Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Guide To Functional Communication Training And Autism, Elizabeth M. Connolly

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder have complex communication needs, and many use challenging behaviors to express themselves. This study focused on the effectiveness of the three-step Functional Communication Training process to decrease self-injurious behaviors, when used with a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. After conducting an extensive review of existing studies, the current project focused on areas of weakness in the literature. One case study subject participated in therapy that utilized Functional Communication Training. The participant was taught to functionally communicate via a speech generating device and picture symbols, while the numbers of self-injurious behaviors were recorded. At …

Exploring Student Understanding Of The Connections Between Music And Literacy, Heather Owens, Scott Palasik

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It has been found that music training improves attention and recall of memory, two skills that are linked to literacy. Music is also strongly correlated with phonological and phonemic awareness. More research is needed to pinpoint therapy methods that integrate music and are Evidence- Based Practices. The purpose of this project was to discover the extent to which aspiring speech language pathologists are aware that musical experiences aid learning and literacy by conducting a survey of undergraduate speech-language pathology and audiology students at The University of Akron. For the methods of this survey, twenty-eight participants completed a survey that was …

The Success Of An Aided Language Stimulation Training Video For Communication Partners Working With Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Hannah Peterson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Aided language stimulation (ALS) is an effective intervention method for nonverbal children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) learning to use an augmentative-alternative communication system to communicate with others. Communication partners can use ALS to stimulate the use of the augmentative alternative communication (AAC) system. The purpose of this paper is to develop a research study that will be completed in the future to determine the success of an ALS training video. The intended participants of the study include 30 special education teachers who work with children with ASD who use Proloquo2go formatted AAC systems. The participants of the study will …

The Effects Of Music Therapy On Stuttering, Nicole Baumann, Dr. Scott Palasik

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Across time and culture, music has been used to augment and treat a variety of psychological and physical diseases. The current study therefore aims to identify the effects of music on stuttering. For this study, one individual was selected to participate for a total of five weeks. The procedure included documenting the participant’s percentages of syllables stuttered in monologues and structured reading passages as well as completing pre and post mindfulness assessments during the course of the study. Results indicate that music positively affects percentages of syllables stuttered in reading passages, the types of disfluencies and overall mindfulness levels of …

Assessment Protocol For Cognitive And Auditory Processing Skills For Clients Receiving Neurofeedback Treatment For Traumatic Brain Injury & Concussion: Literature Review, Elexea N. Aurilio, Miranda Hendrus

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Neurofeedback has become increasingly popular in the medical world and will hopefully become more commonly used in the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology. Currently, there is a lack of a singular, baseline and progression diagnostic tool to measure a client’s cognitive and auditory processing skills once they are referred for neurofeedback treatment.

A Literature Review On Accent Modification, Alyssa Pennington 6978027

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Accents reflect the unique social aspects and backgrounds of the speaker. Unfortunately, some accents result in communication problems that affect speech intelligibility. This is especially true for those who speak English as a second language (ESL). As a result, non-native English speakers may avoid social interactions with those who find them difficult to understand. For those who elect to modify their accents, clinicians may offer accent reduction therapy services to help ESL speakers improve their ability to communicate with others across the home, school, work, and community setting.

Therapy designed to change accents is within the scope of practice for …