Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Phonological Variation Among Young Spanish-English Dual Language Learners On An English Sentence Repetition Task, Sarah Kate Coleman

Senior Theses

Purpose - There is a need for research informing best practices for assessing the language abilities of bilingual children, as well as research regarding typical phonological development of bilingual children. The purpose of the present paper is to contribute broadly to informing bilingual phonological assessment practice by examining phonological variation in Spanish-English speaking children’s English sentence repetition responses and the relation between these phonological variations and performance on the English sentence repetition task.

Method - 20 Spanish-English speaking kindergarteners completed the English sentence repetition task of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA; Peña et al., 2014). The phonological variations present in …

Systematic Review Of Factors Impacting Reading Impairment Rates In Studies Of Children With Developmental Language Disorder (Dld), Kayla Dewey

Senior Theses

This systematic review examined studies of individuals with developmental language disorder (DLD) to examine the rate of co-occurring reading impairment. We hypothesized that recruitment method, age, and the type of diagnostic reading assessment would be associated with different rates of reading impairment in individuals with DLD. We searched the database PsycINFO for peer-reviewed academic articles containing specific keywords related to DLD/SLI and Dyslexia, resulting in a total of 286 studies. These articles were then filtered to ensure that all articles analyzed in the present study only examined children below the age of 18, were a study of children with DLD/SLI, …

Response Inhibition Deficits In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation Are Associated With Age And Fall Risk, Carly Moser, Lyndsay Schmitt, Joseph Schmidt, Amanda Fairchild, Jessica Klusek

Faculty Publications

One in 113-178 females worldwide carry a premutation allele on the FMR1 gene. The FMR1 premutation is linked to neurocognitive and neuromotor impairments, although the phenotype is not fully understood, particularly with respect to age effects. This study sought to define oculomotor response inhibition skills in women with the FMR1 premutation and their association with age and fall risk. We employed an antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm to index oculomotor inhibition skills in 35 women with the FMR1 premutation and 28 control women. The FMR1 premutation group exhibited longer antisaccade latency and reduced accuracy relative to controls, indicating deficient response inhibition skills. …

The Development Of A Measure Of Orthographic Processing In The Arabic Language: A Psychometric Evaluation, Sana Tibi, Lisa Fitton, Autumn L. Mcilraith

Faculty Publications

Although Arabic is an official language in 27 countries, standardized measures to assess Arabic literacy are scarce. The purpose of this research was to examine the item functioning of an assessment of Arabic orthographic knowledge. Sixty novel items were piloted with 201 third grade Arabic-speaking students. Participants were asked to identify the correctly spelled word from a pair of two words. Although the assessment was designed to be unidimensional, competing models were tested to determine whether item performance was attributable to multidimensionality. No multidimensional structure fit the data significantly better than the unidimensional model. The 60 original items were evaluated …

Reading And Math Achievement In Children With Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, Or Typical Development: Achievement Gaps Persist From Second Through Fourth Grades, Dawna Duff, Alison Eisel Hendricks, Lisa Fitton, Suzanne M. Adlof

Faculty Publications

We examined how children (n=448) who met research criteria for separate vs. co-occurring DLD and dyslexia performed on school-based measures of academic functioning in reading and math between second and fourth grades. Growth curve models were used to examine the overall form of growth and differences between groups. Children with DLD and/or dyslexia in second grade showed early and persistent deficits on school-administered measures of reading and math. In second grade, children with typical development (TD) scored significantly higher than all other groups, children with DLD+dyslexia scored significantly lower than all other groups, and children with dyslexia-only and DLD-only did …

Promoting Reading Achievement In Children With Developmental Language Disorders: What Can We Learn From Research On Specific Language Impairment And Dyslexia?, Suzanne M. Adlof

Faculty Publications

Purpose Specific language impairment (SLI; see also developmental language disorder) and dyslexia are separate, yet frequently co-occurring disorders that confer risks to reading comprehension and academic achievement. Until recently, most studies of one disorder had little consideration of the other, and each disorder was addressed by different practitioners. However, understanding how the two disorders relate to each other is important for advancing theories about each disorder and improving reading comprehension and academic achievement. The purpose of this clinical focus article is to integrate research on SLI and dyslexia as well as advocate for the consideration of comorbidities in future research …

Narrative Language Among Mothers With The Fmr1 Premutation And Mothers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sara Mousavi

Theses and Dissertations

Difficulties with pragmatic language are known language traits among women with the FMR1 premutation and within the broad autism phenotype (BAP). Our study investigated the narrative cohesion and story grammar organization of spontaneously generated stories produced by mothers with the FMR1 premutation, mothers of children with ASD, and mothers of typically developing children. No group differences were observed in story grammar, overall quality, or frequency of use of temporal devices. But both the mothers of children with ASD and mothers with the FMR1 premutation committed reference errors at a significantly higher frequency than mothers in the control group. This study …

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 …

Antisaccade Performance As A Measure Of Executive Dysfunction In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation, Lyndsay Schmitt

Theses and Dissertations

Women with the FMR1 premutation appear to be at increased risk for executive dysfunction. Findings in this regard have been mixed, leading to controversy surrounding the executive phenotype. Inhibitory deficits have been a more consistently documented component of this cognitive profile (Klusek et al., 2020; Shelton et al., 2014). This study aimed to clarify the executive phenotype through use of the antisaccade task, a well referenced eye-tracking paradigm that targets oculomotor inhibition and motor control and imposes time constraints that may increase sensitivity to executive deficits in women with the FMR1 premutation. The effects of aging were examined in both …

The Relation Between Linguistic Awareness Skills And Spelling In Adults: A Comparison Among Scoring Procedures, Victoria S. Henbest, Lisa A. Fitton Ph.D., Krystal L. Werfel, Kenn Apel

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Spelling is a skill that relies on an individual’s linguistic awareness, the ability to overtly manipulate language. The ability to accurately spell is important for academic and career success into adulthood. The spelling skills of adults have received some attention in the literature, but there is limited information regarding which approach for analyzing adults’ spelling is optimal for guiding instruction or intervention for those who struggle. Thus, we aimed to examine the concurrent validity of four different scoring methods for measuring adults’ spellings (a dichotomous scoring method and three continuous methods) and to determine whether adults’ linguistic awareness skills …

Startle Response In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation And Risk For Anxiety Disorders, Azalfa Lateef

Senior Theses

Background: The FMR1 premutation, which occurs when there is an expansion of 55 -200 repeats of the CGG trinucleotide on the FMR1 gene, is associated with an increased risk for anxiety disorders. Indices of autonomic regulation may prove to be useful biomarkers for psychopathological risk, including stress and anxiety. In the general population, diminished habituation to a startle response is linked to a variety of psychological disorders, including anxiety, yet little is known about this relationship in those with the FMR1 premutation. Given the increased risk for anxiety in those with the FMR1 premutation, the present study aims to examine …

Inhibition Deficits Are Modulated By Age And Cgg Repeat Length In Carriers Of The Fmr1 Premutation Allele Who Are Mothers Of Children With Fragile X Syndrome, Jessica Klusek, Jinkuk Hong, Audra Sterling, Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, Marsha R. Mailick

Faculty Publications

Individuals who carry a premutation (PM) allele on the FMR1 gene may experience executive limitations associated with their genetic status, including inhibition deficits. However, poor understanding of individualized risk factors has limited clinical management of this group, particularly in mothers who carry the PM allele who have children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). The present study examined CGG repeat length and age as factors that may account for variable expressivity of inhibition deficits. Participants were 134 carriers of the PM allele who were mothers of children with FXS. Inhibition skills were measured using both self-report and direct behavioral assessments. Increased …

If We Don’T Look, We Won’T See: Measuring Language Development To Inform Literacy Instruction, Suzanne M. Adlof, Tiffany P. Hogan

Faculty Publications

Oral language abilities enable children to learn to read, and they predict future academic achievement and life outcomes. However, children with language impairment frequently go unidentified because schools do not systematically measure oral language development. Given that identification paves the way for treatment, schools should increase attention to oral language development, particularly within response to intervention (RTI) frameworks, which aim to prevent learning disabilities by identifying and intervening at early stages. Formal schooling should address language comprehension (in addition to word reading) to ensure an adequate foundation for future reading comprehension. In support, we overview the developmental relations between oral …

A Novel Eye Tracking Paradigm For Indexing Social Avoidance-Related Behavior In Fragile X Syndrome, Jessica Klusek, Carly Moser, Joseph Schmidt, Leonard Abbeduto, Jane E. Roberts

Faculty Publications

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is characterized by hallmark features of gaze avoidance, reduced social approach, and social anxiety. The development of therapeutics to manage these symptoms has been hindered, in part, by the lack of sensitive outcome measures. This study investigated the utility of a novel eye tracking paradigm for indexing social avoidance-related phenotypes. Adolescent/young adult-aged males with FXS (n=24) and typical development (n=23) participated in the study. Participants viewed faces displaying direct or averted gaze and the first fixation duration on the eyes was recorded as an index of initial stimulus registration. Fixation durations did …

The Comparative Efficiency Of Speech Sound Interventions That Differ By Delivery Modality: Flashcards Versus Tablet, Krystal Werfel, Marren Brooks, Lisa A. Fitton Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Although speech-language pathologists increasingly make use of tablets in clinical practice, little research to date has evaluated the effectiveness or efficiency of tablet use for targeting speech sound goals. The three-fold purpose of this study was to compare (a) the effectiveness and (b) the efficiency of speech sound intervention using tablets versus flashcards, as well as (c) child motivation in speech sound intervention when using tablets versus flashcards. Four kindergarten students with at least two similar speech sound errors participated in this adapted alternating treatments single subject design study that explored the functional relation between speech sound intervention that differed …

Exploration Of Early Spelling In Children With Hearing Loss, Carson Aho

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine differences in spelling errors between children with normal hearing and children with hearing loss in kindergarten.

Method: Participants included 21 children with normal hearing and 23 children with hearing loss. All children used spoken English as their primary language. The children with hearing loss all utilized a hearing amplification device. Participants completed three single-word spelling assessments, a language assessment, and an oral reading assessment. An independent samples t-test was used to determine if the groups had differences in the number of spelling errors and whether a difference was observed within the …

Developing A School-Age Language Screening For Sli, Logan Douglass

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored past tense marking in oral reading as a clinical marker of specific language impairment (SLI). A School-Age Language Screening Assessment (SALSA) was evaluated to determine whether it can be used to improve the identification of school-age children with SLI. The first aim was to calculate overall accuracy with children with TL and SLI on reading regular and irregular past tense verbs in oral reading of connected text. The second aim was to determine the overall diagnostic accuracy of SALSA.

Method: 96 children with TL and 3 children with SLI (N = 99) in grades 2-4 were …

Speech Entrainment To Improve Spontaneous Speech In Broca's Aphasia., Helga Thors

Theses and Dissertations

Speech entrainment, a treatment method that requires participants to mimic the speech of an audiovisual model in real time, has been shown to benefit individuals with non-fluent aphasia when they speak about trained topics. It is unclear if it improves spontaneous speech, which does not pertain to trained items, in the same way. In an effort to investigate this matter, the current study examined the effects of speech entrainment on spontaneous speech that does not relate to trained items, it also estimated effect sizes associated with improvements in speech production as a result of this treatment approach, and explored participant …

The Effect Of Spectral Shaping On Perceptual, Acoustic, And Listening Effort Measurements In Young Normal Hearing Adults, Rachel Madorskiy

Theses and Dissertations

Amplification is necessary to restore audibility to individuals with hearing impairment. However, frequency-specific amplification alters the spectral shape and level of speech. Previous research has demonstrated that amplification is associated with better speech recognition outcomes as compared to unaided listening (e.g. Humes, 2013). However, many hearing aid listeners report a lack of perceived benefit associated with hearing aids, and adherence is low (McCormack and Fortnum, 2013). This may, in part, be reflected by a common complaint of hearing aid users that speech is audible, but additional effort is required to understand speech. As amplification alters the spectral shape and overall …

Psychometric Evaluation Of The Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment Sentence Repetition Task For Clinical Decision-Making, Lisa A. Fitton Ph.D., Rachel Hoge, Yaacov Petscher, Carla Wood

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was a) to examine the underlying components or factor structure of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (Peña et al., 2014) sentence repetition task and b) to examine the relationship between Spanish-English speaking children's sentence repetition and vocabulary performance. Method: Participants were 291 Spanish-English speaking children in kindergarten and first grade. Item analyses were used to evaluate the underlying factor structure for each language version of the sentence repetition tasks of the BESA. The tasks were then examined in relation to a measure of English receptive vocabulary. Results: Bifactor models, which include a single underlying …

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 …

Behavioral And Neurophysiological Correlates Of Sensorimotor Impairment In Aphasia, Lorelei Phillip Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Developing a clearer understanding of the basic impairments which underlie the behavioral characteristics of aphasia is essential for informing the development of targeted and effective treatment techniques. Impairments in sensorimotor integration have already been implicated in the repetition deficits common to individuals with aphasia, but much less is known about the extent to which these integrative deficits occur outside of conduction aphasia and how this manifests behaviorally in areas other than speech repetition. The goal of the present study was to examine these issues further by addressing the following aims: 1) To examine the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of sensorimotor …

Understanding Dyslexia In The Context Of Developmental Language Disorders, Suzanne M. Adlof, Tiffany P. Hogan

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to discuss the language basis of dyslexia in the context of developmental language disorders (DLDs). Whereas most studies have focused on the phonological skills of children with dyslexia, we bring attention to broader language skills. Method: We conducted a focused literature review on the language basis of dyslexia from historical and theoretical perspectives with a special emphasis on the relation between dyslexia and DLD and on the development of broader language skills (e.g., vocabulary, syntax, and discourse) before and after the identification of dyslexia. Results: We present clinically relevant information on the history …

The Effect Of E-Book Vocabulary Instruction On Spanish-English Speaking Children, Carla Wood, Lisa Fitton, Yaacov Petscher, Estrella Rodriguez, Gretchen Sunderman, Taehyeong Lim

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of an intensive vocabulary intervention embedded in e-books on the vocabulary skills of young Spanish-English speaking English learners (ELs) from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds. Method: Children (N = 288) in kindergarten and 1st grade were randomly assigned to treatment and read-only conditions. All children received e-book readings approximately 3 times a week for 10-20 weeks using the same books. Children in the treatment condition received e-books supplemented with vocabulary instruction that included scaffolding through explanations in Spanish, repetition in English, checks for understanding, and highlighted morphology. Results: There was a main effect of …

Home Literacy Of Dual-Language Learners In Kindergarten From Low-Ses Backgrounds, Carla Wood, Lisa Fitton, Estrella Rodriguez

Faculty Publications

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low–socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17 books at home and engaged in active HL activities for 24 minutes a day on average. The relations between HL activities and performance were evaluated using correlations and regression. Analyses revealed a significant relation between HL and children’s language abilities, as measured by a bilingual measure of morphosyntax and semantics. Children’s reported interest in reading …

Progress Monitoring Timing Effects In Speech And Written Language Therapy, James P. Blaida

Theses and Dissertations

Progress monitoring is a crucial aspect of speech-language pathology. Without it, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have little way of determining if patients are making progress with the implemented therapy. Currently, most SLPs perform progress monitoring during therapy. This study compared the traditional, status-quo, method of progress monitoring to that of progress monitoring performed before therapy begins in an effort to determine if a timing change would affect therapy outcomes. 2 boys, receiving articulation therapy, and 1 girl, receiving spelling therapy, each had 1 treatment goal for the during condition and 1 treatment goal for the before condition. The children all received …

Neuroanatomical Correlates Of Speech And Melody Repetition In Chronic Stroke, Sarah Elizabeth Bradford

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to repeat speech is impaired in most individuals with aphasia. Recent evidence suggests damage to area Spt (boundary of the parietal and temporal lobes at the Sylvian fissure) may cause the repetition difficulties commonly seen in aphasia. This study examined if such repetition impairments are specific to speech or reflect a more general repetition deficit, and determined how regional and network brain damage predict repetition impairments. Participants in the chronic phase of stroke (N=47) listened to a series of ten five-second melodies that consisted of six tones and repeated the melody (by humming) following its presentation. The participants’ …

Minimal Hearing Loss In School-Age Children: Prevalence And Relationship To Reading Impairment, Laura Peek

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The two-fold purpose of this study was to determine if a) students with reading impairments fail hearing screenings at higher rates than students without reading impairments and b) if the pattern of simple view of reading classification differs across hearing screening results.

Method: This project included 19 students with reading impairments and 17 students with typically reading skills in grades 2 through 11. Each participant completed a hearing screening and a complete battery of language and literacy tests to determine their hearing screen status and simple view classification.

Results: Results of a chi square test comparing reading status and …

Individual Differences In Music Discrimination And Their Relation To Reading And Reading-Related Skills In Children, Elaina C. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that there may be a relationship between music and reading. Some researchers have found that musical rhythm is related to reading in children, while others have found that it is musical pitch and not rhythm that correlates with reading. Prosody is the melodic element of language that encompasses both pitch and rhythm. In the past, these have been studied separately. In the present study, we analyzed pitch and rhythm discrimination skills, phonological awareness, prosody and reading in thirty-nine seven and eight year old children. We predicted that music and reading skills would be related, and that prosody would …

Rapid Automated Naming Performance Of Young Spanish-English Speaking Children, Carla L. Wood, Kristina N. Bustamante, Lisa Fitton, Dana M. Brown, Yaacov Petscher

Faculty Publications

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine the feasibility of a rapid automatic naming (RAN) task for young Spanish–English speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and to examine the relationship between children’s performance on RAN and other standardized language and literacy assessments. A total of 275 Spanish–English speaking children in kindergarten and first grade attempted a RAN task and completed assessments of language and early literacy. Correlational analyses and quantile regression was conducted to examine relationships. Overall the RAN task was feasible for 74% (n = 203) of the DLLs; however, 42% of participants in kindergarten were unable to …