Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Auditory Event-Related Potentials In Young Children And Relations To Word-Level Reading Abilities At Age 8 Years, Kimberly Espy, Dennis L. Molfese, Victoria J. Molfese, Arlene Modglin

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty Publications

A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills are systematically related to differences in word-level reading proficiency at age 8 years, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) to speech and nonspeech stimuli were recorded annually at the ages of 1 through 8 years in a sample of 109 typically developing children. Two measures of word-level reading (one that requires decoding of …

The Provider System For Children's Mental Health: Workforce Capacity And Effective Treatment, Jane Koppelman

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief examines two issues that are key to meeting children’s unmet needs for mental health care: ensuring that the provider supply is adequate and that the care delivered is effective. It describes the shortage of qualified providers to address children’s mental disorders, as well its possible causes; it describes how managed care, to a certain extent, drives practice patterns; and it discusses the gray areas in deciding which providers are most qualified to deliver what care. In addition, this paper introduces what is known about evidence-based care in children’s mental health, the extent to which it is being …

Language Sampling Analyses: Bridging The Gap Between Assessment And Therapy, Maria C. Wood

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Six language sampling analyses: (a) MLU, (b) Grammatical Morpheme Analysis, (c) Sentence Development Analysis, (d) TTR, (e) Semantic Roles/Categories, and (f) LSAT were performed on language samples elicited from five subjects age range 5:8 – 7:0 years. Efficacy of these analyses were determined by: (a) how well intervention targets could be determined to address identified deficits, (b) effects of length of sample size on assessment findings, (c) precision of the analyses’ results, and (d) the validity of the “time-consumption” often associated with language sampling analyses. Results indicated that language sample analyses bridged the gap between assessment and intervention by making …

Fundamentals Of Community Health Centers, Jessamyn Taylor

National Health Policy Forum

This background paper examines the dominant model of federal grant funding for primary care in the health care safety net: the community health center. It describes the history of the health center program and highlights key policy issues influencing health centers, such as Medicaid payment policies and medically underserved area designations. The paper also examines the recent presidential initiative to expand health centers, including a review of the process used to identify new grantees, an assessment of remaining gaps in capacity, an exploration of continuing challenges, and a discussion of unresolved policy questions.

Early Speech And Language Development: A Comparison Of Typically Developing Children To Children With Cleft Palate., Holly Jannice Mcgahey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that parent implemented intervention is effective in increasing the speech and language development of children with cleft lip and palate. To further determine the efficacy of this intervention, this study compared the speech and language development of children with CLP, who received parent implemented intervention, with a group of younger, typically developing children, matched for vocabulary size. This study also evaluated the language differences between the mothers of both groups of children. Speech and language assessments were administered to the typically developing children and their mothers at two times to mirror the time of assessment for …

Information Interface - Volume 32, Issue 3 - August/September 2004, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Information Interface (1976 - 2009)

News and information about Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library of interest to users. Includes articles on digital microscopes, Ovid OpenLinks and PubMed Linkout, library liaisons, and database search tips.

Factors Affecting School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists’ Use Of Language Assessment Practices With Bilingual Children, Lena Gloria Caesar

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the assessment procedures and practices of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in the state of Michigan. A survey method was used to gather information from 409 SLPs regarding the assessment procedures used for assessing both their bilingual students, as well as their monolingual English-speaking students. The survey also gathered information regarding perceptions about language proficiency, professional training, and bilingual assessment products. In order to analyze factors related to their use of recommended practices, the study investigated the relationship between selected demographic, caseload, and work-setting variables, and the type of bilingual assessment methods …

Introduction Of Healing Touch Into An Established Torture Treatment Center: A Graduate Field Project, Kathleen Mccullough-Zander

Theses and Graduate Projects

Healing Touch, an energetic treatment modality developed by nurses, was introduced into an established torture treatment center with the goal of decreasing torture-related symptoms and increasing survivors' overall sense of well-being and health. Three methods of evaluation were used to determine if the project goal had been met. The first project objective of showing a decrease in participants' reported feelings of anxiety and depression was not achieved. The second project objective of demonstrating a reduction in participant's reported levels of pain was achieved with statistically significant results. The third project objective of obtaining statements of recognition of the therapy as …

Schizophrenics, Cyborgs And The Pitfalls Of Posthumanism, Angela Woods

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[Editors' Introduction]

In Schizophrenics, Cyborgs and the Pitfalls of Posthumanism, Angela Woods invites us to revisit two canonical analyses of the postmodern: Fredric Jameson's Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism and Donna Haraway's A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s. Jameson and Haraway introduced to contemporary cultural criticism two posthumanist icons: the schizophrenic, a pathologized victim of postmodernity, and the cyborg, a vision of strategic posthuman subjectivity. In her timely and critical analysis of these articles, Woods challenges the established notion of an oppositional relationship between the schizophrenic and the cyborg. She turns …

A Model Integrating Transcultural Nursing Concepts And Experiences Into A Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum, Mary Ellen Joswiak

Theses and Graduate Projects

Each dry the population of the world becomes more interconnected, placing huge challenges before health care providers to deliver care that is culturally appropriate. As the largest group of health care providers, nurses are especially challenged to provide culturally appropriate and congruent care to those they serve. It is therefore essential that nursing education provide students with opportunities to develop transcultural nursing knowledge. Students need practical experiences with culture in order to increase their understanding of cultural similarities and differences. The purpose of this project is to foster the development of beginning transcultural competence among baccalaureate nursing students and to …

Health Care Barriers For Latino Children And Provision Of Culturally Competent Care, Jane H. Lassetter, Joan H. Baldwin

Faculty Publications

The demography of the United States is rapidly changing. The impressive growth rate of Latino populations within the United States has great impact on health care. This article includes discussion of a significant increase from 1988 to 2000 in Latino utilization of emergency department and inpatient services at a pediatric medical center in Salt Lake City, Utah, information on health care barriers for Latinos, and suggestions for providing culturally competent care.

Acoustic, Kinematic, And Auditory Perceptual Characteristics Of Clear Speech, Kristin L. Greilick

Masters Theses

This study characterized the speech motor transformations that underlie speech clarity changes in a group of 49 healthy young speakers. Clarity judgments based on auditory perception of the speech samples were determined by a panel of 30 undergraduate and graduate students. This study specifically aimed to characterize (1) the auditory-perceptual judgments of clarity, (2) the acoustic measures of clear and causal speech, (3) the temporal and spatial features of articulatory movements of clear and casual speech, and (4) test the hypothesis that auditory perceptual scaling of clarity (perceptual salience) would be associated with kinematic indicators of physical effort.

Results suggested …

Jefferson Alumni Bulletin – Volume 53, Number 3, June 2004

The Bulletin (formerly the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Bulletin)

Jefferson Alumni Bulletin – Volume 53, Number 3, June 2004 Robert L. Barchi MD PhD Is Named President of Thomas Jefferson University; Page 4 The Importance of Mentors: David's Story by Dean Thomas J. Nasca ’75; Page 6 The Center for Human Virology: Confronting the Whole Spectrum of Epidemics; Page 8 Jefferson Selected to Develop Response to Bioterrorism; Page 10 Four Students Win AOA Community Service Award; Page 11 Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan; Page 12 New Book about the Nationally Recognized Physician Shortage Area Program; Page 16

An Enhanced Dialogic Reading Approach To Facilitate Typically Developing Pre-School Children's Emergent Literacy Skills., Sheri E. Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated an enhanced dialogic reading (DR) approach in facilitating emergent literacy skills in typically developing preschool children. Eight children from a Title One preschool and their parents participated in five weekly 90-minute training sessions that focused on phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge. First order effects were examined in parent questioning and interaction behaviors on pre- and post-training videotapes. Second order effects were examined in the children's outcomes from pre- to posttesting of preliteracy, speech, and language skills. Results indicated that parents made significant increases in their initiations and responses and a significant decrease in their Mean …

International Art Therapy Program Development: An Exploratory Cultural Encounter In Ayacucho, Peru, Haley Johnstone

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Humanitarian aid organizations, both domestic and international, provide health care, mental health services, education, and community development for traumatized children worldwide living in regions affected by political violence. Sparse information exists regarding the role of an art therapist within these organizations. The profession of art therapy lacks research specific to the benefits of intervention and program development within the context of an international humanitarian aid team. This thesis reviews the ethnographic research of an art therapy graduate student who explored the opportunities for art therapy within such a team.

Cultural competency was an essential component of the researcher’s success while …

Neuroscience: Its Relevance To Art Therapy And Art Therapy Education, Patrick Oates

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

The development of contemporary neuroscience techniques has provided professionals in mental health fields with insight into the human brain and its functions. Literature searches revealed that there is very little research being conducted or existing literature that discusses the physiological response in the brain to the art therapy process. A more comprehensive understanding of the brain’s response to making art could enhance art therapists’ capacity to provide the most suitable treatment to meet the clients’ needs. This study was designed to explore the significance of neuroscience in art therapy, and art therapy education.

A questionnaire was emailed to 49 program …

Contexts For Facilitating Emergent Literacy In Typically Developing Preschoolers., Karen Nicole Wilhjelm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is an additive benefit in training Emergent Literacy (EL) skills with typically developing preschoolers using a combined intervention approach, Dialogic Reading (DR) plus classroom Phonological Awareness (CL), than a single intervention approach providing only DR training.

The study consisted of 8 preschoolers (5 DR+CL, 3 DR). The classroom PA training was conducted 3 times a week for 5 weeks for 20 minutes, using play-based activities. The DR training programs were held once a week for 5 weeks for 90 minutes teaching strategies that could be used in the home environment. …

The Type And Frequency Of Morphosyntax Errors In Children's Narratives., Jennifer Lynn Lockhart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A subsample of 478 children who originally participated in a larger study (Tomblin et al., 1997) was examined for type and frequency of morphological noun and verb errors in oral and written narratives in 2^nd and 4^th grade. Each child represented one of four groups: Typical Language, Specific Language Impairment, Nonspecific Language Impairment, and Low Nonverbal IQ. Three MANOVA's and post-hoc comparisons were used to test three predictions: (1) children will have more difficulty with verb than noun morphology; (2) children will make more errors in the written than the spoken narratives; and (3) children whose language impairments …

2004 - The Ninth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Ninth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 16, 2004. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Measuring Spelling Growth Over Time In Elementary Writing Samples, Pamela M. Ansell

Masters Theses

Developmental spelling stage theories have been proposed and disputed for 30 years. The current study used Gentry's (1982) model to assign category ratings to narrative writing samples produced by 32 students over two years to observe developmental growth over time. In addition, quantitative measures were obtained from the samples, including an index of control (Laminack & Wood, 1996) and a percentage correct. Analyses were also used to test the effectiveness of using a writing lab approach (Nelson, Bahr & Van Meter, 2004) on spelling development. During the last half of second grade, all 32 students received intervention guided by the …

Stuck On The Tip Of My Thumb: Stuttering In American Sign Language, Geoffrey Whitebread

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This thesis aims to stimulate research on articulation disorders in American Sign Language. It discusses the controversy surrounding a clinical definition of stuttering, reviews the symptoms of stuttering in spoken languages, and examines theories of the etiology of stuttering. Ten well-connected individuals in the Deaf community were interviewed and presented a list of possible symptoms of stuttering in American Sign Language (ASL). (As a preliminary investigation, this study did not attempt to directly observe any stuttering in ASL.) Participants responded with how they thought symptoms might look in ASL and whether they had seen examples in real life. A refined …

Dialect Density And Discourse Maturity Of African American Elementary Students, Brandi Lynette Newkirk

Masters Theses

This was a report of an investigation of the effects of dialectal features in African American students' narratives on discourse ratings by trained judges. The question addressed in this research was whether dialectal features influence judges who are evaluating discourse. Graduate students in speech-language pathology (n = 18) learning to analyze discourse samples served as the judges. Two versions of narratives (n = 27) written by third- and fourth-grade African American students (the original version and the edited version) were used to determine if narratives that contain dialectal features would be rated lower. The judges were trained in narrative discourse …

Enhancing The Rehabilitation Counseling Process: Understanding The Obstacles To Asian Americans' Utilization Of Services, Roy K. Chen, Song-Jae Jo, Chandra M. Donnell

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

Improving rehabilitation services for Asian Americans with disabilities through the rehabilitation counseling process remains as an ongoing challenge. Despite being the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, past studies have reported low utilization rates of vocational rehabilitation and mental health services among this population. This article (a) describes Asian American views on disabilities from religious, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives; (b) reviews factors that may contribute to their being underserved in the rehabilitation; (c) discusses the influence of family dynamics on the rehabilitation process; (d) underscores unique employment challenges facing the Asian Immigrant community; and (e) draws out the …

Understanding Mental Health Needs Of Southeast Asian Refugees: Historical, Cultural, And Contextual Challenges, Eugenia Hsu, Corrie A. Davies, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Research and clinical information pertaining to mental health needs of Asians residing in the United States is limited but growing. There is a tendency to group all persons of Asian descent together and, therefore, the empirical literature does not sufficiently address the mental health needs in specific subgroups. The focus of this article is to understand the mental health needs of one subgroup of Asians-Southeast Asian refugees (SEAR). The main purpose is to review the relevant literature pertaining to Southeast Asian refugees’ experiences and to understand the manifestation of psychiatric disorders by examining historical, cultural, and contextual challenges. Despite the …

Caregiver Education And Service Utilization In African American Families Dealing With Dementia, Constance L. Coogle

Virginia Center on Aging Publications

For more than a decade attention has been focused on Alzheimer’s family caregivers in African American communities. The Fourth Report of the Advisory Panel on Alzheimer’s Disease to the U. S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calls for “…public education and outreach efforts specifically targeted to ethnic elders and their families and communities through the development and dissemination of culturally relevant materials emphasizing both the established facts about [Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders] and the efficacy of seeking treatment.” (Advisory Panel on Alzheimer’s Disease, 1993, p. 50). While federal financing and state initiatives have addressed …

Once Upon A Virus: Aids Legends And Vernacular Risk Perception, Diane E. Goldstein

All USU Press Publications

Once Upon a Virus explores how contemporary, or "urban," legends are indicators of culturally complex attitudes toward health and illness. Tracing the rich tradition of AIDS legends in relation to current scholarship on belief, Diane Goldstein shows how such stories not only articulate widespread perceptions of risk, health care, and health policy, they also influence official and scientific approaches to the disease and its management. Notions that appear in narratives of who gets AIDS, how and why, are indicators of broad issues involving health beliefs, concerns, and needs.

The Role Of Hardiness In Moderating The Relationship Between Global/Specific Attributions And Actions Against Discrimination, Mindi D. Foster, Kenneth L. Dion

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this study, we proposed that individual differences in hardiness may moderate the relationship between global attributions and actions against discrimination. Specifically, global attributions were expected to predict decreased endorsement of actions to combat discrimination among low hardy women. In contrast, global attributions were expected to predict increased endorsement of actions among high hardy women. High and low hardy women were exposed to a laboratory situation of discrimination, and their attributions for, and responses to, discrimination were then assessed. Results showed the expected interaction, but in the opposite direction: among low hardy women, global attributions predicted stronger endorsement of action.Among …

Access To Health, Natalie Huls

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Access to health is an often-overlooked aspect of the right to health. Without practical access, the right to health becomes an empty promise. International human rights conventions and declarations do not directly mention access to health, but the above comment on the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights does address the issue.

Informed Consent For Medical Research: Case Studies, Catherine A. Marco

Emergency Medicine Faculty Publications

Informed consent for medical research is an essential, but challenging, process to assure the protection of the rights of potential research subjects. Numerous barriers to the informed consent process exist among patients, including impaired decisional capacity, impaired cognition, language barriers, illiteracy, insufficient time and communication, and numerous others. Because of the inherent vulnerability of patients, particular attention should be paid to addressing barriers to adequate informed consent, and steps should be taken to ensure adequate delivery of information, understanding of the study and its risks and benefits, and voluntariness of the informed consent.

The Biopsychosocial Model Of Medicine: Implications For The Future Of Healthcare, Abby M. Luensmann

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The science of medicine is changing at an incredible rate. New treatments, technologies, and biologically-based discoveries seem to occur almost daily. In fact, the health care business has evolved into the largest service industry in the United States, grossing more than $1 trillion annually (Taylor, 2003). Despite the obvious attention paid to health-related issues in this country, is our health care system actually providing American citizens with the most efficient and effective care treatments possible? Do current medical practices have the best interests of the American public in mind, or are outdated philosophies being used to treat illnesses and diseases …