Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Neural Control Of Tongue Movements Across Effort Levels, Megan Rovang, Angela M. Dietsch

UCARE: Research Products

Background

A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a mismatch between the perceived effort and actual forces exerted during functional activities such as speech. Current evidence supports therapy to help reset this perception of effort, but the neurological underpinnings of such treatments are unclear. This study examined brain activity during tongue movements performed at varying levels of effort to determine (1) which brain areas are involved in each task, and (2) which areas, if any, scale in activation according to effort level. These results, considered with the neurological changes associated with PD, can be used to develop and refine treatment …

Interprofessional Collaboration And Traumatic Brain Injury, Elizabeth Rizzi, Melissa Tapia

Graduate Independent Studies - Communication Sciences and Disorders

Within the scope of practice of speech-language pathology, the goal of intervention for patients with TBI is to achieve the highest level of independent function possible to facilitate participation in daily living. Treatment is always individualized for individuals with TBI based on the specific characteristics present. It is best to provide treatment in the language(s) used by the individual as well as incorporate and consider the cultural values and norms of the individual. There are several treatment options available for patients with TBI, which include identifying the best service delivery model appropriate for their lifestyle (ASHA, 2016).

Outcomes Of Speech And Language Pilot Program For International Students, Kelly Fussman

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Universities in the United States host a substantial number of international students every academic year. As of the 2015-2016 academic year, Western Kentucky University, located in south-central Kentucky, alone hosts over 1,400 international students. These students often face a number of challenges upon arrival in the United States, especially when it comes to language and cultural differences. A considerable body of research indicates that international students’ educational performance and outcomes are significantly impacted by their cultural identities, psychological and sociocultural experiences, and attitudes in relation to English-speaking societies. Many international students attribute academic and social difficulties to a lack of …

Semantic Knowledge Use In Discourse Produced By Individuals With Anomic Aphasia, Stephen Kintz, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background---Researchers have demonstrated that people with aphasia (PWA) have preserved semantic knowledge (Dell et al., 1997; Jefferies & Lambon Ralph, 2006). However, Antonucci (2014) demonstrated that some PWA have impaired access to certain types of knowledge more than others. Yet, all these studies used single concepts. It has not been demonstrated whether PWA have difficulty accessing certain types of features within a discourse sample.

Aims—The main goals of this study were to determine if semantic knowledge and two category types were used differently within discourse produced by participants with anomic aphasia and healthy controls.

Method & Procedures—Participants …

Effect Of Taste Stimuli On Swallowing Function In Persons With Traumatic Injuries, Megan Asselin, Angela M. Dietsch

UCARE: Research Products

Background

Swallowing disorders are prevalent and costly. As of now, there are limited therapeutic options available to treat them. Extant research in limited populations has suggested that swallowing mechanics can be improved by extremely sour liquids, but this has not been tested in traumatically injured populations. However, sour tastants are unpleasant, and more palatable taste mixtures have not been tested.

Methods

The quantitative data were extracted from an existing pool of de-identified video fluoroscopic swallowing studies (moving radiographs) obtained from traumatically injured young adults under another research protocol. Each participant completed swallows of custom-mixed plain, sour, and sweet-sour boluses. Positions …

Hydration And Vocal Loading On Voice Measures, Anusha Sundarrajan

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal loading adversely affects the healthy larynx. The negative effects of vocal loading are thought to be exacerbated in dry environments, noisy environments, using non-habitual speaking patterns, and voice quality. Advancing age is also thought to be a risk factor for the negative effects of loading. To systematically tease out the effects of these factors on the healthy larynx, three different experiments were conducted. In each experiment, healthy participants produced 45-minutes of child-directed speech. In experiment 1, older, healthy adults produced loud child-directed speech, in the presence of background noise, in both low and moderate humidities, and voice was assessed. …

A History Of The Audiology Program At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln: 1920 To 2015, T. Newell Decker

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Programs for the hearing impaired have been in existence at the University of Nebraska for many years. However, there is no comprehensive history of these efforts. This work is an attempt to provide a complete picture of these programs and to detail the history and growth of the Audiology Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. When the author came to the University in 1977 audiology was already well established at the University as well as in the State. After joining the faculty, the author served in the capacity of Coordinator of the Audiology and Hearing Science Program from 1977 until …

Genome-Wide Significant Loci For Addiction And Anxiety, Karen Hodgson, Laura Almasy, Emma E. M. Knowles, Jack W. Kent Jr., Joanne E. Curran, Thomas D. Dyer, Harald H. H. Goring, Rene L. Olvera, Peter T. Fox, Godfrey D. Pearlson, J. H. Krystal, Ravindranath Duggirala, John Blangero, David C. Glahn

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Psychiatric comorbidity is common among individuals with addictive disorders, with patients frequently suffering from anxiety disorders. While the genetic architecture of comorbid addictive and anxiety disorders remains unclear, elucidating the genes involved could provide important insights into the underlying etiology.

Methods

Here we examine a sample of 1284 Mexican-Americans from randomly selected extended pedigrees. Variance decomposition methods were used to examine the role of genetics in addiction phenotypes (lifetime history of alcohol dependence, drug dependence or chronic smoking) and various forms of clinically relevant anxiety. Genome-wide univariate and bivariate linkage scans were conducted to localize the chromosomal regions influencing …

Assessing Spanish-Speaking Children: A Comparison Of International Practices, Alexis Decker

Honors Projects

According to The National Center for Educational Statistics, 7.7% of all public K-12 students in the United States (US) speak Spanish in the home, representing 76.5% of all English- language learner (ELL) students (2013). Children exposed to two languages are referred to in the literature as ELLs, language minorities and/or bilingual children. As these children enter school, language disorders and differences may become apparent to the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). It is the responsibility of the SLP to determine whether a disorder exists or if what is being observed is simply an issue of language difference. As such, it is important …

Feeding/Swallowing Disorders: Maintaining Quality Of Life In Persons With Intellectual Disability, Luis Riquelme, Rebecca Benjamin, Hannah Tahhan, Gracelynn Sandoval, Naga Alomari, Alexandra Soyfer

NYMC Faculty Publications

Persons with intellectual disability (ID) have received little attention in systematic studies of healthcare and quality of life. Less attention has been provided to specific disorders, such as those impacting the swallowing mechanism. In comparison to the general population, persons with ID experience noticeably greater healthcare inequalities and despite greater life expectancy, it is still lower than the general population. This paper serves as an introduction to healthcare colleagues regarding the risks involved in choking and swallowing disorders in persons with ID, how to evaluate these potential risks and possible treatments. Associated etiologies are presented. A discussion on feeding disorders …

Opening And Closing Jaw Movements Of Young Children Who Stutter., Victoria Tumanova, Anthony P. Buhr, Patricia Zevrowski, Jerald Moon, Richard Arenas, Torrey Loucks

Communication Sciences and Disorders - All Scholarship

Objective: In this longitudinal study, we investigated the hypothesis that kinematic measures of jaw movement produced by children who stuttered (CWS) and children who did not stutter (CWNS) would differ between opening and closing speech gestures, across phonetic contexts, and across development.

Methods: Mean amplitude, velocity, and duration of jaw opening and closing gestures during repeated productions of bilabial syllables were analyzed longitudinally at 1-year intervals for 13 CWS and 7 children CWNS. The utterances ranged across four phonetic contexts: single-syllable, two-syllable, three-syllable, and six-syllable. For jaw movement transduction, a strain gauge was attached to a football helmet in a …

Analyzing Spelling Errors By Linguistic Features Among Children With Learning Disabilities, Christine Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to spell fluently and accurately, phonology, orthography, and morphology must be integrated and stored into long term memory (Berninger & Richards, in press; Berninger, Nagy, Tanimoto, Thompson, Abbott, 2015). Children with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and OWL-LD have specific deficits in linguistic processing that impede the cross-mapping of these linguistic elements. This study analyzes the frequency and nature of spelling errors produced by children with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and OWL-LD during an academic writing task in order to determine if known deficits in linguistic processing affect the type and severity of spelling errors made by these children.

The present study analyzed …

Duration Of Time Spent Playing Online Video Games, Interpersonal Skills, And Introversion Personality Traits As Predictors For Social Anxiety Symptoms, James D. Bender

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study sought to determine if time spent engaging in online gaming, interpersonal communication skills, and introvert personality traits are predictors of an individual’s likelihood of experiencing symptoms of social anxiety. A sample of 128 participants (82 males and 46 females) completed measures of demographics, interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, social anxiety, and introversion. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. There were significant correlations among social anxiety and interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, and introversion. There was no significant correlation among social anxiety and time spent playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), a specific form of …

Large Cross-Sectional Study Of Presbycusis Reveals Rapid Progressive Decline In Auditory Temporal Acuity, Erol J. Ozmeral, Ann C. Eddins, Robert Frisina Sr., David A. Eddins

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Publications

The auditory system relies on extraordinarily precise timing cues for the accurate perception of speech, music, and object identification. Epidemiological research has documented the age-related progressive decline in hearing sensitivity that is known to be a major health concern for the elderly. Although smaller investigations indicate that auditory temporal processing also declines with age, such measures have not been included in larger studies. Temporal gap detection thresholds (TGDTs; an index of auditory temporal resolution) measured in 1071 listeners (aged 18–98 years) were shown to decline at a minimum rate of 1.05 ms (15%) per decade. Age was a significant predictor …

Sleep Deprivation And Recovery: The Effects Of P300 Three And Six Hours Post Recovery, Kimberly A. Brauer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The P300 waveform is an auditory evoked potential (AEP) elicited through a decision making process. Due to the endogenous nature of the P300 response, which requires participants to actively respond to an auditory stimuli, it has been used as on objective measure to evaluate the cognitive processes of attention and memory. Previous studies have looked at the P300 before and after sleep deprivation as well as after brief rest periods. Evidence shows that a decline in P300 amplitudes and increase in latency are seen after 24 hours of sleep deprivation and improvements in the P300 are seen after a recovery …

Rubrics: Effectiveness Of Feedback, Sadie Louise Winterscheid

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how rubrics affect university graduate students' receptiveness to feedback, their future college assignments, and if they will use rubrics in their own classroom. Two surveys were sent to teachers and teacher candidate graduate students from a Midwestern university. Participants were asked to answer one of the two surveys depending on whether they had their teaching certificate or were working to receive their teaching certificate. The participants answered survey questions about their college experience with rubrics and their experience and opinions of rubrics in their own, or future, classrooms. The research demonstrated that: …

Story Retell Narratives In Five School-Aged Children With Language Impairment, Megan Bradshaw Deere

Theses and Dissertations

Many children identified with Language Impairment (LI) demonstrate difficulty comprehending and producing narratives. Their narratives are often structurally less complex and of overall poorer quality than those produced by their typically developing peers. These difficulties may negatively impact the academic and social success of children with LI. This thesis evaluates the performance of five school-aged children with LI on a story retell probe embedded within an intervention designed to address their social and emotional language abilities. During the 10-week intervention, participants completed a series of story retell probes using wordless picture books. The story stimuli were taken from the Edmonton …

Construction And Evaluation Of Rodent-Specific Rtms Coils, Alexander D. Tang, Andrea S. Lowe, Andrew R. Garrett, Robert Woodward, William Bennett, Alison J. Canty, Michael I. Garry, Mark R. Hinder, Jeffery J. Summers, Roman Gersner, Alexander Rotenberg, Gary Thickbroom, Joseph P. Walton, Jennifer Rodger

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Publications

Rodent models of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) play a crucial role in aiding the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying TMS induced plasticity. Rodent-specific TMS have previously been used to deliver focal stimulation at the cost of stimulus intensity (12 mT). Here we describe two novel TMS coils designed to deliver repetitive TMS (rTMS) at greater stimulation intensities whilst maintaining spatial resolution. Two circular coils (8 mm outer diameter) were constructed with either an air or pure iron-core. Peak magnetic field strength for the air and iron-cores were 90 and 120 mT, respectively, with the iron-core coil exhibiting …

Analysis Of Patterns In Handwritten Spelling Errors Among Students With Various Specific Learning Disabilities, Laura Ann Winkler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities struggle with spelling accuracy, but they do so for different reasons. For instance, students with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and oral-written language learning disability (OWL-LD) have distinct areas of weakness in cognitive processing and unique difficulties with the linguistic features necessary for accurate spelling (Silliman & Berninger, 2011). This project considered the spelling errors made by such students to determine if their unique learning profiles lead to distinct misspelling patterns.

Academic summaries handwritten by 33 students diagnosed with dysgraphia (n=13), dyslexia (n=15), and OWL-LD (n=5) were analyzed for type/complexity and …

Effects Of A Novel Right Brain Intervention On Stuttering In Familiar And Structured Speech Tasks, Josalyn Elizabeth Perry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over 3 million Americans are disfluent due to developmental stuttering. Current evidence-based treatments typically consist of a rigorous schedule of intensive therapy, followed by the need for maintenance of skills, placing high demands on self-monitoring of one’s speech at all times. Relapse after treatment is very common, at 84%. The demand for further research into treatment possibilities for stuttering is on the forefront. Previous research has connected neural activations in people who stutter (PWS) and people with chronic nonfluent aphasia. The aim of this study was to determine if a novel intervention, based on a treatment for anomia, would change …