Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Exceptional And Able: Supporting The Social Communication Skills Of Gifted Neurodiverse Students In The Classroom, Victoria S. Henbest, Brenda L. Beverly

APLL Lab Presentations

These are the presentation slides from the 2022 MEGA Conference (Mobile, AL) sponsored by the Alabama State Department of Education.

The Use Of Interprofessional Education (Ipe) To Address Collaboration For Individualized Education Plans (Ieps): A Retrospective Study Of Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, And Special Education Students’ Perceptions, Kristina Curro, Lisa Shooman, Sue Foo

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

The purpose of this project is to measure the effects of interprofessional education (IPE) on the perceptions of preservice professionals’ development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The preservice professionals (PSPs) participants included master’s students from speech language pathology (SLP), occupational therapy (OT) and special education (SPED) programs (N = 78). The primary project goals were to examine the perceptions of the participants’ roles and knowledge on a multidisciplinary education team, their perceptions of the collaborative process, and their familiarity with the IEP development process. A mixed-methods, retrospective, cross-sectional investigation was used to obtain quantitative and qualitative outcomes. A …

The Parent Perspective On Augmentative And Alternative Communication: A Qualitative Study, Alicia Larouech

Honors Capstones

Parents are known to be effective communication partners in their child’s augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention. The aim of this interview study was to better understand the parent perspective in the AAC acquisition, implementation, and handing processes across a range of primary disability labels and ages. Participants engaged in phone interviews to discuss their family’s experiences with AAC obtainment and intervention. Qualitative review of their responses developed the following five themes: assessment procedures, external variables that influence device use, barriers of AAC navigation, supports parents have indicated have helped them, and major takeaways as identified by parents. Further subthemes …

Caregiver Rights, Virtual Meetings, And The Multidisciplinary Team: Communication Of Legal Rights Within Special Education, Amber Gordon, Kurustun Musick

Theses & Honors Papers

During the COVID-19 pandemic many professional settings used virtual platforms to conduct meetings that typically took place in person. Within the United States public schools, special education programs faced unique challenges when conducting students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. These meetings are mandatory and essential in creating an individualized plan to provide the necessary services and support for students or for monitoring their progress. As mandated through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it is a legal right of parents and/or guardians to be afforded the opportunity to attend any meetings regarding the “identification, evaluation, and educational placement” of …

Speech-Language Pathologists On The Autism Spectrum, Rebecca Freeman Barnett

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis consists of three journal articles for publication that addresses three different aspects of the research that examines the state of diversity in the field of speech-language pathology (SLP) as it pertains to autistic representation and possible implications. In the first article, Demographic Analysis of Autistic Speech-Language Pathologists, the purpose was to determine the demographic differences between SLPs that identified on the autism spectrum and those that did not. A mass survey was conducted of SLPs in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. It was concluded that 2.98% of SLPs self-identified on the autism spectrum. Chi-square analyses found …

Learner Outcomes From An Echo In Augmentative And Alternative Communication, Lillie Reinhart

Theses and Dissertations--Communication Sciences and Disorders

Background: Students with complex communication needs (CCN) rely on the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to support their communication; however, many students are leaving high school without an effective form of communication. To build capacity and increase school professionals’ knowledge and self-efficacy in AAC, this thesis used an adaptation of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) for use with AAC.

Methods: Using a post then pre-retrospective survey, participants self-reported changes in knowledge, confidence, and overall satisfaction with ECHO sessions. Paired sample t-tests assessed participant-reported change in knowledge. Frequency counts were used to analyze responses about confidence and …

Stimming Expresses Empathy, Not To Be Masked Or Persecuted: A Scoping Review And Case Study Of The “Double-Empathy Problem” Solved By Recognizing The Autism Language, Kathryn Haas

Student Capstone Papers

This article critically examines autism and autistic stimming through the lenses of neurotypicals and autistics, evaluates confines currently imposed upon autistics by neurotypical society, and synthesizes what autistic leaders have expressed about their experiences striving for inclusion (Gernsbacher, 2017; Milton, 2012). Autistic-led studies are now at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement and are growing in fervor. The following themes were identified: (a) prevalence of autism, (b) the interpretation and measurement of empathy, (c) discovery of genetic factors transformed autistics’ identity, (d) publication of non-genetic factors such as vaccines undermined the legitimacy of the autism language, (e) the problem with …

African American English-Speaking Children's Judgments Of Grammaticality: Effects Of Clinical Status And Grammatical Structures, Lori Elizabeth Vaughn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

African American English (AAE)-speaking children’s ability to judge the grammaticality of sentences was evaluated by their clinical status and grammatical structure. The study originated from a need to understand more about the tense and agreement systems of AAE speakers with specific language impairment (SLI) relative to their typically developing (TD) AAE-speaking peers. Tense and agreement forms are typically excluded from the assessment and treatment of children who speak AAE in fear of misinterpreting a dialect difference as a language disorder. As a result, limited information exists about the tense and agreement systems of AAE-speaking children.

The data were archival and …

Addressing Adolescents’ Syntactic Complexity And Overall Writing Skills Through An Online Writing Workshop: A Pilot Study With The Homeschool Population, Shelby Ann Hinrichs

Communication Disorders Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Writing development is an area of concern in adolescents across education platforms, including parents who homeschool their children. The current study evaluated the effect of providing an online writing workshop for adolescents who are homeschooled. The participants of the study were students who were homeschooled and their parent(s) who were recruited via social media. After receiving child assent and parental consent, nine adolescents (5 females; 4 males), ages ten to twelve years old, participated in a five-week online writing workshop. The workshop consisted of one pre-test week, three weeks of treatment, and one post-test week. At pre- and post-test, the …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

Strategies Utilized By Speech-Language Pathologists When Treating Speech-Language Disorders In Children Who Are Bilingual, Julianne L. Monceaux-Visser

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

In the state of Minnesota, more children who use a language other than English were reported to speak English less than “very well” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). There was neither a “gold standard” (Verdon, McLeod, & Wong, 2013), nor Preferred Practices (ASHA, 2020) for the treatment of speech-language disorders for children who were bilingual. The current study investigated the practices for treating speech-language disorders in this population by SLPs employed in schools in a region of west-central MN and eastern ND. Using an interpreter, and explicit instruction on targeted language skills were the most common clinical approaches utilized. The child’s …

Content Validity Of Aba Language Assessments In The Totality Of Skinner's Verbal Operant Theory, Taylor Marie Lauer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Content validity describes the degree of which a measure represents all the components of the overall construct being measured. Behavior analytic language assessments are largely based on Skinner’s verbal operant theory (1957). Three behavior analytic language assessments were utilized to measure the coverage of Skinner’s verbal behavior theory: the VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R, and PEAK. The purpose of the current study was to examine the content validity of each of these assessments coverage on the totality of Skinner’s verbal operant theory. Expressive items on each of the three assessments were compared to definitions of Skinner’s verbal operants and were coded as the …

An Assessment Of Communication Between Speech-Language Pathologists And Intervention Specialists In Schools, Sarah Painter

Honors Projects

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association states that Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) should collaborate with other professionals, including Intervention Specialists (ISs). In recent decades, there has been a shift from pull-out therapy, where students are removed from the classroom for services, to push-in therapy, which takes place within the classroom. This shift has resulted in greater overlap in SLP-IS caseloads. However, there is little known about the collaborative practices of these professionals. This study aimed to close the gap by using surveys to address two main research questions.

1) What is the focus, modality, and frequency of collaboration between SLPs and ISs? …

Online Behaviors Of Teenagers On The Autism Spectrum, Amelia Anderson, Abigail Phillips

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The Internet can be a source of connection and support for teenagers on the autism spectrum. This study explores how teenagers on the autism spectrum who identify as library users spend time online by addressing the following research questions: How do teens on the autism spectrum participate in the online environment? And, how do teens on the autism spectrum make sense of social media? Quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed from nine participants, recruited through online discussion forums. Implications suggest a potential role for educators and librarians to offer opportunities and support in creating and building online connections.

Serving Culturally And Linguistic Students Identified With A Communication Disability In The K-12 Educational Environments, Lashell Dauterman

Theses and Dissertations

As more and more students enter public schools with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds that require services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, facilitators must be more sensitive to the needs, especially in the area of communication. Augmentative and alternative communication devices and other assistive technology are required by law to be utilized with individuals identified as disabled. However, due to the challenges that exist in properly identifying and implementing intervention plans for children who require services as English language learners and special education, communication needs are often misidentified or not provided. Another issue that exists is the lack …

A Study Of Factors That Influence Symbol Selection On Augmentative And Alternative Communication Devices For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, William Todd Dauterman

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 1 in 59 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) each year. Given the complexity of ASD and how it is manifested in individuals, the execution of proper interventions is difficult. One major area of concern is how individuals with ASD who have limited communication skills are taught to communicate using Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices (AAC). AACs are portable electronic devices that facilitate communication by using audibles, signs, gestures, and picture symbols. Traditionally, Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are the primary facilitators of AAC devices and help establish the language individuals with …

Qualitative Study Of Collaboration Between Independent Reading Specialists And Elementary Classroom Teachers, Lindsay Lee Hawbaker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The failure of educators to meet the needs of elementary students who require separated, differentiated, and intensive reading interventions (Tier 3) has been attributed to the scarcity of administrative resources and a lack of effective collaboration between reading specialists and classroom teachers. Experts opine that common barriers to effective collegial collaboration between institutional reading specialists, who are employed by the school, and classroom teachers include: an unsupportive school culture, the classroom teachers’ fear of losing pedagogical autonomy, the absence of mutual trust and interdependence between the reading specialists and their students’ classroom teachers, and the inability of reading specialists …

Inclusion For Speech-Language Pathology Minority Graduate Students, Teresa Michelle Roberts

Dissertations and Theses

Speech-language pathologists provide assessment and intervention for communication, cognition, and swallowing disorders for individuals across the lifespan in educational, medical, and private practice settings. The demographics of professionals in the field do not reflect those of the general public in regard to race and ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, LGBTQ+, and disability. Lack of representation of minorities limits research, policy, and services designed to serve diverse populations. Although initiatives have sought to address lack of diversity of speech-language pathologists, limited research on the graduate training experience for minority students is available. Since a master's degree is required to become a speech-language …

Evolution Of A Multi-Layered World Of Science To Benefit Children With Hearing Loss, Ellen Rhoades, Rachel Glade

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

This is a brief but broad narrative and non-systematic review of developments that led up to how 21^st century digital technology and translational research influenced, in particular, cognitive psychology and our improved understanding of mental resources among children with hearing loss. In turn, systemic multi-disciplinary research findings gave birth to Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience (ACN). Three broad constructs unique to ACN, i.e., auditory attention, effortful listening, and auditory fatigue, are then described in relation to children with hearing loss. This review concludes with a brief examination of future opportunities for researchers and clinicians who can ensure that children with hearing …

The Effect Of High School Disability-Based Peer Mentoring On Perspectives Toward People With Disabilities, Caroline Jacobs

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Negative perspectives towards people with disabilities have been shown to lead to discrimination, prejudice, and an overall decreased quality of life. One way to possibly improve attitudes and interactions with students with disabilities could be implementing peer mentoring programs for special education students in high school. Research presented in this thesis examines the difference in perspectives toward people with disabilities between people who have or have not participated as a mentor in a disability-based peer mentoring program in high school. Data were collected through an online survey that assessed peer mentoring experiences as well as a scale to measure comfort …

Empower: An Adaptable Writing Intervention, Carly Dinnes

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

EmPOWER is a six-stage writing intervention designed by speech-language pathologists to improve the expository writings of school-aged children with language learning and executive function disabilities. The intervention uses scaffolded instruction to transform struggling students into independent and self-regulating writers by training the students to use a variety of supports (e.g., graphic organizers, checklists) and strategies (e.g., referring back to the writing prompt) throughout the writing process. Many key features of the EmPOWER approach to writing instruction directly support components described in cognitive models of writing, which indicates that EmPOWER is a theory-guided writing intervention that may benefit a wide range …

Beliefs And Self-Efficacy Of Parents Of Young Children With Hearing Loss, Sophie E. Ambrose, Margo Appenzeller, Alexandra Mai, Jean L. Desjardin

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the beliefs and self-efficacy of parents of young children with hearing loss. Seventy-two parents completed the Scale of Parental Involvement and Self-Efficacy - Revised (SPISE-R), which queries parents about their child’s hearing device use and their perceptions of their own beliefs, knowledge, confidence, and actions pertaining to supporting their child’s auditory access and spoken language development. Two beliefs were identified that related to parents’ action scores and one belief was identified that related to children’s hearing device use. Knowledge and confidence scores were significantly correlated with action scores and children’s …

Developing Speech-Language Pathology Students’ Grammatical Identification Skills Through Gamification, Emerson Lopez Odango, Anne M. P. Michalek, Corrin Richels, Jane Roitsch

College of Education & Professional Studies (Darden) Posters

Background: Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are communication experts required to analyze and interpret a variety of language components (Schuele, 2010). Language sampling is a form of communication analysis and is used with adult and pediatric populations. SLPs collect and analyze language samples in an effort to make evidence-based diagnostic and intervention decisions. When analyzing a language sample, sentences must be deconstructed along a variety of parameters. At Old Dominion University (ODU), the undergraduate Communication Sciences and Disorders program requires students to identify broad and specific grammatical categories during language sample analysis in preparation for clinical experiences.

This research involves the design …

Comparison Of Motor-Enhanced And Visual-Enhanced Interventions For Grammar In Young Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Alisha P. Springle

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Up to 7.6% of children demonstrate a developmental language disorder (DLD), which can persist through adulthood, causing difficulty with academic achievement, social relationships, and financial stability. Grammar development, as a hallmark of DLD, is an important area of need for these children. Existing grammar interventions do not clearly distinguish the sensory input techniques that meet these children’s neurobiological instructional needs. This adapted alternating treatment design study implemented intervention using systematic paired visual and verbal and systematic paired motor, i.e. standardized gestures, and verbal sensory input techniques. A moderate-strong functional relation between intervention techniques using motor supports on grammatical outcomes in …

Teaming For Transition: Interprofessional Collaboration, Megan Sturdivant, Emily Thompson, Sam Skelton, Rebecca Mallory

2020 Honors Symposium

The transition from youth to young adult for individuals with severe disabilities is difficult, provides few opportunities for employment, and offers less of a chance to connect with friends and engage with people. This research presents ways that speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, school counselors, and special educators can collaborate to create a successful transition process for individuals with severe disabilities.

Qualitative Case Review Of A Male With Down Syndrome, Mary Josephine Hoyer

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition in the United States. In the United States, about one of every 700 babies is diagnosed with Down syndrome. The purpose of this study was to assess pre-existing data on a 13-year-old male with a diagnosis of Down syndrome to contribute to research on this chromosomal abnormality. The individual received speech and language related services at Western Kentucky University beginning in 2007. Through analysis of previously collected data, the researcher created a qualitative case review that identified the progress of an individual with Down syndrome and emphasized what attributed to his progress. …

School-Based Speech-Language Pathologist Collaborative Practice: A Literature Review, Kaija R. Elenko

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Background: School-based speech language pathologists (SLPs) are increasing collaborative engagement with educators and other professionals in school settings. Collaborative practice in the general education classroom increased student’s awareness of literacy concepts. The push-in model of service delivery reached students with varied levels of literacy understanding. There is insufficient empirical evidence regarding school-based interprofessional practice (IPP) available to clinicians. Systemic reviews provide a model for educators and SLPs to follow; many professionals hesitate to engage in IPP because there is a deficiency in evidence of success.

Aims: Investigation of the necessary components for successful IPP and the impacts of collaboration on …

Experiences Of Adolescents In The General Education Setting Interacting With Peers With Intellectual Disability, Katie Goldey

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

Social interaction is critical to health, quality of life, and linguistic and cognitive development. However, young people with intellectual disabilities are unlikely to have equitable opportunities for social interaction. This may be particularly true of adolescents. This study used qualitative phenomenological methods to examine the lived experiences of students in the general education setting interacting with their peers with intellectual disability. Twenty participants engaged in one on one interviews with the author. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for overarching themes. Four main themes emerged from the data including: (1) Teens just don’t have many opportunities to interact with …

The Effects Of Three Service Delivery Models On Vocabulary Learning By Second-Grade Children, Laura Stone

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) provide services to children in schools across the United States primarily in a direct small group service delivery model outside of the regular education classroom. To date little research exists to indicate that direct pull-out service delivery is an effective model in elementary schools for students requiring speech and language therapy. One area that has been studied is the effectiveness of vocabulary intervention among service delivery models. Preliminary findings suggest that students with language and literacy deficits learn vocabulary well within a regular education environment with SLP support. However, there is little consensus on how service delivery …

Scoring Morphology In Measures Of Spelling And Written Morphological Awareness: A Scoping Review, Victor A. Lugo, Kimberly A. Murphy, Emily Diehm

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.