Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

March 4, 2015, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting minutes of the March 4, 2015 Faculty Committee meeting.

Brain Mapping Of The Latency Epochs In A Mcgurk Effect Paradigm In Music Performance And Visual Arts Majors, Lauren Donelle Nordstrom

Theses and Dissertations

The McGurk effect is an illusion that occurs when an auditory /ba/ is combined with a visual /ga/. The two stimuli fuse together which leads to the perception of /da/, a sound in between /ba/ and /ga/. The purpose of this study was to determine whether music performance and visual arts majors process mismatched auditory and visual stimuli, like the McGurk effect, differently. Nine syllable pairs were presented to 10 native English speakers (5 music performance majors and 5 visual arts majors between the ages of 18 and 28 years) in a four-forced-choice response paradigm. Data from event-related potentials were …

Reliance On Auditory Feedback In Children With Childhood Apraxia Of Speech, Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, Tiffany P. Hogan, Anthony J. Guarino, Jordan R. Green

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

Children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) have been hypothesized to continuously monitor their speech through auditory feedback to minimize speech errors. We used an auditory masking paradigm to determine the effect of attenuating auditory feedback on speech in 30 children: 9 with CAS, 10 with speech delay, and 11 with typical development. The masking only affected the speech of children with CAS as measured by voice onset time and vowel space area. These findings provide preliminary support for greater reliance on auditory feedback among children with CAS.

Learning outcomes: Readers of this article should be able to (i) …

External Validity Of Grammatical Word Category Classification Using An Adaptation And Selection Model, Michelle Chatterton

Theses and Dissertations

The process of acquiring language requires children to learn grammatical categories and apply these categories to new words. Researchers have proposed various explanations of this process in the form of algorithms and computational modeling. Recently, adaptation and selection models have been tested and applied as a possible explanation to the process of acquiring grammatical categories. These studies have proven promising, however, the external validity of this approach has not been examined by grammatically coding samples outside the training corpus. The current thesis applies an adaptation and selection model, which pauses the evolution of dictionaries after every thousand cycles to allow …

Modeling Children's Acquisition Of Grammatical Word Categories From Adult Input Using An Adaptation And Selection Algorithm, Nicole Adele Stenquist

Theses and Dissertations

It is understood that children learn the use of grammatical categories in their native language, and previous models have only been partially successful in describing this acquisition. The present study uses an adaptation selection algorithm to continue the work in addressing this question. The input for the computer model is child-directed speech towards three children, ages ranging from 1;1 to 5;1 during the course of sampling. The output of the model consists of the input words labeled with a grammatical category. This output data was evaluated at regular intervals through its ability to correctly identify the grammatical categories of language …

Monophthongal Vowel Production In Females With Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Following A Hydration Treatment Of Nebulized Saline, Kara Rytting

Theses and Dissertations

Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease that causes extreme dryness, or sicca,of the eyes and mouth, as well as other potential drying of the throat and intestines. Speech, voice, and swallowing problems are common in individuals with SS. Therefore, this study examined the possible changes in acoustic characteristics of monophthongs (/i, æ, α, u, ʌ/) in eight females with SS following laryngeal hydration treatments. An ABAB experimental design was implemented. Treatment consisted of nebulized isotonic saline immediately following completion of audio-recordings. Using acoustic analysis software the duration, formant frequencies, and vowel space area (VSA) was calculated for the participant's …

Stakeholder Perspectives Of The Effectiveness Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication Techniques In Children With Autism, Daria Constantinescu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to utilize focus groups and individual interviews to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of augmentative and alternative (AAC) techniques in facilitating language in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as expressed by the opinions and attitudes of stakeholders involved in the process. ASD is a disorder that affects an individual's social and communication skills that usually surfaces within a child's first three years of life. There have been numerous studies conducted comparing different types of AAC intervention systems, but there is little information on stakeholders' opinions. The current study utilized one focus group interview …

February 4, 2015, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting agenda of the February 4, 2015 Faculty Meeting.

Effectiveness And Parent Acceptability Of 'Youth Engagement Through Intervention' Social Skills Group For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Zachary Shindorf, Anisa Goforth, Jennifer K. Schoffer Closson, Erin Yosai, Phillip A. Thomas, Miki J. Anderson

Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences Faculty Publications

This poster was presented at the Annual National Association of School Psychologists Conference in Orlando, Florida.

January 14, 2015, Communication Disorders & Sciences

Faculty Meeting Minutes & Agendas

Meeting agenda of the January 14, 2015 Faculty Meeting.

Tell Me A Story: The Relationship Between Identity And Life Stories Following Brain Injury, Sara Henson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Following brain injury, people can demonstrate cognitive-linguistic deficits as well as a shift in their identities. Clinicians use assessment and treatment methods that focus on cognitive-linguistic deficits with this population; however, they rarely (if ever) consider identity as a viable and necessary target for intervention efforts. For individuals with brain injury, life narratives can be used to assess and treat the cognitive-linguistic skills and discourse at a macro-systemic level, build relationships through the use of a client-centered approach, develop a strong sense of self-identity that aids in goal setting, establish life purpose that motivates greater participation and effort in rehabilitation, …

Interpreter-Assisted Speech-Language Intervention In Poland: Needs, Possibilities And Prospects (Współpraca Polskiego Logopedy Z Tłumaczem – Potrzeby, Możliwości I Perspektywy), Katarzyna Gaweł, Henriette Langdon, Katarzyna Węsierska

Faculty Publications

Due to the constantly evolving global demographic situation, speech-language therapists (SLTs, also: speech-language pathologists – SLPs) have to deal with an increasing workload of bilingual/multilingual clients. This article presents results of a survey conducted among Polish SLTs aimed at investigating their views with regards to the possibility of collaboration with an interpreter during therapeutic intervention. The original version of the questionnaire (Gaweł & Węsierska, 2014) used in this survey was filled out by 206 respondents from different areas across Poland. The following issues were addressed in the study: the SLTs’ views on the incidence of bilingualism in Poland, their self-evaluation …

Evidence-Based Practice In Stuttering: Views From American And Polish Clinical Perspectives, Henriette W. Langdon, Pei-Tzu Tsai, Katarzyna Węsierska

Faculty Publications

In this paper the authors present the underpinnings of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) with application to stuttering. The application of intervention practices using EBP are discussed from two different countries, the United States and Poland. Advantages, Challenges and Future Directions as well as Solutions are presented. In sum, the authors conclude that both perspectives are relatively similar and going generally in the same direction.

In A Right State Of Mind: An Analysis Of Cognitive And Linguistic Function Following A Rare Case Of Atypical Language Dominance In Aphasia, Emily Manton

Undergraduate Review

As the foundation for effective communication, the power of the human brain to create and execute language derives from the ability of its structural components to remain intact. Extensive research has found that in 97% of people worldwide, language is typically carried out by the left hemisphere of the brain. Research for lesions in this area therefore, have been well documented. For the 3% of individuals who fall in the category of "atypical cerebral dominance" however, there is little in the available literature. Therefore, this empirical prospective case study sought to document the cognitive and linguistic functions of a 59 …

Motor Practice Effects And Sensorimotor Integration In Adults Who Stutter: Evidence From Visuomotor Tracking Performance., Victoria Tumanova, Patricia M. Zebrowski, Shawn S. Goodman, Richard M. Arenas

Communication Sciences and Disorders - All Scholarship

Purpose—The purpose of this study was to utilize a visuomotor tracking task, with both the jaw and hand, to add to the literature regarding non-speech motor practice and sensorimotor integration (outside of auditory-motor integration domain) in adults who do (PWS) and do not (PWNS) stutter.

Method—Participants were 15 PWS (14 males, mean age = 27.0) and 15 PWNS (14 males, mean age = 27.2). Participants tracked both predictable and unpredictable moving targets separately with their jaw and their dominant hand, and accuracy was assessed by calculating phase and amplitude difference between the participant and the target. Motor practice effect was …

The Use Of Theatre To Develop Social And Communication Behaviors For Students With Autism, Suzanne Reading, James Reading, Robert J. Padgett, Samantha Reading, Pete Pryor

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Social and communication behaviors are often a focus of instruction for individuals with autism. A theatre rehearsal and production process is challenging and joyful work that nurtures the development of social and language skills. This study evaluated and described social and language behaviors for students with autism both before and after a 10-week theatre experience. The results indicated that, when compared with a control group, the students with theatre experiences had significant and positive changes in the development of social and language skills. Most particularly, these students had significant improvement in social responsiveness, acknowledgement of the perspective of others, and …

Proud To Be Autistic: Metaphorical Construction And Salience Of Cultural And Personal Identity In #Stopcombatingme, Jessica Benham

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Like many other autistic individuals, I struggle to find language to appropriately describe my experiences. Furthermore, within the Autistic community, debates over appropriate language use are frequent, including discussions on person-first language versus identity-first language, functioning language, and medical terminology. Through this research, I examine how rhetorical constructions of Autism gain power, focused on the role of language choice with regard to personal identity and self-advocacy and conduct a discourse analysis of the #StopCombatingMe movement on Twitter. Spearheaded by ASAN, a grassroots organization which seeks to challenge public dialogue on Autism, #StopCombatingMe sought to argue against the reauthorization of the …

The Effects Of Speech Impairment On Quality Of Life Over Time In Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Jacqueline Kelley Blessinger

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Limited research exists on how speech impairments affect quality of life (QOL) factors over time in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A review of the literature, including the history, disease course, and prevalence of ALS, is presented. Physical and psychosocial functioning, especially the decline of bulbar functioning’s potential impact on QOL factors and communication style, are outlined. This study is a follow-up study on a study by Duff, who found a significant difference in QOL relative to level of bulbar functioning in a cross-sectional design. The current study used a longitudinal design to look at bulbar functioning, specifically levels …

A Clinical Case Study Exploring The Impact Of Bilingual Support In Speech-Language Intervention For A Child With Autism, Zaynab Taei

Theses and Dissertations--Communication Sciences and Disorders

Managing language choice in speech-language intervention is increasingly an issue for speech-pathologists treating bilingual children. Frequently L2 approaches only are implemented, resulting in negative effects on L1 acquisition, familial ties, and cultural transmission. This study examined the impact of a bilingual intervention on a school-aged child and her family. Providing intervention and therapy activities in the L1 resulted in increased parental engagement, increased L1 use by the child, and increased awareness of strategies for treating bilingual children among SLPs at the study site.

The Effects Of Sign On Speech Segmentation In Infants, Alma Rosa Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: The ability to extract words from fluent speech (speech segmentation), perhaps one of the greatest obscure achievements for the purpose of learning language, is dependent upon imperceptible endeavors. Remarkably, infants are active participants from the moment they are born, using auditory and visual information to assist them segmenting speech. As motivated parents attempt to use baby sign to bridge communication gaps, visual information in the form of baby sign may benefit children in extracting words from speech. To examine the effects of baby sign on speech segmentation, a systematic replication of the Hollich et al. (2005) study, a within-subject …

Social And Pragmatic Language In Autistic Children, Hannah Li

A with Honors Projects

Two research studies, one pinpointing difference in areas of the brain used in pragmatic language activities between neurotypical and autistic children, and the other examining pragmatic language development in children with autism over time are summarized and compared.

High-Definition Tdcs Of Noun And Verb Retrieval In Naming And Lexical Decision, Svetlana Malyutina, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) is a novel brain stimulation method that has high potential for use in language therapy for speakers with aphasia, due to its safety and focality. This study aimed to obtain foundational data on using HD-tDCS to modulate language processing in healthy speakers. Participants received stimulation either of left Broca’s area or of angular gyrus (20 minutes of anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation on separate days), followed by naming and lexical decision tasks with single-word verb and noun stimuli. We found that cathodal stimulation over both Broca’s area and left angular gyrus increased naming speed …

Visual Analog Rating Of Mood By People With Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Katarina L. Haley, Jennifer L. Womack, Sharon W. Williams

Faculty Publications

Background:

Considerable attention has been given to the identification of depression in stroke survivors with aphasia, but there is more limited information about other mood states. Visual analog scales are often used to collect subjective information from people with aphasia. However, the validity of these methods for communicating about mood has not been established in people with moderately to severely impaired language.

Objective:

The dual purposes of this study were to characterize the relative endorsement of negative and positive mood states in people with chronic aphasia after stroke and to examine congruent validity for visual analog rating methods for people …

Developmental Surveillance And Referral In A Traditionally Medically Underserved Border Community, Eugenia C. Gonzalez, Connie Summers, Vannesa Mueller, Anne Hernandez, Gilda Gil-Lopez, Danielle C. Garcia, Maritza E. Lopez

Faculty Publications

Purpose Early identification and referral have been shown to improve long-term outcomes for children with disabilities. However, the number of children enrolled in early intervention services continues to be lower than the number of children confirmed to be developmentally delayed later in life. This study investigated the pattern of developmental surveillance and referral practices of pediatricians in a traditionally medically underserved border community. Description An online survey was created by members of a community/academic partnership. Emails were followed up with a personal contact to doctor’s offices to increase the response rate. Assessment Response rate for the survey was 26.7 %. …

How Should We Prepare Rehabilitation Sciences Students To Work With Low English-Proficient Spanish-Speaking Patients?, Connie Summers, Eugenia Gonzalez, Celia Pechak

Faculty Publications

Misinterpretations or lack of compliance with national standards established to guide health professionals working with low-English-proficient (LEP) patients continue to negatively impact patient care. Most of the literature on training health professionals to work with interpreters focuses on physicians. We reviewed this current literature and propose an interprofessional educational module to extend the interpreter training to other health professions. Our module trains rehabilitation science students from different health disciplines (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology) using strategies from the literature. The educational module is tailored to student’s bilingual proficiency, suggests relevant outcomes measures, and highlights unanswered questions and areas …

Nebulized Isotonic Saline Improves Voice Production In Sjögren's Syndrome, Shawn L. Nissen, Kristine Tanner, Ray M. Merrill, Alison Miner, Ron W. Channell, Karla L. Miller, Mark Elstad, Katherine A. Kendall, Nelson Roy

Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined the effects of a topical vocal fold hydration treatment on voice production over time. Study Design: Prospective, longitudinal, within-subjects A (baseline), B (treatment), A (withdrawal/reversal), B (treatment) experimental design. Methods: Eight individuals with primary Sjogren’s syndrome (SS), an autoimmune disease causing laryngeal dryness, € completed an 8-week A-B-A-B experiment. Participants performed twice-daily audio recordings of connected speech and sustained vowels and then rated vocal effort, mouth dryness, and throat dryness. Two-week treatment phases introduced twicedaily 9-mL doses of nebulized isotonic saline (0.9% Na1Cl2). Voice handicap and patient-based measures of SS disease severity were collected before and …

Psycholinguistics In Fluency Disorders: Prearticulatory Speech Planning In Stuttering And Cluttering, Emily O’Dell Garnett

Theses and Dissertations

The Covert Repair Hypothesis (CRH) is an account for speech errors in normally fluent speakers, and also hypothesizes errors in the phonological encoding stage in people who stutter (PWS). Previous research has shown that PWS exhibit poorer performance compared to typically fluent adults (TFA) on linguistic tasks designed to tap into the level of phonological encoding, such as phoneme monitoring. Stuttering and cluttering often co-occur, thus the field can benefit from extending this methodology to study people who clutter (PWC). Experiment 1 in Chapter 2 used phoneme monitoring to study phonological encoding in PWS and PWC, with three conclusions: (1) …

The Effects Of Emotional Expression On Vibrato, Christopher Dromey, Sharee O. Holmes, J Arden Hopkin, Kristine Tanner

Faculty Publications

Summary: Objectives/Hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional expression on several acoustic measures of vibrato, including its rate, extent, and steadiness. We hypothesized that singing a passage with emotional content would influence these variables. Study Design. This study used a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. Singer performance under different conditions was analyzed. Methods. Ten graduate student singers (eight women, two men) completed a series of tasks including sustained sung vowels at several pitch and loudness levels, an assigned song that was judged to have relatively neutral emotion, and a personal selection that included passages of intense …

Graduate Bulletin, 2015-2016, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

Perception And Use Of Communication Care Plans By Certified Nursing Assistants In Nursing Homes: The Role Of Professional Support, Christen G. Page

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

The majority of individuals in nursing homes have cognitive-communication impairments which impact quality of care because direct care providers, certified nursing assistants, (CNAs) are unsure how to respond to resident’s communication behaviors. One intervention that facilitates staff-resident communication in nursing homes is communication plans; however, the research to date about communication plans has not specifically involved CNAs.

The purpose of this study, using a grounded theory qualitative approach, was to describe development, implementation and evaluation of communication care plans (CCPs) for residents with cognitive-communication impairments in nursing homes by CNAs who did and did not receive professional support. Communication care …