Digital Commons Network^™

Academic Impacts Of Intergenerational Trauma: Assessing The Relationship Between Ace Scores Of Parents And The Language And Literacy Development Of Their Elementary-Aged Children, Paige Lee Banaszak

Theses and Dissertations

This paper contributes to the current literature by investigating factors that may contribute to language and literacy difficulty among children, to support the future development of effective intervention techniques. The data analyzed in this paper was collected from children and families participating in Reach Every Reader, a research study currently being conducted to improve literacy outcomes in the U.S. by developing a computer-adaptive screening assessment tool to identify children at risk for language and literacy difficulties early in their educational development. Children enrolled in kindergarten through third grade completed tasks that target language and literacy skills, and their parent(s) completed …

Audiological Management Of Children With Down Syndrome: A Toolkit For Caregivers, Natalie Lisiewicz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Children with Down syndrome may have multiple medical co-morbidities. This can result in an overwhelming number of medical appointments and information for caregivers to keep track of. Middle ear dysfunction, among other otologic abnormalities, is common in the Down syndrome population, and the presence of these conditions will result in referrals to an audiologist to monitor hearing sensitivity. While hearing may not be the most pressing concern as compared to a possible life-threatening condition such as a heart defect, it is still a crucial factor in a child’s overall development.

This toolkit is designed with the intention of educating caregivers …

Evidence-Based Practice In The Management Of Tinnitus In Children And Adolescents: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Rivka Deutsch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to compile and evaluate the known research on the management of tinnitus in children/ The specific aims of this paper are to determine what approaches can be considered best practice for the management of tinnitus in this population, what aspects of adult management (if any) can be adapted for children, and whether the literature supports one management approach over another.

Methods and Results: A comprehensive search utilizing the Medline and Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Google Scholar databases, accessible via …

The Effect Of Linguistic Context And Explicit Contrast On The Fast Mapping Of Verbs, Samantha L. Scripture

Doctoral Dissertations

In typical language acquisition, word learning is an induction problem. When word learners hear an unfamiliar word, they make assumptions about the possible referent and its meaning. For nouns, this is relatively easy as word learners can rely on perceptual and pragmatic cues. For verbs, these two cues are fleeting, and word learners require additional kinds of cues for their meaning to be acquired. Two cues that affect verb learning include linguistic context and contrastive information. The current study used a within group comparison to examine the effect of linguistic context (i.e., rich vs. sparse) and contrastive information (i.e., implicit …

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 – …

Resilience Training & Parental Support For Children Who Stutter - A Systematic Review, Rachel Elizabeth Davis

Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional resilience and family/parental/caregiver support for children who stutter, and to review existing research on resilience training and family support relative to enhancing the quality of life in children who stutter. Thus, A systematic review of appropriate published studies was conducted utilizing the electronic databases PubMed and Google Scholar. Analysis revealed that there is an abundance of research supporting parental support and resilience training; however, there was limited direct clinical application relative to the unification of these concepts. Data indicates that the clinical application of emotional resilience and cognitive …

Assessment And Treatment Of Childhood Apraxia Of Speech: The Perspective Of Current Speech-Language Pathologists, Sabrina White

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

“Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a neurological childhood (pediatric) speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech are impaired in the absence of neuromuscular deficits (e.g. abnormal reflexes, abnormal tone)” (ASHA, 2007b, Definitions of CAS section, para. 1). The role of speech-language pathology in conjunction with childhood apraxia of speech is the treatment of whichever speech sound disorders exist. The variable nature of CAS creates challenges for SLPs. Presently, “there are no validated diagnostic features that differentiate CAS from other childhood speech sound disorders.” (ASHA, 2007b, Signs and Symptoms, para 1). Due to this …

Aac Use By Children With Asd And Their Aac Co-Pilots, Kelcy Rolak

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Employing a multiple case study approach, this study explored the perspectives of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on their child’s use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Deemed “AAC co-pilots” by this study, these parents play a crucial role in their children’s daily AAC use, yet their perspective is largely under-explored in existing research that otherwise explores AAC use by individuals with ASD extensively. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with ASD who have used AAC for at least one year and whose AAC use is documented in their IEP. Findings indicated the depth and …

Parent And Child Characteristics Impacting Identification Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder (Dld), Sarah E. Floyd

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose: Previous research has shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and dyslexia are under-identified in the general population. Parent or caregiver concern is a primary referral tool for these conditions, but may fail to accurately align with the actual presence of a disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine child and parent characteristics related to a child’s likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of DLD.

Methods: Within a large, 5-year, longitudinal study, kindergartener performance on a battery of speech, language, and literacy measures was examined to identify children with and without DLD and possible risk of dyslexia. …

Frequency-Modulated Multiple-Tone Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions In Young Children With Normal Hearing, Kathryn Arielle Vlietstra Baker

MSU Graduate Theses

Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are objective tests of the integrity of the outer hair cells of the cochlea in response to a single-tone pair stimulus. Despite advances in DPOAEs test protocols and technology, there is little research about the use of frequency modulated tones to improve response characteristics. This study evaluates the efficacy of a new frequency modulated stimulus with multiple-tone pair DPOAEs (mDPOAEs) compared to the standard stimulus protocol for mDPOAEs to determine whether frequency modulation (FM) will achieve more robust and faster results. Normative data for this novel test protocol were obtained in 11 healthy normal-hearing children aged …

Communication Resources For Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing Children In Mississippi: Parents’ Perspectives, Julia Rossano

Honors Theses

A parent’s ability to communicate with their child through formative years may often be taken for granted, as the options for such communication seem intuitive and apparent. However, hearing parents of children with hearing loss must not only make a choice between several communication methods, but they must also navigate an environment where the methodologies are not clearly delineated. Blaiser and colleague provide succinct descriptions of the most common methods which can be chosen. These methods include listening and spoken language systems, manual-visual systems, and systems combining these two modalities (Blaiser & Bargen, 2018). This choice is often challenging because …

The Impact Of Technology On The Developing Visual And/Or Auditory Memory In School-Aged Children, Cameron Mayer

Honors Theses

This study aimed to determine whether time spent on technology impacts the developing auditory or visual memory in school-aged children. A survey was completed with the child participants to acquire a catalog of time spent on both technological devices and non-technological activities. Tests included a visual and auditory memory assessment adapted from the Preschool Language Scales Fifth Edition (PLS-5). The results indicated that there was no significance between the time spent on technology and the visual and auditory memory scores. However, the researchers did find that the auditory mean scores were significantly different from the visual mean scores across the …

Complex Syntax Acquisition In Children With Hearing Loss, Marissa Castaldo

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this language sample analysis was to describe complex syntax development in children with hearing loss over the preschool years. The current study addresses the following relevant research questions: Do children with hearing loss have increased performance over preschool years on broad measures of complex syntax? and What are the developmental trajectories on complex syntax in children with hearing loss?

Methods: 9 children with hearing loss participated in a 12-minute language sample following the Hadley Protocol (1998). Each child was tested at age 4 and then again in 6-month intervals until they turned 6. These children with …

The Impact Of Childhood Music Experience On Speech Perception And Processing: A Systematic Review, Erika Lanham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to conduct a systematic review of the literature that addresses the impact of childhood musical experience on speech perception and processing abilities. Specifically, this review assessed how musical training impacted scores on both objective and behavioral tests of speech perception/processing in children. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of the effects of individual musical experience in childhood on our ability to perceive and process speech in a variety of listening conditions. This analysis also determined the clinical implications of such findings.

Methods: A comprehensive search utilizing the Web of Science database accessible …

Assisting Children With Velocardiofacial Syndrome Who Have Developmental Disabilities And Delays Associated With Speech, Communication, And Education, Mckenzie K. Holty

Honors Thesis

Children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) have a variety of complex needs. Research shows that VCFS is characterized by a combination of medical problems, developmental delays, and learning disabilities, which vary from child to child. This syndrome also puts adolescents at a higher risk for developing psychiatric and psychotic disorders. The complexity of symptoms that can arise from VCFS can influence the ability of these children to communicate, socialize, and learn effectively. This literature review aims to discuss literature for caregivers, educators, and physicians to aid children effectively and understand their challenges relating to speech, communication, and education. This topic is …

Differential Effects Of Verbal And Written Disclosure On Perceptions Of A Child Who Stutters, Peyton Mcknight

Honors Theses

This study measured perceptions of a 12-year-old boy who stutters, relative to perceived speech skills and personal characteristics, as a function of seven potential stuttering disclosure conditions, featuring either a personal verbal disclosure, written disclosure, or no disclosure, delivered by various authors (i.e., self/child, mother, teacher). 641 participants college-aged adults were randomly assigned to one of seven stuttering disclosure groups: no disclosure control, verbal self-disclosure, written self-disclosure, verbal mother disclosure, written mother disclosure, verbal teacher disclosure, or written teacher disclosure. Participants in the control group viewed a brief video of a 12-year-old male who stutters reciting a short passage. Participants …

Phonological Awareness In Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Children, Cindy Stetler

Honors Projects

Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) in America may learn American Sign Language (ASL) or English as their first language and may early-on or eventually be bilingual in ASL and English. In school, however, they will need to learn how to read English since ASL does not have a written system. An aspect of reading that can be particularly difficult for children who are DHH is phonological awareness (PA). Something that seems to be missing from the literature is looking at the relation between sign PA, spoken PA, and reading literacy in ASL and English. This will …

Morphological Production Accuracy Patterns In Younger And Older Spanish-English Bilingual Children, Isabel Angelica Cano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Clinicians require a model of typical bilingual language development. Morphological production accuracy patterns vary in Spanish-English (S-E) bilingual children considering differences in the exposure and use of their two languages compared to their monolingual peers. The purpose of the current study was to examine morphological production accuracy patterns in thirty younger (3- to 4-years old) and older (5- to 6-years old) S-E bilingual children utilizing English and Spanish Morphosyntax subtests from a bilingual language screener. Across development, older bilingual children were more accurate on all forms in both English and Spanish than younger bilingual children. Across languages, all S-E bilingual …

Cochlear Implants And Executive Function In Children: A Current Review Of Literature, Jessica Bonezzi, Dr. Alex Meibos

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

We systematically reviewed existing research on cochlear implantation and executive function to determine if children with bilateral profound hearing loss with cochlear implantation have executive functioning levels similar to their normal hearing peers. Overall, we wanted to know if cochlear implantation resulted in executive functioning in deaf children. A systematic analysis of research was performed using the Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) technique. Research comparing unilaterally implanted children to bilaterally implanted children shows that bilaterally implanted children scored higher on verbal IQ tests. Research comparing predominately bilaterally implanted children to norms presents split results.

A Comparative Study Of Esl Children's Improvement In Reading, Writing, Listening, And Speaking Using The Grapeseed Program, Morgan Mainess

Honors Theses

GrapeSEED is a program currently administered in the Berrien Springs Public School System that is specifically designed to improve literacy (reading and writing), listening, and speaking skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) chi ldren. This study analyzed whether the GrapeSEED program would significantly improve participants' development when compared to their pre-tests. Empirical observational data was additionally collected at Mars Elementary during the 2018-2019 academic year. A statistical analysis indicated significant advancement in listening and literacy with increased improvement for younger participants in the GrapeSEED program.

Purpose

This study aimed to determine the improvement in participant's development in the …

The Effect Of Retrieval Practice On Vocabulary Learning For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Casey Krauss Reimer

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the current study was to determine if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) would learn more new vocabulary words through the use of retrieval practice than repeated exposure (repeated study). No studies to date have used this cognitive strategy—retrieval practice—with children who are d/hh. Previous studies have shown that children with hearing loss struggle with learning vocabulary words. This deficit can negatively affect language development, reading outcomes, and overall academic success. Few studies have investigated specific interventions to address the poor vocabulary development for children with hearing loss. The current study investigated retrieval practice …

The Effect Of Motor Responses Versus Verbal Responses On Sound Localization Accuracy In Young Children With Normal Hearing, Karen Ann Martin

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Rationale. Sound localization is the ability to pinpoint the origin of a sound source within an auditory space. This ability is essential for safety, orientation, and communication. Poor sound localization abilities, especially in young children, can have a negative impact on academics and safety. This issue is exacerbated when there is a hearing loss. Young children do not localize as well as adults until age 6 or older. Data regarding sound localization accuracy in preschoolers and young children have been sparse. Recently, with the increasing numbers of cochlear implantation (especially in children) there have been more studies investigating sound localization …

Aac Device Use In School-Aged Special Education Students, Vanessa Medina

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation analyzes how often AAC users typically utilize their devices throughout their day in their school setting. A survey method was implemented where elementary school educators were asked to report on their special education students use of their device during their school day. To identify special education educators' perceptions regarding the use of AAC devices in the public-school system, special education educators in the public-school system were contacted via email to conduct a survey in regard to current practice in their school setting regarding AAC use.

A letter of consent was obtained from the University of Texas Rio Grande …

Orthographic And Phonological Processing In Beginning Readers, Emily Fisher

Senior Theses

In order to learn to “sound out” new words, children must have phonological awareness, the ability to reflect on and manipulate the sounds in words. However, in skilled readers, performance on phonological awareness tasks is influenced by orthographic awareness, the awareness of spelling patterns and constraints. Both orthographic and phonological awareness are essential to reading, however, until recently the role of orthographic knowledge in phonological awareness has not been thoroughly investigated in beginning readers. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between orthographic and phonological knowledge in beginning readers and established a proof of concept for the use of …

Acoustic Characteristics Of Vowels Produced By Young Children From The New Orleans Area, Rebecca E. Dorsa

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding dialects and their effects on speech and language is integral to the field of speech-language pathology, as dialectal differences could potentially be misdiagnosed as speech or language disorders if these factors are not well-considered. The number and organization of the vowel system of one regional dialect of American English differs from those of another regional dialects. Therefore, understanding the effect of dialect on vowel productions in children can aid in the accurate evaluation of children from various dialectal backgrounds. The aims of the proposed study were to 1) determine the age at which young children develop acoustic markers of …

Implications Of Dual Language Scoring Of The Preschool Language Scale-Fifth Edition Spanish For Bilingual Preschool-Aged Children, Callie Mae Mathis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: Spanish versions of standardized tests used in language evaluations are not well studied. The purpose of this study is to further examine the appropriateness of the Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition Spanish (PLS-5S) in a U.S./Mexico border community by comparing the Dual language scores versus the Spanish only scores and comparing the normative sample of the PLS-5S to the population of El Paso, TX.

Method: Twenty-three bilingual preschool aged children in the El Paso area completed the Spanish Edition of the PLS-5S. The parents and teachers of the participants completed two language proficiency questionnaires (Bilingual Input Output Survey; BIOS …

Grammatical Error Types Using A Picture Description Task In English And Spanish With Young Children, Lisa Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The current study was part of a larger project examining diagnostic accuracy of various assessment tools for bilingual children living in a border community. The purpose of this project was to examine language sample measures in young children using a picture description task (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013) by answering the following questions:

1. What were the frequent types of errors exhibited by young children in English and Spanish?

2. Were there distinct types of grammatical errors across languages in bilingual children?

Methods: Participants were recruited from a large city on the US/Mexico border. There were 47 participants in the …

An Examination Of Entrainment In Typically Developing Children, Kiersten A. Pope

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Purpose: Conversational entrainment describes the tendency for individuals to align their behavior with their communication partners and is essential for successful interaction. Evidence of entrainment in adults is robust, yet research regarding its development is sparse. Here, we investigate the effectiveness of a quasi-conversational paradigm for the purpose of identifying the speech rate entrainment abilities of children.

Method: Data were collected from a total of 50 typically developing children from 5-14 years old. Participants completed an entrainment task to identify the presence of speech rate modification depending on the presence of “fast” or “slow” stimuli. The entrainment task utilized a …

Articulatory Patterns In Children Who Use Cochlear Implants: An Ultrasound Measure Of Velar Stop Production In Bilingual Speakers, Katherine Javier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coarticulation occurs in running speech when one speech sound or phoneme overlaps with another. It can be considered a result of the way we sequence and organize our articulators to efficiently produce consecutive consonants and vowels in fluent speech. Previous research has suggested that measures of coarticulation can provide insight into the maturity of the motor speech planning system (Barbier, Perrier, Ménard, Payan, Tiede, & Perkell, 2013; Zharkova & Hewlett, 2009; Zharkova, Hewlett, & Hardcastle, 2011). Speech stability has also been suggested as an indicator of motor speech maturity in previous research using ultrasound imaging of velar-vowel targets (Frisch, Maxfield, …

Melodic Contour Identification And Speech Recognition By School-Aged Children, Michael P. Morikawa

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Using the Sung Speech Corpus (SSC), which encompasses a single database that contains musical pitch, timbre variations and speech information in identification tasks, the current study aimed to explore the development of normal-hearing children’s ability to use the pitch and timbre cues. Thirteen normal hearing children were recruited for the study ages ranging from 7 to 16 years old. Participants were separated into two separate groups: Younger (7-9) and Older (10-16). Musical Experience was taken into account as well. The Angel Sound ™ program was utilized for testing which was adopted from previous studies, most recently Crew, Galvin, and Fu …