visual communication. Therefore, to support AAC access for those with physical …

Interpretation Of Ambiguous Pronouns In Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Kara Hawthorne, Susan J. Loveall

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Background — Pronouns are referentially ambiguous (e.g. she could refer to any female), yet they are common in everyday conversations. Individuals with typical development (TD) employ several strategies to avoid pronoun interpretation errors, including the subject bias — an assumption that a pronoun typically refers to the subject (or, with the closely related order-of-mention bias, the first-mentioned character) of the previous sentence. However, it is unknown if adults with intellectual disability (ID) share this strategy or the extent to which the subject bias is associated with non-verbal abilities or receptive vocabulary.

Methods — We tested 22 adults with mixed-aetiology ID …

Applying Implementation Science To Support Active Collaboration In Noninvasive Brain–Computer Interface Development And Translation For Augmentative And Alternative Communication, Kevin Pitt, Aimee Dietz

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to consider how, alongside engineering advancements, noninvasive brain–computer interface (BCI) for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC; BCI-AAC) developments can leverage implementation science to increase the clinical impact of this technology. We offer the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) as a structure to help guide future BCI-AAC research. Specifically, we discuss CFIR primary domains that include intervention characteristics, the outer and inner settings, the individuals involved in the intervention, and the process of implementation, alongside pertinent subdomains including adaptability, cost, patient needs and recourses, implementation climate, other personal attributes, and the process of …

Revisiting The Role Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication In Aphasia Rehabilitation, Aimee Dietz, Sarah Wallace, Kristy Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose — The purpose of this article is to revisit the role of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in post stroke aphasia rehabilitation. The authors’ intent is to provide a viewpoint that expands the use of AAC in post stroke aphasia rehabilitation. Specifically, we seek to clarify the role of AAC in restorative and participation approaches to aphasia rehabilitation while also considering the role of AAC in a comprehensive treatment plan. The authors support their viewpoint with citations from both the historic and contemporary literature on aphasia rehabilitation.

Conclusions — A thought-provoking viewpoint on the role of AAC in post …

Development Of First- And Second-Language Vocabulary Knowledge Among Language-Minority Children: Evidence From Single Language And Conceptual Scores, J. Marc Goodrich, Christopher J. Lonigan

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

This study evaluated the development of vocabulary knowledge over the course of two academic years, beginning in preschool, in a large sample (N = 944) of language-minority children using scores from single-language vocabulary assessments and conceptual scores. Results indicated that although children began the study with higher raw scores for Spanish vocabulary knowledge than for English vocabulary knowledge, this was reversed by the end of the first year of the study. Similarly, at the beginning of the study unique Spanish vocabulary scores were larger than unique English or shared Spanish-English vocabulary scores; however, by the end of the first year …

The Perceptions Of Aac Professionals On Supporting The Clinical Translation Of Brain-Computer Interface Technology, Kevin Pitt, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy Weissling, Brynley Klein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) provide access to augmentative and alternative communication devices by decoding an individual’s neurological activity. However, while BCI developments are progressing in the research setting, barriers still exist in the clinical setting. These must be overcome to support the successful translation of BCI technology into clinical practice which improves patient outcomes. Therefore, to help facilitate the clinical integration of BCI-AAC, our study sought to identify the perspectives of AAC professionals regarding their

Effects Of Sentence-Combining Instruction For Spanish-Speaking Language-Minority Students: Evidence From Two Single-Case Experiments, J. Marc Goodrich, Michael Hebert, Mackenzie E. Savaiano, Tim Andress

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research indicates that sentence-combining instruction is effective for improving writing outcomes; however, no studies to date have examined the effects of sentence- combining instruction on the writing skills of Spanish- speaking language-minority (LM) students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicit sentence-combining instruction that focused on correct adjective use when used with Spanish-speaking LM students with poor sentence construction skills. Across two studies, seven Spanish-speaking LM children in third to fifth grade participated in sentence-combining inter- ventions designed to teach adjective placement. Results in- dicated that there was a functional relation between the in- …

The Impact Of Active Learning In A Speech-Language Pathology Swallowing And Dysphagia Course, Rebecca H. Affoo, Justin L. Bruner, Angela M. Dietsch, Ciara Nellenbach, Theresa M. Jones, Mark E. Lehman

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The signature pedagogy in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) higher education programs has been criticized for its instructor-centric lecture format and emphasis on the lower tiers of Bloom’s taxonomy (simply memorizing knowledge) at the expense of helping students develop the clinical problem-solving skills required for a lifetime of practice and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of a cohort of graduate speech-language pathology students to an active learning-oriented swallowing and dysphagia course design. A potential relationship between student perceptions of the active learning pedagogy and academic performance was also explored. The results suggest that active learning positively …

Behind The Scenes Of Noninvasive Brain– Computer Interfaces: A Review Of Electroencephalography Signals, How They Are Recorded, And Why They Matter, Kevin M. Pitt, Jonathan S. Brumberg, Jeremy D. Burnison, Jyutika Mehta, Juhi Kidwai

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: Brain–computer interface (BCI) techniques may provide computer access for individuals with severe physical impairments. However, the relatively hidden nature of BCI control obscures how BCI systems work behind the scenes, making it difficult to understand “how” electroencephalography (EEG) records the BCIrelated brain signals, “what” brain signals are recorded by EEG, and “why” these signals are targeted for BCI control. Furthermore, in the field of speech-languagehearing, signals targeted for BCI application have been of primary interest to clinicians and researchers in the area of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). However, signals utilized for BCI control reflect sensory, cognitive, and motor …

Auditory, Cognitive, And Linguistic Factors Predict Speech Recognition In Adverse Listening Conditions For Children With Hearing Loss, Ryan W. Mccreery, Elizabeth A. Walker, Meredith Spratford, Dawna Lewis, Marc A. Brennan

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Objectives: Children with hearing loss listen and learn in environments with noise and reverberation, but perform more poorly in noise and reverberation than children with normal hearing. Even with amplification, individual differences in speech recognition are observed among children with hearing loss. Few studies have examined the factors that support speech understanding in noise and reverberation for this population. This study applied the theoretical framework of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model to examine the influence of auditory, cognitive, and linguistic factors on speech recognition in noise and reverberation for children with hearing loss.

Design: Fifty-six children with hearing …

Considering Augmentative And Alternative Communication Research For Brain-Computer Interface Practice, Kevin M. Pitt, Jonathan S. Brumberg, Adrienne R. Pitt

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) aim to provide access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices via brain activity alone. However, while BCI technology is expanding in the laboratory setting, there is minimal incorporation into clinical practice. Building upon established AAC research and clinical best practices may aid the clinical translation of BCI practice, allowing advancements in both fields to be fully leveraged.

Method: A multidisciplinary team developed considerations for how BCI products, practice, and policy may build upon existing AAC research, based upon published reports of existing AAC and BCI procedures.

Outcomes/Benefits: Within each consideration, a review of BCI research …

Guidelines For Feature Matching Assessment Of Brain–Computer Interfaces For Augmentative And Alternative Communication, Kevin M. Pitt, Jonathan S. Brumberg

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose--Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) can provide access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices using neurological activity alone without voluntary movements. As with traditional AAC access methods, BCI performance may be influenced by the cognitive–sensory–motor and motor imagery profiles of those who use these devices. Therefore, we propose a person-centered, feature matching framework consistent with clinical AAC best practices to ensure selection of the most appropriate BCI technology to meet individuals' communication needs.

Method--The proposed feature matching procedure is based on the current state of the art in BCI technology and published reports on cognitive, sensory, motor, and motor …

Brain–Computer Interfaces For Augmentative And Alternative Communication: A Tutorial, Jonathan S. Brumberg, Kevin M. Pitt, Alana Mantie-Kozlowski, Jeremy D. Burnison

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose--Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to improve communication for people who require but are unable to use traditional augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. As BCIs move toward clinical practice, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) will need to consider their appropriateness for AAC intervention.

Method--This tutorial provides a background on BCI approaches to provide AAC specialists foundational knowledge necessary for clinical application of BCI. Tutorial descriptions were generated based on a literature review of BCIs for restoring communication.

Results--The tutorial responses directly address 4 major areas of interest for SLPs who specialize in AAC: (a) the current state …

Working Memory In School-Age Children With And Without A Persistent Speech Sound Disorder, Kelly Farquharson, Tiffany Hogan, John E. Bernthal

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the role of working memory processes as a possible cognitive underpinning of persistent speech sound disorders (SSD).

Method: Forty school-aged children were enrolled; 20 children with persistent SSD (P-SSD) and 20 typically developing children. Children participated in three working memory tasks – one to target each of the components in Baddeley’s working memory model: phonological loop, visual spatial sketchpad and central executive.

Result: Children with P-SSD performed poorly only on the phonological loop tasks compared to their typically developing age-matched peers. However, mediation analyses revealed that the relation …

A Preliminary Study Of A Spanish Graphic Novella Targeting Hearing Loss Prevention, Mark Guiberson, Emily Wakefield

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: This preliminary study developed a digital graphic novella targeting hearing protection beliefs of Spanish-speaking agricultural workers. Researchers used pretest–posttest interview surveys to establish if the novella had an immediate influence on the participants’ beliefs about noise-induced hearing loss and usage of hearing protection devices.

Method: Researchers developed a digital graphic novella directed to increase knowledge about noise-induced hearing loss and increase the proper use of hearing protection devices. The novella was tailored to meet the specific linguistic and literacy needs of Spanish-speaking agricultural workers. Thirty-one Spanish-speaking farmworkers of Mexican nationality participated. This study included an interview survey with specific …

Assessment With Children Who Need Augmentative And Alternative Communication (Aac): Clinical Decisions Of Aac Specialists., Shelley Lund, Quach Wendy, Kristy S.E. Weissling, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Aimee R. Dietz

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) specialists approach the assessment process for 2 case studies, 1 child with cerebral palsy and 1 with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of the study was to answer the following questions: (a) How do clinicians with expertise approach the AAC assessment process for children with developmental disabilities? (b) Can any initial hypothesis be drawn about how SLPs approach the assessment of children with motor versus social interactive deficits?

Method This study used a phenomenological qualitative design. The researchers conducted 2 …

Self-Perceived Competence And Social Acceptance Of Young Children Who Stutter: Initial Findings, Naomi H. Rodgers, Patricia Zebrowski Ph.D

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The goals of this study were to determine whether young children who stutter (CWS) perceive their own competence and social acceptance differently than young children who do not stutter (CWNS), and to identify the predictors of perceived competence and social acceptance in young speakers.

Method: We administered the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA; Harter & Pike, 1984) to 13 CWS and 14 CWNS and examined group differences. We also collected information on the children’s genders, temperaments, stuttering frequencies, language abilities, and phonological skills to identify which of these factors predicted PSPCSA scores. …

Program Monitoring Practices For Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing In Early Intervention, Anne E. Thomas, Christine Marvin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Program monitoring is an important and necessary assessment practice within the field of early childhood deaf education. Effective program monitoring requires a focus on both the consistent implementation of intervention strategies (fidelity) and the assessment of children’s ongoing progress in response to interventions (progress monitoring). Teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing (TODs) who provide early intervention services need to conduct regular program monitoring to evaluate the merit of their efforts. However, progress monitoring is a practice often overlooked by practitioners within the field of early intervention. It is recommended that TODs monitor children’s progress “regularly,” but evidence of …

Predicting Speech Intelligibility Decline In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Based On The Deterioration Of Individual Speech Subsystems, Panying Rong, Yana Yunusova, Jun Wang, Lorne Zinman, Gary Pattee, James D. Berry, Bridget Perry, Jordan R. Green

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose To determine the mechanisms of speech intelligibility impairment due to neurologic impairments, intelligibility decline was modeled as a function of co-occurring changes in the articulatory, resonatory, phonatory, and respiratory subsystems.

Method Sixty-six individuals diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were studied longitudinally. The disease-related changes in articulatory, resonatory, phonatory, and respiratory subsystems were quantified using multiple instrumental measures, which were subjected to a principal component analysis and mixed effects models to derive a set of speech subsystem predictors. A stepwise approach was used to select the best set of subsystem predictors to model the overall decline in intelligibility.

Results …

Students At Enrollment Into Communitybased Systems Of Care: Characteristics And Predictors Of Functioning In School, Stacy-Ann A. January, Matthew C. Lambert, Michael Epstein, Mary Spooner, Tesfayi Gebreselassie

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Community-based systems of care (SOC) provide a range of services to students with significant emotional and behavioral difficulties and their families. However, little is known about the educational characteristics and functioning of students at enrollment in SOC. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research by examining the educational characteristics and predictors of school functioning for students referred to SOC using a large and diverse national data source. Participants were 5,628 students ages 6 to 18 years who were enrolled in community-based SOC across 45 U.S. states, districts, and territories. Students’ grades, discipline, and attendance (as …

Using Visual Scene Displays As Communication Support Options For People With Chronic, Severe Aphasia: A Summary Of Aac Research And Future Research Directions, David R. Beukelman, Karen Hux, Aimee R. Dietz, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Research about the effectiveness of communicative supports and advances in photographic technology has prompted changes in the way speech-language pathologists design and implement interventions for people with aphasia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of photographic images as a basis for developing communication supports for people with chronic aphasia secondary to sudden-onset events due to cerebrovascular accidents (strokes). Topics include the evolution of AAC-based supports as they relate to people with aphasia, the development and key features of visual scene displays (VSDs), and future directions concerning the incorporation of photographs into communication supports for people with …

The Impact Of Interface Design During An Initial High-Technology Aac Experience: A Collective Case Study Of People With Aphasia, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling, Julie Griffith, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Devan Macke

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this collective case study was to describe the communication behaviors of five people with chronic aphasia when they retold personal narratives to an unfamiliar communication partner using four variants of a visual scene display (VSD) interface. The results revealed that spoken language comprised roughly 70% of expressive modality units; variable patterns of use for other modalities emerged. Although inconsistent across participants, several people with aphasia experienced no trouble sources during the retells using VSDs with personally relevant photographs and text boxes. Overall, participants perceived the personally relevant photographs and the text as helpful during the retells. These …

Phonological And Lexical Influences On Phonological Awareness In Children With Specific Language Impairment And Dyslexia, Kelly Farquharson, Tracy M. Centanni, Chelsea E. Franzluebbers, Tiffany Hogan

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment have marked deficits in phonological processing, putting them at an increased risk for reading deficits. The current study sought to examine the influence of word-level phonological and lexical characteristics on phonological awareness. Children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment were tested using a phoneme deletion task in which stimuli differed orthogonally by sound similarity and neighborhood density. Phonological and lexical factors influenced performance differently across groups. Children with dyslexia appeared to have a more immature and aberrant pattern of phonological and lexical influence (e.g., favoring sparse and similar features). Children with SLI performed …

Perceptual And Instrumental Assessments Of Orofacial Muscle Tone In Dysarthric And Normal Speakers, Angela M. Dietsch, Nancy Pearl Solomon, Laura A. Sharkey, Joseph R. Duffy, Edythe A. Strand, Heather M. Clark

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Clinical assessment of orofacial muscle tone is of interest for differential diagnosis of the dysarthrias, but standardized procedures and normative data are lacking. In this study, perceptual ratings of tone were compared with instrumental measures of tissue stiffness for facial, lingual, and masticatory muscles in 70 individuals with dysarthria. Perceptual and instrumental tone data were discordant and failed to discriminate between five dysarthria types. These results raised concerns about the validity of Myoton-3 stiffness measures in the orofacial muscles. Therefore, a second study evaluated contracted and relaxed orofacial muscles in 10 neurotypical adults. Results for the cheek, masseter, and lateral …

Supporting Narrative Retells For People With Aphasia Using Augmentative And Alternative Communication: Photographs Or Line Drawings? Text Or No Text?, Julie Griffith, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how the interface design of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device influences the communication behaviors of people with aphasia during a narrative retell task.

Method: A case-series design was used. Four narratives were created on an AAC device with combinations of personally relevant (PR) photographs, line drawings (LDs), and text for each participant. The narrative retells were analyzed to describe the expressive modality units (EMUs) used, trouble sources experienced, and whether trouble sources were repaired. The researchers also explored the participants’ perceived helpfulness of the interface features.

Results: The participants …

Personalizing Aac For People With Aphasia: The Role Of Text And Pictures, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling, Julie Griffith, Miechelle L. Mckelvey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Over time, and with intensive instruction, people with aphasia (PWAs) can learn to use grid-based, categorically organized, high-technology AAC layouts during structured tasks (e.g., Hough & Johnson, 2009). In an effort to reduce the training intensity required to teach PWAs to use AAC; researchers developed visual scene displays (VSDs), designed to complement the residual cognitive and linguistic abilities of PWAs by tapping their intact episodic memory. VSD interfaces incorporate personally relevant (PR) photos, text, and speech output (Dietz, McKelvey, & Beukelman, 2006; Weissling & Beukelman, 2006). VSDs appear to facilitate improved communication success (e.g., McKelvey, Dietz, Hux, Weissling, & Beukelman, …