Speech Pathology and Audiology Commons^™

Effects Of Verbal And Pantomime Stimulus Input On The Short Term Sequential Recall Of Aphasic Adults, Lauryl Suzanne Ivers Grotting

Dissertations and Theses

The question posed in this investigation was: Which stimulus input mode, verbal, pantomime, or combined verbal and pantomime, is more effective in facilitating short term sequential recall of language material with aphasic adults?

A Comparison Of The Vocabulary Ability Of Four- And Five-Year-Old Bilingual Mexican-American Children With That Of Monolingual Anglo-American Children, Amparo Abila

Dissertations and Theses

This study sought to investigate the Spanish and English receptive pictorial vocabulary of four- and five-year-old bilingual Mexican-American children. The performance of bilingual Mexican-American children on the Mexican-American Inventory of Receptive Abilities--MIRA (Nelson-Burgess and Meyerson, 1975) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--PPVT (Dunn, 1959) was compared to that of monolingual Anglo-American children of the same relative age range and socioeconomic level.

The Maximum Duration Of Phonation Of /A/ In Normal And Hoarse Voiced Children, Jo Coombs

Dissertations and Theses

Hoarseness seems to be the primary type of voice disorder occurring in school-aged children. Voice experts have suggested measurement of maximum phonation times as a clinical tool for assessing vocal function (Fairbanks, 1940; Westlake and Rutherford, 1961; Irwin, 1965; Boone, 1971). Most of the studies on duration of phonation have used adults as subjects; few investigations have involved children. An apparent need, therefore, existed to investigate duration of phonation in young children.

A Study Of The Relationship Between Articulation Proficiency And Auditory Conceptualization Ability, Alana Fenwick Bradley

Dissertations and Theses

This investigation compared the auditory conceptualization ability (Lindamood and Lindamood, 1970) or vocal phonics (Van Riper, 1963) of third grade students with and without articulation deficits in an attempt to determine if a relationship exists between auditory conceptualization ability and articulation ability. The specific question posed was: Is there a statistically significant difference in auditory conceptualization ability between third grade children with various degrees of articulation deficits and third grade children without articulation deficits.

A Comparison Of Two Articulation Management Approaches, Cindy Sue Sykes

Dissertations and Theses

This clinical project sought to examine two different approaches to the treatment of functional articulatory disorders and to implement these two approaches in the actual management of two articulation disordered clients. The two approaches selected were the traditional auditory-stimulus method (Van Riper, 1972) and the sensory-motor approach (McDonald, 1964b) to testing and treatment. It was the intention of this project to compare the results of articulation intervention of the two methods.

An Investigation Of The Performance Of Black Children Age 3.6 To 6.0 On Three Subtests Of The Illinois Test Of Psycholinguistic Abilities, George Edward James

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare language performance on three subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) of a Black population of children ages three years six months through six years in Portland, Oregon, with the standardizing population of the ITPA. These subtests are Auditory Reception, Grammatic Closure, and Verbal Expression.

The null hypotheses tested were:

1. There is no difference in scores on the Auditory Reception subtest of the ITPA between the standardizing test population and that of Black children ages three years six months through six years in Portland, Oregon.
2. There is no difference in …

Articulation Error Rates For Oral Reading Tasks In Children With Developmental Apraxia Of Speech, Kenneth Jerry Arkell

Dissertations and Theses

Recently, there have appeared in the literature treatment approaches for the disorder of developmental apraxia of speech in children. These treatment approaches make use of the visual modality, and specifically use reading stimulus materials to improve articulation skills. Several authors have endorsed this use of reading materials in the treatment of developmental apraxia of speech in children including Morley (1965); Rosenthal (1971); Rosenbek and Wertz (1972); and Rosenbek et al. (1974). These treatment approaches have been offered via the literature without the benefit of empirical verification that children with DAS will make fewer articulation errors while reading aloud than they …

Chronological Age, Mental Age And Socioeconomic Status Variance In Expressive Preposition Acquisition Of Young Children, Arthur J. Heckel

Dissertations and Theses

The present study was designed to determine the ages at which a sample of children between eighteen and forty-two months verbally and correctly express the fourteen prepositions known to be acquired by age four, using the Revised Expressive Preposition Test (REPT). The REPT was administered to sixty children chosen from day care centers and private homes within the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. There was no preference as to the sex, intelligence of the child or socio- economic status of the child's family. A statistical analysis was performed to determine the correlation between HEPT scores and the child's chronological age, …

The Relative Social Acceptability Of Three Types Of Alaryngeal Speech, Kathleen Dawn Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

As a result of the surgical removal of the larynx, the laryngectomee is no longer able to speak and must choose to learn a new method of oral communication if he wishes to communicate orally. Laryngectomees, speech clinicians and physicians need to be provided with information which will assist in the selection of the most appropriate type of alaryngeal speech for each individual. Social acceptability is one criterion which may be an important consideration. This study, therefore, compared three modes of alaryngeal speech: Asai, esophageal, and artificial larynx, on the parameter of social acceptability.

Location Of Dyspraxic Characteristics In Children With Severe "Functional" Articulation Disorders, Sara Miller Mitcham

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if children labeled as “severe” functional articulation disordered, who had been enrolled in public school speech programs for one year or more, exhibited dyspraxic-like characteristics.

Twenty individuals between the ages of 8 and 11 were chosen from the Gresham Public Schools, Lynch Public Schools, Portland Public Schools, Rockwood Public Schools and the Crippled Children’s Division, University of Oregon Medical School to serve as subjects for the three groups in this study. Eight subjects who comprised the experimental group were "severe" functional articulation disorders and were selected from the public schools. Each misarticulated …

The Development Of Four English Inflections In The Speech Of Educable Mentally Retarded Adolescents, Nancy Barton Richard

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development and use of certain grammatical morphemes, i.e., the English inflections for plural, possessive, present progressive and past tense in the speech of educable mentally retarded (EMR) adolescents. The performance on two grammatical tasks of EMR subjects was compared to that of normal control subjects matched by mental age scores. The first task was to produce, verbally, the required inflection for a novel (nonsense) word on a modified version of Berko's Test of English Morphology (BTEM). Secondly, subjects responded to grammatical contrasts in lexical or real words at levels of imitation, …

A Voice Incidence Study: Portland, Oregon, Ann Lynn Laskey

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of voice disorders among kindergarten and first-grade students in some schools in Portland, Oregon, during the Fall of 1974. The study was designed to determine the following information: 1) the percentage of voice disorders, 2) the percentage of each type of voice disorder, 3) the severity of each voice disorder, and 4) the percentage of males and of females exhibiting voice disorders.

The essential questions to be answered by the present study were:

1. What is the incidence of voice disorders in a kindergarten and first-grade (approximately five to seven years …

A Comparison Of Responses Between Two Different Socioeconomic Groups On The Boehm Test Of Basic Concepts, Teri Jones Geist

Dissertations and Theses

The primary purpose of the investigation was to compare the responses of white, lower-class kindergartners and first graders with white, middle-class kindergartners and first graders on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) in order to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between socioeconomic level and the number of concepts correctly identified on the BTBC. A secondary purpose was to determine is a significant relationship existed between concept development as measure by the BTBC and intelligence from an assessment of receptive vocabulary by using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT).

One hundred white, lower …

Verbal Models Provided For Mentally Retarded Children By Parents, Lance Tsugawa

Dissertations and Theses

Recent investigation has focused on the nature of adult-child verbal interactions. The research has examined the language of mothers and other adults when assembled with both normal and retarded children. The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that mothers of children with Down's Syndrome and mothers of normal children would present different language characteristics to a Down's Syndrome child versus a normal child. Type-token ratio, a measure of the subject's language diversification, was used as the behavioral measure.

The findings indicated that all mothers presented smaller type token ratios to the Down's Syndrome child than those addressed to …

A Study Of Student Clinicians' Behaviors In Response To Feedback From The Analysis Of Behaviors Of The Clinician (Abc) System, Susan Kay Clare

Dissertations and Theses

The major goal of supervisors in the area of Speech Pathology is to help student clinicians improve efficiency and effectiveness in attaining a therapeutic goal. This study was designed to provide systemic feedback of recorded data to student clinicians to determine the effect of a particular supervisory instrument on the future performance of inexperienced clinicians. The subjects for this study were six beginning student clinicians in Speech Pathology at Portland State University, two of which were randomly selected to represent the control group.

All of the clinicians were observed for a randomly selected consecutive five-minute period from each of six …

Validation Of The Preschool Speech And Language Screening Test, Susan Jane Packouz

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to validate the Preschool Speech and Language Screening Test. The PSLST was designed to quickly identify those preschool children who appear to be in need of speech and/or language evaluation or intervention. Specifically, the present investigation sought to determine the proportion of children with speech and/or language problems not detected by the screening test and the proportion of children without speech and language problems who failed the PSLST.

Recovery From Stuttering In A Sample Of Elementary School Children, Carol Deno Kimball

Dissertations and Theses

Several studies have been undertaken to determine the incidence of recovery from stuttering; however, the results of these investigations are not reliable due to methodological limitations. For the most part, ex-post-facto recall judgements on the parts of adults or parents of young children were relied upon in gathering data for the research. It would appear that a requisite factor in determining incidence of recovery from stuttering should be the use of a formal instrument which would quantify the auditory and visual aspects of speaking behavior to determine the presence or absence of stuttering.

The primary purpose of this study was …

Performance Of Adolescent Autistic Males On The Michigan Picture Language Inventory, Marcia Sharril Kline

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare the expressive and comprehensive language structure skills of a selected sample of normal males and adolescent autistic males, using the Michigan Picture Language Inventory (MPLI) as the investigating instrument in order to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the two groups. The autistic and normal subjects were matched for mental age scores within plus or minus two months as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), Form B.

Seven autistic male and seven normal male subjects were selected from the greater Portland metropolitan area to be included in this …

A Comparison And Item Analysis Of Responses Between Black Children And Language Delayed White Children On The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Kevin N. Cole

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare PPVT scores of Black children and language delayed White children in order to determine whether the patterning of errors can be differentiated between the two groups. The study involved twenty Black children and twenty language delayed White children between the ages of six years, six months, and seven years, six months. The subjects were from families of lower socioeconomic status. The White subjects were given the Utah Test of Language Development to establish degree of language delay.

The study was designed to determine whether either the language delayed White subjects or the …

An Investigation Of Tympanometric Measurements On An Older Adult Population, Marguerite Ann Fine

Dissertations and Theses

Prior to this investigation, there appeared to be no published research data available on tympanometric configurations obtained from an older adult population. This study was designed to examine tympanograms obtained from an otologically normal, elderly population. Forty individuals, ranging in age from 59 to 83 years, participated in this study. All had a negative history of middle ear pathology and had normal tympanic membranes as determined by otologic examination. From the eighty ears tested, fifty were used in this survey. Conductance and susceptance at 220 and 660 Hz were obtained at each ear and ranges for admittance were computed from …

Lingual Discrimination Of Two Normal-Speaking Populations, Janice Ellen Gould Nesbitt

Dissertations and Theses

The present investigation was undertaken to collect normative data on a teenage population and a young adult population in order to assess tongue sensitivity regarding the identification of various geometric shapes. The research, was conducted to answer the following questions:

1. Is there a significant difference between a teenage group and a young adult group regarding lingual discrimination?

2. What is the range and variability between and within the two groups?

3. Is the teenage group significantly better than the elementary school age group previously tested by Weiss (1973b)?

There were 50 normal-speaking subjects in the teenage group ranging in …

An Investigation Of The Development Of The Phonemes /T/ And /K/ In The Speech Of Preschool Children, Glenn Douglas Weybright

Dissertations and Theses

Research regarding children's instrumental articulation development has provided the speech clinician with schedules of speech sound development. These developmental tables list ages when specific phonemes are mastered by normal children. Such schedules tend to give the impression that certain sounds must be developed before others can occur. Menyuk (1972) has expressed a similar point of view regarding phonemes /t/ and /k/. She has hypothesized:

1. that phoneme /t/ must develop before phoneme /k/; and
2. that sound element initial /t/ is mastered at an earlier age than initial /k/. The present investigation was designed to operationally test the validity of Menyuk's observations. …

The Frequency Of Retroflex /R/ Production In Elementary School Children, Vicki Barna Wood

Dissertations and Theses

In articulation treatment and diagnosis, it is essential to possess a thorough knowledge of what is "normal" as well as what is "defective" articulation. The /r/ phoneme is one of the most frequently occurring and most commonly defective sounds. There are two different tongue positions for the /r/ phoneme described in the literature (retroflex and central hump), with many assumptions about which tongue position is "normal" or "most common." None of these assumptions, however, are based on empirical data.

The purpose of this study was to provide some normative data regarding which of the two tongue positions is most common …

An Investigation Of The Influence Of Dialectal Interferences On The Nsst Scores Obtained By Portland Black Children, Margaret Jeanne Callahan

Dissertations and Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if dialectal interference as described by Walter Wolfram was exhibited by black children in Portland, Oregon when given the NSST by Laura Lee. This author was concerned with syntactical interferences on the expressive portion of this test.

A secondary purpose of this investigation was to provide suggested norms for differentiating children with language deficits from children with language differences.

Seventy black children with normal speech and language were selected from two public schools, a Head Start Center and a day care center. These children were between the ages of 3-0 to …

A Beginning Investigation Into The Language Development Of The Deaf Child Compared To That Of The Hearing Child: Some Problems And Solutions In Data Collection, Sallie Ann Frye

Dissertations and Theses

This paper will attempt to present what factual material is available comparing language development in the deaf with normal language development. It will discuss problems which have become apparent in the search for this data and some solutions to the problems. Preschool language development will be taken up first, followed by a consideration of school age written and oral language, and concluding with a discussion of associations as they affect the verbal behavior of the deaf child.

Age, Intelligence, And Socioeconomic Status Variance In Preposition Acquisition By Children, Georgie Hustead

Dissertations and Theses

Numerous linguistic studies have been done to substantiate the importance of prepositions in the English language. However, no normative studies have been done on the acquisition of expressing prepositions.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if there were demonstrable trends which would indicate a need for normative data on the acquisition of twenty-six prepositions tested on the Expressive Preposition Test (EPT). The study set out to determine at what age levels a given percentage of the prepositions were expressively acquired and if the socioeconomic status (SES) of the child’s family would be a determiner as to the age …

Masking Patterns Of High Frequency Pure Tones, Judith Eide Widen

Dissertations and Theses

Previous investigations of masking have established that the action of the masking tone spreads upward in frequency, creating significantly more masking (threshold shift) above the masker frequency than below. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the masking pattern produced by high frequency pure tones, heretofore uninvestigated.

Masking patterns were obtained for nine normal hearing young adults utilizing the method of adjustment. The masking produced by an 11000 Hz pure tone of 40 dB sensation level was measured at three frequencies above and three frequencies below the masker frequency. Analysis of the data revealed a downward spread of …

Intelligibility Of Speech Compared Through Two Limiter Compression Circuits, Lee M. Odell

Dissertations and Theses

Hearing aid manufacturers commonly engineer automatic gain control (AGC) circuits which are aimed at reducing sound tolerance problems and improving speech intelligibility among wearers. The most common type of AGC engineered is one utilizing a fast attack time. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of both fast and slow attack times on the intelligibility of speech. Twenty-four normal hearing subjects listened to sixty pre-recorded sentences through two types of hearing aid circuits. Thirty sentences were modified by a fast attack AGC circuit, and thirty sentences were modified by a slow attack AGC. The subjects marked one of …

Effects Of Semantic Associational Strength And Verbal Sequence Length On The Auditory Comprehension Of Aphasic Adults, Laurel J. Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of semantic associational strength (SAS) upon adult aphasics' auditory comprehension abilities. Twenty-eight adult aphasics (25 males and 3 females) and 12 normal control subjects were presented three experimental tasks, each containing 45 items. Experimental task 1 contained single word picture sets of high SAS, moderate SAS, and low SAS words. Experimental task 2 contained two word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words, and experimental task 3 contained three word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words. Subjects heard one, two, and three word verbal sequences …

An Investigation Of Handedness And Its Relationship To The Site Of Contact Ulcers, Colleen S. Colleary

Dissertations and Theses

This investigation attempted to determine the relationship of the site of contact ulcers and subject’s handedness. Literature concerned with contact ulcers has indicated that cerebral dominance tends to determine the site of the lesion. Four research questions were posed, two questions were presented in the form of the null hypothesis. The questions were: (1) Is the proportion of right-handed subjects with left-sided ulcers equal to the proportion of left-handed subjects with left-sided ulcers? (2) Is the proportion of right-handed subjects with right-sided ulcers equal to the proportion of left-handed subjects with right-sided ulcers? (3) Will the site of contact ulcers …