Autism Spectrum Disorder : Investigating Predictive Diagnostic Relationships In Children Three Years-Of-Age And Younger., Kaitlin Juergensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms may involve deficits across three domains: communication, socialization, and atypical behaviors or interests. With a high prevalence across populations and a tendency to impact males more so than females, early and accurate diagnosis appears critical. The most current literature on ASD provides a myriad of difficulties associated with diagnosis under the age of three years. The purpose of this study was to determine if a predictive relationship exists between a child’s individual developmental domain standard deviation (SD) subscale scores (motor, language, cognitive, social-emotional, and adaptive skills) on the Bayley …

Sensorimotor Modulations By Cognitive Processes During Accurate Speech Discrimination: An Eeg Investigation Of Dorsal Stream Processing, David E. Jenson

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Internal models mediate the transmission of information between anterior and posterior regions of the dorsal stream in support of speech perception, though it remains unclear how this mechanism responds to cognitive processes in service of task demands. The purpose of the current study was to identify the influences of attention and working memory on sensorimotor activity across the dorsal stream during speech discrimination, with set size and signal clarity employed to modulate stimulus predictability and the time course of increased task demands, respectively. Independent Component Analysis of 64–channel EEG data identified bilateral sensorimotor mu and auditory alpha components from a …

Development Of A Journaling Application To Track Progress Of Adaptation To Amplification For Adult Patients: Deardiary, Nicole C. Snider

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The DEar Diary application is an illustration of concept of an Apple iOS (operating system) application designed as a tool for supporting compliance and satisfaction with the use of amplification. The audiologist’s main purpose is to counsel, support and to provide rehabilitative counseling to their patients. Helping a patient succeed while using hearing devices for the first time is a complicated task which can be accomplished with the proper counseling and helpful tools in place.

The use of a journal to write down experiences and providing written support material the patient can refer to once they are out of the …

Otologic Blast Injuries, Michelle Singer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The otologic system functions as a highly sensitive pressure transducer. Because of this, the ear is the most commonly affected organ in primary blast injury. Frequently encountered symptoms include hearing loss, tinnitus, and tympanic membrane perforations. The ear is repeatedly overlooked during triage and easily forgotten in subjects with multiple injuries after major catastrophic events such as explosions. This systematic review provides an overview of the most common otologic injuries observed after blast exposure in a variety of settings and populations. An analysis of 35 studies and an additional 23 reviews was performed in attempt to uncover patterns of otologic …

Audiometric Status, Self-Perception Of Hearing Disorders, And Noise Dose In Audio Post-Production Engineers, Laura M. Sinnott

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Numerous studies have assessed the risk of hearing injury for musicians and other sound professionals due to excessive sound exposure, however no studies have investigated whether audio post-production engineers have this same risk. This preliminary study first measured 23 participants’ hearing thresholds and prevalence of audiometric notches. Second, a questionnaire, the Questionnaire for Sound Professionals (QUSP), was designed and administered to determine whether correlations between audiometric status and self-perception of hearing loss and hearing disorders existed. Third, sound dosimetry measurements were conducted at film audio post-production studios to assess whether this population is at risk for permanent hearing loss due …

Vocal Health: Awareness And Perceptions In Undergraduate Vocal Music And Theatre Majors, Heather Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of students majoring in vocal music and theatre regarding the instruction they receive in their undergraduate curricula on voice health education.

Methods: A survey was adapted from a previous study, Beeman (2016), with permission by the author. The survey was disseminated to undergraduate vocal music and theatre majors across the United States via SurveyMonkey®, an online survey tool.

Results: Students perceived receiving knowledge on vocal health from their voice teachers, however they reported low levels of vocal hygiene compliance. Additionally, students recognized the connection between the singing and speaking …

Promoting Aphasia Awareness, Yvonne M. Faria, Fiona Mcnulty, Veronica C. Gonzalez, Peggy S. Conner

Publications and Research

The National Aphasia Association defines aphasia as an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and ability to write. This communication disorder is typically acquired after a brain injury resulting from an accident or stroke. Nearly 180,000 Americans acquire aphasia each year. Despite efforts to increase awareness about aphasia, via organizations such as the National Aphasia Association, general knowledge is still limited. In 2000 Elman and colleagues collected data on the number of news articles that mentioned the term “aphasia” and compared it to similar health conditions with comparable or lower prevalence rates. They found that these …

Examining Social Pragmatic Communication: Evidence From Parent And Professional Questionnaires, Katelyn Adams

Honors Theses

Hyter (2007) defined pragmatics as “daily interactions among groups of people with varying worldviews, each influenced by a history of social practices” (p.131). People use aspects of pragmatics in their everyday life depending on the context of their current social situation. For example, one’s pragmatic language could differ in a day from talking with a boss at work to having a conversation with a friend on the phone. These variations in conversational processes result in the assessment of pragmatics being a difficult task.

In this honors thesis, I examined results from Dr. Yvette Hyter’s assessment battery, the Assessment of Pragmatic …

Effectiveness Of Literacy Intervention Provided By School-Based Slps: Roles & Impressions On Literacy Teams, Ashley Alvarado

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine how effective speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are meeting all areas of responsibility for literacy intervention. To meet this purpose, SLPs from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota were surveyed. The survey examined SLP’s roles on literacy teams, areas of involvement, potential attitudes, impressions, and educational experiences of SLPs to explain why their role and opinions on involvement in literacy intervention may vary.

Speech Naturalness Before And Following Treatment In Adults Who Stutter, Alexis Novelli

Honors Theses

Purpose: The speech of persons who stutter can often sound unnatural. This can be due to a variety of factors including the presence of stuttering itself and/or the unintended consequence of speech-altering treatment. Understanding factors that contribute to speech naturalness within the stuttering population can direct improved management approaches. This study examines associations between speech task, behavioral measures of stuttering, and selected acoustic measures on listener ratings of speech naturalness for a group of adults immediately before and after participation in an intensive fluency-shaping treatment program. A secondary aim of this study is to assess the use of a novel …

Interpreting Mmse Performance In Highly Proficient Bilingual Spanish-English And Asian Indian-English Speakers: Demographic Adjustments, Item Analyses, And Supplemental Measures, Lisa H. Milman, Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah, Chris D. Corcoran, Deanna M. Damele

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

Purpose: Performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), among the most widely used global screens of adult cognitive status, is affected by demographic variables including age, education, and ethnicity. This study extends prior research by examining the specific effects of bilingualism on MMSE performance.

Method: Sixty independent community-dwelling monolingual and bilingual adults were recruited from Eastern and Western regions of the United States in this cross-sectional group study. Independent sample t-tests were used to compare two bilingual groups (Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English) with matched monolingual speakers on the MMSE, demographically adjusted MMSE scores, MMSE item scores, and a nonverbal cognitive …

Transition Of Care For Young Adults With Cleft Lip And Palate: We’Ve Got Some Growing Up To Do, Brenda Louw, Linda Vallino

ETSU Faculty Works

Participants will be able to:

• Describe the characteristics and needs of young adults with CLP.
• Discuss the model of transition of care for the young adult with CLP.
• Extrapolate strategies that teams could use to improve the care of young adults with CLP.

Full abstract available through The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal.

Efficacy Of A Three-Week Intervention Program For A School-Aged Children In The Areas Of Language, Literacy, Phonological Awareness, And Auditory Processing, Nicole Weis

Honors Theses

Research demonstrates that competency in the areas of language, phonological awareness, and auditory processing is vital to academic success in children, as well as in navigating adult life. The study's purpose is to measure the efficacy of an intensive, three-week summer camp therapy program for school-aged children in addressing these areas, and to identify areas of strength and weakness in the program and interventions implemented. Programs utilized during the summer camp included Visualizing and Verbalizing(TM), Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing(R), On Cloud Nine(R), Color My Conversation, Differential Processing Training Program(TM), as well as science experiments, and snack and crafts time.

Azbio Sentence Accuracy For English As A Second Language Adults In Quiet And Background Noise, Alexandra Wiist

Honors Theses

The objective of this study is to examine indications of a significant difference in listening ability between native English speakers and English as a Second Language (ESL) students in quiet and background noise specifically on the AZBIO Sentence test. Three Language groups were analyzed: Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. AZBIO lists were used to assess ESL students' ability to repeat sentences. An analysis of errors was completed to determine variance and similarities between the four language groups. Native English speakers had no difficulty repeating sentences in either condition, ESL students' data suggested more difficulty in both quiet and background noise and …

The Impact Of Task-Specific Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) On Sustained Attention In A Healthy Population, Kasi Dawn Steele

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the impact of task-specific anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) administered over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) on sustained attention in healthy participants.

Methods: This study examined the effects of task-training and tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on sustained attention. Participants (n=13) completed four sessions consisting of either true-stimulation (2 mA for 10 minutes) or sham-stimulation (2 mA for 30 sec) in counterbalanced order. Participants completed one session every 7 to 10 days and were randomly assigned to one of two task-specific conditions in counterbalanced order. All sessions consisted of a 10-minute Go/No-Go …

Articulatory Kinematics During Stop Closure In Speakers With Parkinson’S Disease, Austin Ross Thompson

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The goal of this exploratory study was (a) to investigate the differences in articulatory movements during the closure phase of bilabial stop consonants with respect to distance, displacement, and timing of motion between individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and healthy controls; and (b) to investigate changes in articulatory movements of speakers with PD when they voluntarily vary the degree of speech intelligibility.

Methods: Six participants, 4 PD and 2 healthy control (HC) speakers, participated in this study. The stimulus was a sentence containing several bilabial stop consonants (i.e., “Buy Bobby a puppy”). Movement data were collected using …

The Dixit Method Of Language Sampling In Early Adolescence, Tanner Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study examined two methods of language sampling (interview and the Dixit Method) in early adolescents with typical language development. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the two procedures in eliciting lexical diversity in spoken language samples in the early adolescent population. To examine lexical diversity, traditional methods of analysis (type token ratio, average type token ratio, and mean length of utterance) were applied. However, because literature historically alludes to flaws in these traditional methods, the researchers also applied an ecological approach to analysis of lexical diversity proposed by Scott Jarvis (2013). Student participants …

Improving The Interprofessional Relationship Between Nurses And Speech–Language Pathologists: Expansion Of A Project, Christina Hamling, Kristy Weissling, Jan Tubbs, Jenna Dubas

UCARE: Research Products

The research presented on this poster explored the impact of extraprofessional education on undergraduate nursing and speech-language pathology students with an overall goal of improving the interprofessional relationship between the two fields. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods in the form of a pre-test, educational materials, live guided observation, and post-tests, the researchers found an increase in the nursing students ability to identify the role of the speech-language pathologist in a medical setting. There was also an increase in the speech-language pathology student’s ability to understand how and when to communicate with nurses in a medical setting.

Language Profiles Of Children Who Have Experienced Complex Trauma And Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Christel G. Ciolino

Masters Theses

Children who experience maltreatment and children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) have similar neurological differences and are at risk for language impairments. However, limited research has been conducted to analyze their specific skill sets. To address this limitation, retrospective data from the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center of Southwest Michigan were analyzed. The linguistic profiles of 79 children with histories of varying numbers of traumatic experiences and comorbid FASD statues are compared in the areas of semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and social communication. Individuals had high pass rates on the CELF-5 Screening Test and high overall scores on the Pragmatic Protocol-Revised …

Assessment For Mild Cognitive Impairment: Striving For Best Practice, Julie Leigh Dalmasso

Dissertations

This dissertation is a series of three studies aimed at determining the best assessment practices for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that can employed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The first study was non-experimental and descriptive examining whether three commonly used assessment instruments yielded similar categorical results. The data were analyzed to determine whether the Eight-Item Interview to Differentiate Aging and Dementia (AD8), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Cognitive-Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT) identified the same participants from a neurotypical sample as having cognitive deficits. Very little agreement was found amongst the three tools.

Study two was modified to include two …

Evidence Based Approaches To Improving The Course Of Recovery Following Brain Injury, Courtney M. Andrews

ETSU Faculty Works

• Define the steps associated with implementation of evidence based practice.
• Describe barriers and solutions to implementation of evidence based practice in various work environments.
• Describe elements of evidence based practice as it relates to all phases of recovery from a brain injury.

A Survey Of Perceptions And Professional Boundaries Between Music Therapy And Speech-Language Pathology, Jennifer Rose Fromius

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between music therapists and speech-language pathologists in order to gain a better understanding of professional boundaries within each profession, frequency of co-treatment between the two professions, and perceptions of referral in clinical practice. Data for this research were collected through two online questionnaires with parallel sets of questions, which were distributed to a sample of boardcertified music therapists (MT-BC) and speech-language pathologists (CCC-SLP). Quantitative and qualitative data collected from the survey (N= 283; n = 45 MT-BC, n = 238 CCC-SLP) are analyzed to determine if there are correlations and …

Development Of An Audiologic Rehabilitation Program Model For Adult Patients Receiving Care At A Graduate Training Facility, Amanda Mcfadden, Antony Joseph

AuD Capstone Projects - Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research has shown that untreated hearing loss can negatively impact a person’s quality of life. The average person with hearing loss waits seven years from the onset of symptoms to pursue hearing aids (Hall, 2014). To decrease the negative effects of hearing loss, hearing technology, by itself, is typically not enough support for even the best users (Kelly et al., 2013). To provide supplementary support for these patients, audiologic rehabilitation (AR) is required. Audiologic rehabilitation is the modern term used to classify treatments that were previously so- called “aural rehabilitation.” Per Boothroyd (2007), aural [audiologic] rehabilitation may be defined as, …

The Noise Susceptibility Of Various Speech Bands, Sarah E. Yoho Leopold, Frédéric Apoux, Eric W. Healy

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

The degrading influence of noise on various critical bands of speech was assessed. A modified version of the compound method [Apoux and Healy (2012) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 132, 1078–1087] was employed to establish this noise susceptibility for each speech band. Noise was added to the target speech band at various signal-to-noise ratios to determine the amount of noise required to reduce the contribution of that band by 50%. It was found that noise susceptibility is not equal across the speech spectrum, as is commonly assumed and incorporated into modern indexes. Instead, the signal-to-noise ratio required to equivalently impact …

Alternating Treatments For Idiom Interpretation By Children With Specific Language Impairments, Monique S. Kaye

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of two idiom interventions by students with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Idioms are linguistic expressions that have figurative meanings other than their literal interpretation. There is a strong correlation between idiom interpretation and academic success (Nippold & Martin, 1989). Students are exposed to idioms in media, in school, literature, and in daily interactions with peers and adults (Nippold, Moran, & Schwarz, 2001).Method: Three school-aged students (n=3) with SLI ages 11;9–13;8 (mean age = 12;8) were provided a language intervention for idioms embedded in stories with pictures (n=10) …

We Are The Medicine, Madalynn Wendland, Toni Speed

Interprofessional Education

We are all healers— to ourselves, each other and the world around us. Whether you are on the path of becoming a health professional, or have been in practice for a long time, this half-day workshop will help you to view healing from a holistic perspective that draws from the ancient traditions while respecting contemporary science.

Early Uneven Ear Input Induces Long-Lasting Differences In Left-Right Motor Function, Michelle W. Antoine, Xiaoxia Zhu, Marianne Dieterich, Thomas Brandt, Sarath Vijayakumar, Nicholas Mckeehan, Joseph C. Arezzo, R. Suzanne Zukin, David A. Borkholder, Sherri M. Jones, Robert D. Frisina, Jean M. Hébert

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

How asymmetries in motor behavior become established normally or atypically in mammals remains unclear. An established model for motor asymmetry that is conserved across mammals can be obtained by experimentally inducing asymmetric striatal dopamine activity. However, the factors that can cause motor asymmetries in the absence of experimental manipulations to the brain remain unknown. Here, we show that mice with inner ear dysfunction display a robust left or right rotational preference, and this motor preference reflects an atypical asymmetry in cortico-striatal neurotransmission. By unilaterally targeting striatal activity with an antagonist of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), a downstream integrator of striatal …

A Speed-Based Approach To Vestibular Rehabilitation For Peripheral Vestibular Hypofunction: A Retrospective Chart Review, Robert Alen Roller, Courtney D. Hall

ETSU Faculty Works

BACKGROUND: Current vestibular rehabilitation for peripheral vestibular hypofunction is an exercise-based approach that improves symptoms and function in most, but not all patients, and includes gaze stabilization exercises focused on duration of head movement. One factor that may impact rehabilitation outcomes is the speed of head movement during gaze stability exercises.

OBJECTIVE: Examine outcomes of modified VOR X1 exercises that emphasize a speed-based approach for gaze stabilization while omitting substitution and habituation exercises. Balance training focused on postural realignment and hip strategy performance during altered visual and somatosensory inputs.

METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 159 patients with vestibular deficits …

The Psychosocial Effects Of Microtia On Family's Decision Process, Alexandra Puatu

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

One in every 10,000 live births result in a facial anomaly called microtia, which affects the outer, visible part of the ear. This can have varying levels of severity, ranging from a smaller than average ear size (type one) to the complete absence of any external ear (type four). Families are presented with three options: surgery, hearing aids, or to allow the child to continue developing with no technological help. When families are presented with these options, the process tends to be stressful because of the added, unexpected decisions needed to be made on a family with a new member. …

The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Vocal Quality And Function With Self-Esteem In Older Adults, Victoria Berto

Theses and Dissertations

Alterations to the voice that occur in older adulthood include changes in vocal fold mass, inadequate approximation of the vocal folds, tremor, and air loss (Lundy, Silva, Casiano, Lu, & Xue, 1998). Many of the vocal changes that occur in older adults, those aged 65 and older (Colby & Ortman, 2015), may affect their social and emotional well-being. While some persons are not affected by life span vocal changes, others suffer from co-occuring depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal (Epstein, Hirani, Stygall, & Newman, 2009; Mirza, Ruiz, Baum, & Staab, 2003; Monini, Filippi, Baldini, & Barbara, 2015). There have been numerous …