Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Treating Attention Deficits In Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Mora Johanna Mahoney

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the presence and degree of treatment effects found for direct attention training on three individuals with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) using the Attention Process Training, Third Edition (APT-III; Sohlberg & Mateer, 2010). APT-III was designed for use with individuals who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and was selected for this study because of the similarities in cognitive deficits between those with TBI and those with PD. Methods: This study was designed as a phase 2, randomized baseline, A1-B-A2-A3 (baseline, treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up assessment), single-subject experimental design. The study …

Brief Report: A Mobile Application To Treat Prosodic Deficits In Autism Spectrum Disorder And Other Communication Impairments: A Pilot Study, Elizabeth Schoen Simmons, Rhea Paul, Frederick Shic

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This study examined the acceptability of a mobile application, SpeechPrompts, designed to treat prosodic disorders in children with ASD and other communication impairments. Ten speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in public schools and 40 of their students, 5-19 years with prosody deficits participated. Students received treatment with the software over eight weeks. Pre- and post-treatment speech samples and student engagement data were collected. Feedback on the utility of the software was also obtained. SLPs implemented the software with their students in an authentic education setting. Student engagement ratings indicated students' attention to the software was maintained during treatment. Although more testing is …

Newborn Diagnostics: Effects Of Hearing Screening Failures, Appointment Attendance And Distance On Age Of Hearing Loss Diagnosis, Stephanie Trippel

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates diagnostic outcomes of infants referred to the University of Mississippi Speech and Hearing Center between January 2010 and September 2014. Data were collected on the reason for referral, eventual diagnosis, appointment attendance, and distance traveled of the patients referred. A total of 177 patients were collected. It was determined that UMSHC reaches EDHI goals for most patients who receive a diagnosis. An overwhelming majority of patients referred were due to newborn hearing screening failure, and most patients received a diagnosis of within normal limits. Those patients who never received a diagnosis had poor attendance which seemed to …

Attitudes And Practices Among College Students Relative To Personal Listening Device Usage And Hearing Conservation, Molly Grace Williams

Honors Theses

As technology has advanced, the popularity of personal listening devices (PLD) has become widespread among the millennial generation. It is normal in today's culture to see members of the millennial generation using their PLDs in most any setting. Due to this growth in popularity and usage of PLDs, there is an increased and relatively undocumented opportunity for noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) among the people in the millennial generation. In order to research the effects of this shift in culture relative to PLD usage, college-aged members of the millennial generation were asked to participate in a study via word of …

The Olfactory System In Schizophrenia: An Rsfmri Study Of The Piriform Cortex, Sara Kiparizoska

Honors Theses

This thesis is a study of rsfMRI imaging in order to examine coactivation patters of the piriform cortex between healthy subjects and people with schizophrenia. As part of the olfactory system, the piriform cortex is an integral part of the smell sensation. Our studies showed that coactivation among the piriform cortex and other sensory brain regions differ in people with schizophrenia compared to healthy subjects. People with schizophrenia exhibit patterns of less coactivation among their sensory brain regions compared to control subjects, specifically the intracalcarine cortex, the right planum temporale, and the left occipital lobe. The purpose of this study …

From Grapheme To Phonological Output: Performance Of Adults Who Stutter On A Word Jumble Task, Megann Mcgill, Harvey Sussman, Courtney T. Byrd

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was to extend previous research by analyzing the ability of adults who stutter to use phonological working memory in conjunction with lexical access to perform a word jumble task.

Method

Forty English words consisting of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-letters (n = 10 per letter length category) were randomly jumbled using a web-based application. During the experimental task, 26 participants were asked to silently manipulate the scrambled letters to form a real word. Each vocal response was coded for accuracy and speech reaction time (SRT).

Results

Adults who stutter attempted to solve …

Automated Classification Of Vowel Category And Speaker Type In The High-Frequency Spectrum, Jeremy J. Donai, Saeid Motiian, Gianfranco Doretto

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The high-frequency region of vowel signals (above the third formant or F3) has received little research attention. Recent evidence, however, has documented the perceptual utility of high-frequency information in the speech signal above the traditional frequency bandwidth known to contain important cues for speech and speaker recognition. The purpose of this study was to determine if high-pass filtered vowels could be separated by vowel category and speaker type in a supervised learning framework. Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were extracted from productions of six vowel categories produced by two male, two female, and two child speakers. Results revealed that the …

Stuttering And Tourette's: A Comparative Study, Mary Kate Prokopius

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Stuttering and Tourette’s: A Comparative Study

The purpose of this research study was to provide pilot data regarding the similarities and differences between stuttering and Tourette’s, specifically the physical, emotional and psychosocial aspects and the effects the behaviors had on the clients’ thoughts related to their disorder.

Recently published articles pertaining to stuttering and Tourette’s Syndrome were collected, analyzed and summarized in the paper. Once the literature review was completed, similarities and differences were deduced and explained in later chapters.

The overall results of this study showed that the two behavioral disorders have little overlap in terms of physiological and …

Exploring Speech And Language Skills In Gifted Children: A Parent Perspective, Amanda Brewer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research study was to examine the speech and language skills of gifted students, and to further look into gifted students who have previously had speech or language therapy. Information pertaining to gifted children, typical speech and language development, and gifted children who have a delay in speech was evaluated. The information was used to develop a survey instrument that asked parents about their gifted child’s speech and language. The overall results of this study confirmed many previously known characteristics of gifted students. It also showed that expressive language skills were less developed than receptive language skills. …

Understanding The Stigma Of Hearing Loss And How If Affects The Patient And Treatment Process, Carolyn M. Zaitzew

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is a literature review on the topic of hearing loss related stigma and the effects it has on persons with hearing loss. There has not been very much research conducted on this topic, which limited the paper’s content. Through researching and analyzing previous studies, it was found that a stigma related to hearing loss still exists today and has multiple effects on persons with hearing loss. The stigma can put negative stress on patients with hearing loss, both psychologically and socially, and may even cause them to not seek or accept treatment when needed. Younger adults are more …

The Psychological Effects Of Cochlear Implants: A Comparison Of One Adult With A Cochlear Implant And One Without., Sarah Schwartzer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study involved the development, implementation and analyzation of two qualitative case studies, with one involving a profoundly deaf individual who possesses a cochlear implant, the other with an individual who possesses normal hearing ranges. Participants were given two quantitative measures of observation, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire and the Thought Control Questionnaire, before participating in a semi-structured interview that was intended to gather information about the individuals, their life experiences, and the factors of psychological flexibility, adaptability and resiliency as applied to their lives. The semi-structured interview involved a set list of questions that were posed to the individuals; …

The Effects Of Left Vs Right Hemisphere Cerebrovascular Accident, And Treatment, Nellie M. Turner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project takes an in depth look at the various methods of treatment for stroke patients, the results that are gained, and the possible benefits and detriments of each type of treatment when administered properly. It examines the definition of a Cerebrovascular accident (CVA), and the various symptoms that occur when the left versus the right hemisphere is affected. The different causes of strokes are taken into account, along with the wide range of ways the victims may be affected by it, physically and mentally. It is important to be familiar with the different methods of treatment for a patient …

Under-Reactive But Easily Distracted: An Fmri Investigation Of Attentional Capture In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Brandon Keehn, Aarti K N Nair, Alan J. Lincoln, Jeanne Townsend, Ralph Axel Müller

Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), salient behaviorally-relevant information often fails to capture attention, while subtle behaviorally-irrelevant details commonly induce a state of distraction. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neurocognitive networks underlying attentional capture in sixteen high-functioning children and adolescents with ASD and twenty-one typically developing (TD) individuals. Participants completed a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm designed to investigate activation of attentional networks to behaviorally-relevant targets and contingent attention capture by task-irrelevant distractors. In individuals with ASD, target stimuli failed to trigger bottom-up activation of the ventral attentional network and the cerebellum. …

Examining Aided Input Intervention In A Classroom Setting For Children Labeled With Significant Disabilities, Jennifer L. Flores

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this research was to examine aided input as an intervention strategy for teaching children language and communication skills through Augmentative and Alternative Communication. This study examined whether a coaching package is effective for enabling teachers to use aided input strategies and also examine the impact of the aided input strategies on children’s communication skills. Data was collected for six weeks using the AB alternating reversal design with the last two weeks being maintenance phases without coaching and support. There were three pieces of data collected; student pre and posttests of target words, daily observations of teacher instruction …

Differential Effects Of Cdh23753a On Auditory And Vestibular Functional Aging In C57bl/6j Mice, Bruce E. Mock, Sarath Vijayakumar, Jessica Pierce, Timothy A. Jones, Sherri M. Jones

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The C57BL/6J (B6) mouse strain carries a cadherin 23 mutation (Cdh23^753A, also known as Ahl), which affects inner ear structures and results in age-related hearing loss. The B6.CAST strain harbors the wild type Cdh23 gene, and hence, the influence of Ahl is absent. The purpose of the present study was to characterize the effect of age and gender on gravity receptor function in B6 and B6.CAST strains and to compare functional aging between auditory and vestibular modalities. Auditory sensitivity declined at significantly faster rates than gravity receptor sensitivity for both strains. Indeed, vestibular functional aging was …

Determining The Validity Of A Web-Based, Self-Rating Checklist Assessment Of Vocabulary Knowledge, Sheida Abdi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of a web-based, self-rating checklist of vocabulary knowledge. One hundred fifty-nine participants took two norm-referenced assessments in addition to one of three conditions of a developed self-rating checklist. Each condition employed a different combination of follow-up questions (synonym generation to verify participants’ self-ratings) and feedback for student responses (whether or not synonyms are correct). Condition 1 did not provide any follow-up questions or feedback, Condition 2 included follow-up questions and feedback, and Condition 3 presented follow-up questions but no feedback. Results show that participants moderately overestimated vocabulary knowledge. Moderate-to-high statistically …

Towards Improving The Evaluation Of Speech Production Deficits In Chronic Stroke, Artemis Alexandra Basilakos

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most devastating consequences of stroke is aphasia - a disorder that impairs communication across the domains of expressive and receptive language. In addition to language difficulties, stroke survivors may struggle with disruptions in speech motor planning and/or execution processes (i.e., a motor speech disorder, MSD). The clinical management of MSDs has been challenged by debates regarding their theoretical nature and clinical manifestations. This is especially true for differentiating speech production errors that can be attributed to aphasia (i.e., phonemic paraphasias) from lower-level motor planning/programming impairments (i.e., articulation errors that occur in apraxia of speech; AOS). Therefore, the …

Neural And Behavioral Correlates Of Planning During Vocal Motor Control, Stacey Jean Sangtian

Theses and Dissertations

Speech is a goal-directed movement developed to serve the purpose of human communication. During speech, the brain simultaneously coordinates complex motor behavior and sensory information for planning, execution and online monitoring for error correction in order to ensure accurate delivery of the vocal messages. Models of speech production and voice motor control have adapted the principles of the internal forward model to explain that speech sound production is controlled by comparison of internal predictions with sensory feedback. Growing evidence from studies conducted in speech and limb motor movement indicate that these sensory predictions and responsive commands are loaded in anticipation …

Preschool Oral Narrative Retell Intervention: A Contextualized Approach, Megan E. Miller

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a contextualized, explicit narrative intervention on oral narrative retell skills in typically developing preschoolers as a means for fostering the development of narrative structure, story comprehension, and narrative retell skills. Participants were recruited from the Childhood Development Laboratory preschool classrooms located in Buzzard Hall at Eastern Illinois University. Prior to intervention, participants' core receptive and expressive language abilities were assessed using the Comprehensive Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool-2nd Edition (CELF-P-2), and oral narrative retells were analyzed for narrative complexity using the Test of Narrative Retell-Preschool Edition (TNR-P). The six weeks …

Autism Spectrum Disorder: How Does Transitional Planning From Preschool To Elementary School Benefit Educational And Social Success?, Shakeika K. Everett

Honors Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a disorder that impacts millions of people worldwide on a daily basis. While most adults with autism have received, and continue to receive, the proper assistance in engaging in everyday life, children with autism face more challenges that impacts their engagement socially. Many intervention methods have been researched and implemented to assist in communication and social involvement for children with ASD. However, little research exists on helping young children with ASD effectively transition, both academically and socially, from one educational environment to another. This research will contain a case study of a six-year-old child enrolled …

The Effects Of Bilingualism On Auditory Selective Attention In Normal-Hearing Adults, Francisco Fernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Bilingual speakers have been shown to be more adept than monolingual speakers at actively blocking useless information in the visual modalities. This advantage should be observed in both the visual and the auditory modalities using tasks of inhibitory control. However, very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. By using an auditory test of inhibition, such as the utilization of a Dichotic Listening task, bilinguals are expected to display an increased measure of cognitive ability.

Does Knowledge Of Concussion Symptoms Influence An Athlete's Self-Report Of A History Of Concussion Across Gender And Age?, Kara Ashlan Greco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: The incidence of sport-related concussion is debatable. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report an extrapolated incidence of 1.6 to 3.2 million recreational/sports-related traumatic brain injuries a year, the suspicion is that the incidence is much higher (CDC, 2014). An important consideration in determining the incidence involves whether an athleteâ??s knowledge of what a concussion is influences their self-report of prior concussions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend Pfirman (2015) in determining whether providing information about concussion will increase the self-report of a history of concussion. Furthermore, this study investigates whether there …

Nature Of The Verbal Fluency Task In Concussed Athletes, Paulina Mejia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Verbal fluency is a common test used to assess naming in individuals with brain injury. Troyer (1997) reported that naming components such as phonemic clusters and categorical switching might be more sensitive to the presence of brain injury than a reduction in the total number of words that is commonly used as a measure. Phonemic task refers to the F-A-S naming task while the semantic task refers to the animal naming task because of the frequent production of the phonemic cluster on the F-A-S and semantic clusters on the animal naming task (Troyer, 1997).

Purpose: The purpose of this …

An Investigation Of Motor Speech And Motor Limb Movements Following A Sport-Related Concussion-An Extension Study, Linda Phan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Minimal research is available regarding the effects on motor speech and motor limb movements following a sport-related concussion (SRC). A sensitive measure is necessary to detect subtle deficits in motor speech, as it may provide diagnostic insight involving return-to- play decisions.

Purpose: This research aimed at replicating and extending a previous research study, Hewitt (2015), conducted at the University of Texas at El Paso. The Hewitt (2015) study examined motor speech tasks and motor limb tasks which included the following: oral diadochokinetics (DDK): sequential motion rate (SMR)(i.e. /puh-tuh-kuh/) and alternating motion rate (AMR) (i.e. /puhpuhpuh/, /tuhtuhtuh/, /kuhkuhkuh/); speech rate …

Factors That Influence Device Selection By Parents Of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Candidates, Zachary W. Moore

Senior Independent Study Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors/variables and the importance of those factors during cochlear implant (CI) device selection by parents of recent pediatric CI recipients in the United States. The researcher created an electronic survey and asked audiologists and hearing-related professionals at various hospitals and CI centers across the United States to distribute the survey link to the parents of any of their pediatric CI patients who received CI surgery within the past two years under the age of five years. The survey included both Likert-type and open-ended questions regarding the importance of various factors/variables to the …

Speech-Language Pathologists' Knowledge Of Treatments Used To Remediate The Vocal Symptoms Of Parkinson's Disease, Angela M. Wiley

Senior Independent Study Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine speech-language pathologists’ general knowledge of four voice treatments (traditional speech therapy, the Lombard effect, SPEAK OUT!®, and the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment) used to remediate the vocal symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder therefore, it is important for clinicians to be educated about the voice treatments that can used to decrease the vocal symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This study was conducted by having members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association fill out an online survey. The results indicated that speech-language pathologists who considered themselves to be …

Suicide Prevention: The Professional And Moral Responsibilities Of The Speech-Language Pathologist, Madelyn Anderson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible connection between suicide and stuttering, identify warning signs and risk factors of suicide as they apply to our clients, and examine the moral implications and professional responsibilities of speech-language pathologists as they pertain to suicide prevention. From the research I conducted, I found that, as a whole, the national community of speech-language pathologists does not recognize any correlation between stuttering and suicide. However, as dictated by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Code of Ethics, we as speech-language pathologists are obligated to make referrals outside of our profession as the need …

Parent Perception Of Technology On Children’S Language Development, Lindsey E. Hanna

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Thematic Analysis Of Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologists In Southern New England, Taylor Collins

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Comparing Methods For Assessing The English Grammatical Development Of Spanish-Speaking English Learners, Lisa A. Fitton Ph.D., Mary Claire Wofford, Kristina N. Bustamante, Natasha De Novi, Bibiana Nuñez, Carla L. Wood

Faculty Publications

Identifying valid and informative approaches for assessing young English learners (ELs) is essential for school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The present paper focuses on two distinct approaches for assessing English grammatical development, a key component and indicator of language development for ELs. The approaches addressed are standardized normreferenced assessment and grammatical feature coding from story retell narratives. The authors review the utility of these approaches for evaluating the English grammatical development of Spanish-speaking ELs. A research example is provided to illustrate how a small sample (n = 18) of ELs performed on each of these English-based tasks. Findings reveal that children …