Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Outcomes Of An Emotion Word Intervention For Children With Social Communication Impairments, Rebecca Cloward Mansfield

Theses and Dissertations

Children with social communication disorders have been found to exhibit deficits in emotional intelligence, including the ability to identify emotions attributed to facial expressions. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the efficacy of a social communication intervention program designed to increase the accuracy of emotion based word use in three elementary school-aged participants with social communication disorders. The participants took part in a multiple-baseline, 20-session treatment including story enactment, journaling procedures, and supplementary activities. The story enactment portion of the intervention centered on Mercer Mayer's A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog (1967) wordless picture book series. Participants' …

December 6, 2013, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the December 6, 2013 Faculty Committee meeting.

A Comparison Of Nal And Dsl Prescriptive Methods For Paediatric Hearing-Aid Fitting: Predicted Speech Intelligibility And Loudness, Teresa Y.C. Ching, Earl E. Johnson, Sanna Hou, Harvey Dillon, Vicky Zhang, Lauren Burns, Patricia Van Buynder, Angela Wong, Christopher Flynn

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: To examine the impact of prescription on predicted speech intelligibility and loudness for children. Design: A between-group comparison of speech intelligibility index (SII) and loudness, based on hearing aids fitted according to NAL-NL1, DSL v4.1, or DSL m[i/o] prescriptions. A within-group comparison of gains prescribed by DSL m[i/o] and NAL-NL2 for children in terms of SII and loudness. Study sample: Participants were 200 children, who were randomly assigned to first hearing-aid fitting with either NAL-NL1, DSL v4.1, or DSL m[i/o]. Audiometric data and hearing-aid data at 3 years of age were used. Results: On average, SII calculated on the …

Narratives By Six Year Old And Nine Year Old Boys: Brute: Institutional, And Non-Institutional Mental Facts, Adam Craig Whipple

Master's Theses

Brute facts, institutional facts, and non-institutional mental facts were studied. The philosophy of constructionism and the theory of intent provided a framework for this research. Intentionality provided the basis for social facts. Brute, institutional, and noninstitutional mental facts were operationally defined. This study analyzed the use of these facts in the narratives of 6-year-old boys and 9-year-old boys. There were a total of 19 participants in this research. This research established brute, institutional, and non-institutional mental facts as appropriate operational categories for studying children's narratives. The 6-year-old boys produced more brute facts than the 9-year-old boys. The 9-year-old boys produced …

Hearing-Aid Safety: A Comparison Of Estimated Threshold Shifts For Gains Recommended By Nal-Nl2 And Dsl M[I/O] Prescriptions For Children, Teresa Y. C. Ching, Earl E. Johnson, Mark Seeto, John H. Macrae

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: To investigate the predicted threshold shift associated with the use of nonlinear hearing aids fitted to the NAL-NL2 or the DSL m[i/o] prescription for children with the same audiograms. For medium and high input levels, we asked: (1) How does predicted asymptotic threshold shifts (ATS) differ according to the choice of prescription? (2) How does predicted ATS vary with hearing level for gains prescribed by the two prescriptions? Design: A mathematical model consisting of the modified power law combined with equations for predicting temporary threshold shift (Macrae, 1994b) was used to predict ATS. Study sample: Predicted threshold shift were …

Brain Mapping Of The Mismatch Negativity Response To Vowel Variances Of Natural And Synthetic Phonemes, Lyndsy Marie Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a specific event-related potential (ERP) component used frequently in the observation of auditory processing. The MMN is elicited by a deviant stimulus randomly presented in the presence of repeating stimuli. The current study utilized the MMN response in order to determine the temporal (timing) and linguistic processing of natural and synthetic vowel stimuli. It was hypothesized that a significant MMN response would be elicited by natural and synthetic vowel stimuli. Brain mapping of the MMN response was hypothesized to yield temporal resolution information, which would provide detail regarding the sequential processing differences between natural and …

A Boot Camp Approach To Remediating Interdental /S/ In A School-Aged Child, Melanie Ellen Peris

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between speech articulation therapy dose (frequency, intensity, duration) and treatment outcomes are poorly understood. Identifying optimal therapy doses for specific articulation disorders is essential to providing efficient clinical care. Recent research indicates that intensive speech therapy doses-known as boot camps-may promote rapid improvement and generalization for certain speech disorders. Therefore the present investigation examined the effects of a boot camp speech therapy approach to remediate interdental /s/ production in an 8-year-old male. The boot camp included two days of speech therapy involving visual, tactile, and auditory feedback approaches. Therapy was administered 5.5 hours per day across morning and …

Update On The Clinical Utility Of Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials, Faith W. Akin, Owen D. Murnane

ETSU Faculty Works

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) supplement the vestibular test battery by providing diagnostic information about otolith organ function. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an update on the clinical use of the cervical VEMP and ocular VEMP as clinical tests of otolith function

Communication And Common Interest, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Manolo Martínez

Publications and Research

Explaining the maintenance of communicative behavior in the face of incentives to deceive, conceal information, or exaggerate is an important problem in behavioral biology. When the interests of agents diverge, some form of signal cost is often seen as essential to maintaining honesty. Here, novel computational methods are used to investigate the role of common interest between the sender and receiver of messages in maintaining cost-free informative signaling in a signaling game. Two measures of common interest are defined. These quantify the divergence between sender and receiver in their preference orderings over acts the receiver might perform in each state …

October 18, 2013, Eastern Illinois University

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the October 18, 2013 Faculty Committee meeting.

Nonconformance In Children With Specific Language Impairment, Kathryn S. Todd, Dr. Martin Fujiki

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Children diagnosed with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) “exhibit significant limitations in language functioning that cannot be attributed to deficits in hearing, oral structure and function, or general intelligence” (Leonard, 1987). Recently, research revealed children with SLI also demonstrate difficulty in social interaction. As part of an ongoing research program at Brigham Young University over the last decade, Dr. Bonnie Brinton and Dr. Martin Fujiki evaluated the social skills of children with SLI. Yet to be investigated, this past year I researched the nonconforming behavior of children with SLI directed towards adults. Nonconformity or noncompliance is the failure to act and …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Teaching Early Literacy Skills In A Dual-Language Program, Melissa Willes, Dr. Barbara Culatta

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Effective literacy skills are essential to success in life. In order to gain these skills, a strong literacy foundation must be established during childhood. Any impairment of this skill has a profound effect on the life of a child. Children with delayed literacy skills have difficulties in learning and keeping up with their peers in school. Consequently they may fall behind in school and miss out on pertinent learning experiences.

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Story Enactment ‘Something Good’ To Assess Comprehension In English And Spanish-Speaking Pre- School Children, Sue Pickens, Dr. Barbara Culatta

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Currently, Dr. Culatta is working on Project CALL, a Contextualized Approach to Language and Literacy. She is looking at how language and literacy skills can be taught to preschool children in Head Start. As an extension of her research, I analyzed children’s participation and engagement in story enactment. I also analyzed Spanish speaking children’s engagement in story enactment, and the behaviors that affect story comprehension. By analyzing two enactments of the story, I hypothesized that I would find in the children’s second enactment of the story that they will be able to make more relevant comments, predict and anticipate more …

Enhancing Socially Withdrawn Children’S Behavior Via Peer Monitoring And Social Skills Instruction, Brock Rockwood Solano, Dr. Michelle Marchant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Educations face the challenge of instructing socially disengaged children who come to the classroom lacking peer acceptance, social skills and positive feelings about themselves and school. Although the importance of good social relations and emotional health for effective learning has been recognized, efforts to foster these traits often fall short of success and breed discouragement in teachers. It remains an ongoing concern for educators to find the most effective means to improve the social competence of the self-isolating students.

Comparison Of Performance On Static And Dynamic Language Tasks Among Typically Developing Preschoolers With Bilingual Experience, Mireya Hernandez

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of a graduated prompting format for measuring modifiability in a screening context among preschool children with bilingual experience. The dynamic assessment framework, including graduated prompting, is an alternative to traditional, static assessment of language impairment. Performance on four dynamic language tasks by 16 typically developing 4-year-olds with more English than Spanish experience was compared to performance of 16 matched children on static versions of the same tasks. These included novel adjective learning, semantic comparison, phonological awareness, and false-belief theory of mind tasks. When prompted responses were credited, the dynamic group …

November 8, 2013, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

No abstract provided.

Articulatory Distinctiveness Of Vowels And Consonants: A Data-Driven Approach, Jun Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal, Yana Yunusova

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To quantify the articulatory distinctiveness of 8 major English vowels and 11 English consonants based on tongue and lip movement time series data using a data-driven approach.

Method: Tongue and lip movements of 8 vowels and 11 consonants from 10 healthy talkers were collected. First, classification accuracies were obtained using 2 complementary approaches: (a) Procrustes analysis and (b) a support vector machine. Procrustes distance was then used to measure the articulatory distinctiveness among vowels and consonants. Finally, the distance (distinctiveness) matrices of different vowel pairs and consonant pairs were used to derive articulatory vowel and consonant spaces …

Understanding Of Emotion In Children With Specific Language Impairment, Melanie D. Javid, Dr. Martin Fujiki

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulties with language comprehension and production that is not attributed to other disabilities. Studies have shown that these children are also at risk for social problems. These social problems are assumed to be the outcome of the child’s language ability. The purpose of this project is to investigate the emotional understanding of children with SLI. This project is designed to provide speech-language pathologists with a clearer delineation of emotional needs experienced by children with SLI. Our profession may then adapt therapy to address the child’s understanding of emotions.

Effects Of Truncation On Language Sample Analysis In Aphasia, Gerasimos Fergadiotis, Heather Harris Wright

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study is to determine if the length of a language sample elicited from a person with aphasia (PWA) is of consequence when making inferences about the patient's functional language ability. When conducting a language sample analysis, a sample representing a snapshot in time is used to make inferences about an individual's language capacity in general. However, current findings are inconclusive regarding the ideal length of the language sample necessary to draw valid conclusions about patients (e.g. Heilman, Nockerts, & Miller, 2010).

Measuring Global Coherence In Aphasia, V. Galetto, S. Kintz, T. West, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Discourse coherence may be conceptualized as representing the listener's ability to interpret the overall meaning conveyed by the speaker. Discourse schemas serve as the organizing frameworks for placing the essential discourse elements within a language sample (Bloom, Borod, & Santschi-Haywoor, Pick, & Obler, 1996; Peterson & McCabe, 1983). When the essential elements are provided a logical consistency of the discourse schema is maintained and the listener perceives the discourse as coherent (Ditman & Kuperberg, 2010; Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989; van den Broek, Virtue, Everson, Tzeng, & Sung, 2002). Global coherence refers to the ability to semantically relate …

Predicting Language Impairment Status: A Risk Factor Model, Johanna Maria Rudolph

Open Access Dissertations

The etiology of specific language impairment (SLI) is multifactorial. Research has shown that genetic, environmental, and developmental factors may influence the course of its development. Because many of these factors are present even before a child is born, it is possible that a child's risk of developing the disorder can be identified long before grammatical deficits are observed. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a screening tool to discriminate between children with SLI and typically developing (TD) children using risk factor information including gender, family history of communication or reading disorders, socioeconomic status, maternal and paternal …

Developing A Drug Delivery System For Treatment Of Vocal Fold Scarring, Aaron Michael Kosinski

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal fold scarring is an affliction that results in the formation of a disorganized and stiff extracellular matrix (ECM) with abnormal ECM component densities & structures including a significant increase in collagen deposition. It is caused by improper healing post injury and results in profound changes in the biomechanical properties of the vocal folds impairing their ability to generate a normal mucosal wave during phonation.

Finding an effective treatment for vocal fold scarring has been elusive. Currently, treatments seek temporary solutions that correct glottal incompetence and reduce stiffness caused by the scar through the augmentation of the vocal folds using …

Effects Of Hearing Aid Amplification On Robust Neural Coding Of Speech, Jonathan Daniel Boley

Open Access Dissertations

Hearing aids are able to restore some hearing abilities for people with auditory impairments, but background noise remains a significant problem. Unfortunately, we know very little about how speech is encoded in the auditory system, particularly in impaired systems with prosthetic amplifiers. There is growing evidence that relative timing in the neural signals (known as spatiotemporal coding) is important for speech perception, but there is little research that relates spatiotemporal coding and hearing aid amplification.

This research uses a combination of computational modeling and physiological experiments to characterize how hearing aids affect vowel coding in noise at the level of …

Neural Encoding Of Complex Signals In The Healthy And Impaired Auditory Systems, Saradha Ananthakrishnan

Open Access Dissertations

Individuals with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) typically experience difficulty in understanding speech. Our current knowledge of deficits in speech perception and encoding consequent to SNHL is restricted to psychophysical studies in humans and single-unit experiments in animals. However, the nature of degradation in neural encoding of speech following hearing impairment in humans has not been extensively researched. The objective of this dissertation is to provide a systematic evaluation of neurobiological signature of hearing loss at the subcortical level using an objective electrophysiological non-invasive neural index, the frequency following response (FFR). Subcortical neural encoding of speech signals is explored by quantifying …

Influence Of Quantization On Psychometric Function Slope And Performance For Speech Audiometry Materials, Jessica Goates, Dr. Richard W. Harris

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Routine audiological assessments include pure-tone thresholds and assessment of the patient’s ability to perceive speech. The performance of speech audiometry materials is very important for determining how well a patient can hear speech. Our research was designed to determine if using different speech audiometry materials (male vs. female voice and 16 vs. 24 bit quantization) can influence the ability to understand the words being presented.

“How Am I Different?”: A Social Profile Of Children With Sli, Julie Grandy, April Fitzgerald, Martin Fujiki, Bonnie Burton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are those who have difficulty learning language despite relatively normal sensory and intellectual abilities. Research and current literature have shown that there is a relationship between language competence and social competence (Brinton & Fujiki, 1993; Windsor, 1995) Children with poor language skills often experience difficulty in social interactions. Since successful social interactions contribute to personal satisfaction in school, work, community, and family settings, many areas of these children’s lives may be negatively impacted.

Emotion Recognition In Children With Specific Language Impairment, Andrea Dance, Martha Gray, Natalie Roach, Dr. Martin Fujiki

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As part of a research team consisting of professors of Speech-Language Pathology and Psychology and graduate students, our goal was to achieve a clearer understanding of the relationship between emotion and language. We wanted to see if children with restricted language abilities also have deficits in emotional development. We tested children in schools measuring their language ability, IQ, understanding of emotion expressed in a variety of ways.

September 13, 2013, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the September 13, 2013 Faculty Committee meeting.

Noise-Induced Tinnitus Using Individualized Gap Detection Analysis And Its Relationship With Hyperacusis, Anxiety, And Spatial Cognition, Edward Pace, Jinsheng Zhang

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Research Publications

Tinnitus has a complex etiology that involves auditory and non-auditory factors and may be accompanied by hyperacusis, anxiety and cognitive changes. Thus far, investigations of the interrelationship between tinnitus and auditory and non-auditory impairment have yielded conflicting results. To further address this issue, we noise exposed rats and assessed them for tinnitus using a gap detection behavioral paradigm combined with statistically-driven analysis to diagnose tinnitus in individual rats. We also tested rats for hearing detection, responsivity, and loss using prepulse inhibition and auditory brainstem response, and for spatial cognition and anxiety using Morris water maze and elevated plus maze. We …

From The Uk To Byu: Local Norms For The Measurement Of Pragmatic Language, Lisa Christensen, Maggie Hansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the field of speech-language pathology, we encounter many children with what is known as language impairment. This impairment cannot be attributed to intellectual or sensory factors, and has been shown to involve a delay in both semantic (word meanings) and syntactic (grammar and structure) abilities. Some researchers also question whether pragmatic abilities (language usage in real-life contexts) are affected in those with language impairment. However, an instrument to evaluate pragmatics is very difficult to design. Typical formal tests don’t allow for varied contexts—an integral part of pragmatic skills. Eliminating these varied contexts inherently reduces the validity of results.1