Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Examining Barriers With Implementing Augmentative And Alternative Communication In A Midwest School, Ashley Renee Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in a Midwest urban public school system have experienced barriers that prohibit the effective use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The result has left some students with speech language impairments (SLI) without the communication skills for meaningful relationships and success in and out of school. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to determine the perceived barriers of 8 local school SLPs regarding the successful implementation of AAC and their suggestions for addressing the problem. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with the SLPs. Data collection and analysis were grounded by Ely's conditions of …

Speech-Language Pathologists On Multicultural Counseling Competency, Denise Moore Revel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite reports of speech-language pathology graduate-level programs focusing on multicultural competence, the literature suggests speech-language pathologists are not adequately educated and trained to be culturally competent. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public school-based speech-language pathologists' graduate-level academic instruction and the clinical practicum experiences in multicultural competence, specifically in the area of multicultural counseling. Guided by the theory of multicultural counseling and therapy, this study used a phenomenological approach, employing semistructured, in-person interviews with 7 participants. The inclusion criteria used for selecting study participants included: having a master's degree in speech-language pathology, graduation from an …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Caregivers' Support For Their Preschool Children's Language And Social Skills Development, Sheri Stein Blum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some children have difficulty communicating due to a lack of age-appropriate language and social skills. Researchers have explored how music and language share features that shape language processing. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis was to explore the experiences of caregivers of preschool children who participated in a music-based program and to understand their perspectives related to children's language and social skill development. Learning style and sensory integration processing theories were used as framework to provide foundations of skills in this study. Research questions addressed caregivers' choices related to this program for their children, their experiences of their children's …

Learning About Aphasia Through Experience: Descriptions Of An Interdisciplinary Patient Centered Seminar, Tyson G. Harmon, Shawn Fleck, Adam Jacks

Faculty Publications

People with aphasia (PWA) have an insider’s perspective that can help educate and motivate students during their clinical training (Parr, 2001; Purves, Petersen, & Puurveen, 2013). Being involved in educating students through life experiences can also benefit PWA. In this article we describe a program wherein three PWA shared their experiences with first year graduate students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology. The process of preparing, organizing, and executing the program is outlined. One PWA adds his personal insight by describing his participation in the program using his own words. A student leader of the program also adds …

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 …

Bidirectional Interference Between Speech And Nonspeech Tasks In Younger, Middle-Aged, And Older Adults, Christopher Dromey, Dallin J. Bailey

Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine divided attention over a large age range by looking at the effects of 3 nonspeech tasks on concurrent speech motor performance. The nonspeech tasks were designed to facilitate measurement of bidirectional interference, allowing examination of their sensitivity to speech activity. A cross-sectional design was selected to explore possible changes in divided-attention effects associated with age. Method: Sixty healthy participants were separated into3 groups of 20: younger (20s), middle-aged (40s), and older (60s) adults. Each participant completed a speech task (sentence repetitions) once in isolation and once concurrently with each of 3 …

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 …

The Contribution Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion To The Development Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Kylie Lauren Marshall

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A controversial issue is whether TBI is a necessary precursor to the development of PTSD symptoms, or if the two variables are mutually exclusive. Recent rodent-models reveal that a stressful environment cannot cause PTSD symptoms directly without TBI, yet it is unknown if PTSD symptoms can develop following a TBI. This study provides a potential analogue to study this relationship by evaluating the effects of sports-related concussion. Purpose: This study investigated two questions, 1) Is there a significant difference in the frequency of PTSD symptoms reported by athletes at baseline (BL) testing and post-concussion (PC) testing over time? 2) Is …

Predicting Protracted Recovery From Sports-Related Concussion Using Computerized Neurocognitive Test Scores And Symptom Cluster Scores, Amanda Sepulveda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: A previous study showed that symptom evaluation, in conjunction with computerized neurocognitive testing, improved predictions of protracted recovery in a group of male high school football players. The determination of prognosis following sports-related concussion can be used to facilitate return-to-play and academic decision making in concussion management.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous research in determining the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of computerized neurocognitive test scores and symptom cluster scores in predicting protracted recovery following sports-related concussion.

Study Design: Systematic replication, Cohort study (prognosis)

Methods: 30 concussed collegiate athletes were followed …

A Comparison Of Maze Frequency And Type Across Language And Speaker: A Look At English And Spanish Narrative Retells, Melissa Silver

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Mazes, as they are referred to in the language literature, are disfluencies that do not add meaning to an utterance including filled pauses, whole word revisions, part word revisions, part word repetitions and whole word repetitions. Extensive research has been conducted on mazes in monolingual and bilingual children, yet the research has not been extended to adults' narrative retell production.

Aims: The current study analyzes monolingual English, monolingual Spanish, and bilingual English and Spanish narrative retells to compare the percent of maze use and type of maze use amongst groups.

Methods & Procedures: The narrative retells of thirty-nine bilingual …

The Effects Of Baby Sign Training On Child Development, Bethany Iris Urquidi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Baby sign has gained the attention of many researchers and parents. Relatively little is known about the use of baby sign and the impact it has on the development of children. As the use of baby sign increases in popularity, research studies have had limited and inconsistent results regarding its influence. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of baby sign training on the overall development of normally hearing children while improving on the limitations of current studies (between group study). Methods: Participants in the study included 22 children, ages 6 months to 2 years; …

A Comparative Assessment Of Electrophysiological And Behavioral Performance In Individuals With Aphasia Responding To Spoken And Written Sentence Length Commands, Sha-Renae Alexander

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this study is to investigate whether deficits in processing affect auditory and reading comprehension in the same manner. This study compared the behavioral and electrophysiologic performance of four individuals with aphasia and four participants with no brain damage responding to spoken and written sentence length commands using a modified version of the Revised Token Test (McNeil & Prescott, 1978). Electrophysiological responses were recorded from the scalp using event related potentials (ERP). The latency and amplitude of the N400 ERP component were measured and analyzed. Behavioral reaction times and correct responses were collected and examined. Performance differences between …

Processing Of Language Switches In Bilingual Individuals With Aphasia: An Event-Related Potential Comparison, Lizette Rodarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Switching between languages, or code-switching, is a common phenomenon in bilingual individuals. In proficient bilinguals, these switches are done with ease and are used for many purposes. Contrary to popular belief, these switches are rule-governed and follow grammatical structure. Bilingual individuals diagnosed with aphasia present with difficulty processing languages and these language switches. With the increase in bilingual individuals, it is likely that the speech-language pathology community will see an increase of bilingual individuals with aphasia on their caseload. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the neural processes involved in processing of …

The Impact Of Accented English On Speech Comprehension, Benigno Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

In the context of shifting demographics in the United States and with an increasing multicultural workforce, the verbal exchange of information is vital especially between health care providers and patients. Although English is the official language in the United States, many individuals from different national origins speak English with some degree of accent. Before we can address health care provider/patient communication, it is necessary to investigate the potential impact of accented English on speech comprehension and its implications on basic communicative interactions. The verbal exchange of information between health care providers and patients is important in diagnostics, treatment, patient …

Epithelial Cells Are Active Participants In Vocal Fold Wound Healing: An In Vivo Animal Model Of Injury, Ciara Leydon, Mitsuyoshi Imaizumi, Rebecca S. Bartlett, Sarah F. Wang, Susan L. Thibeault

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Vocal fold epithelial cells likely play an important, yet currently poorly defined, role in healing following injury, irritation and inflammation. In the present study, we sought to identify a possible role for growth factors, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGFβ1), in epithelial regeneration during wound healing as a necessary first step for uncovering potential signaling mechanisms of vocal fold wound repair and remodeling. Using a rat model, we created unilateral vocal fold injuries and examined the timeline for epithelial healing and regeneration during early and late stages of wound healing using immunohistochemistry (IHC). We observed time-dependent …

Accessing Canal Pride: The Intersection Of Identities For Lgbt People With Physical Disabilities At A Global Event, Margaret Webb

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research is the study of the intersection between queerness and disability within the context of Amsterdam Gay Pride, specifically the Canal Parade. The study examines the intersection between LGBT identity and physical disability at the event and in surrounding organization and events within the Amsterdam LGBT community. The primary research question was: how does Amsterdam Canal Pride’s accessibility affect both the positioning of the LGBT and disabled identifying community in Amsterdam and the relevance of the event as a place of activism and celebration? Five interviewees identifying as lesbian or gay, possessing a physical disability, participating in activism within …

Classroom Amplification: The Necessity Of Sound-Amplification In The Classroom, Kalley Ellis

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In a classroom, the optimal signal-to-noise ratio, as is recommended by the American Nation Standards Institute (ANSI), is 35 dBA, with the reverberation reaching a maximum of 0.6s (Lewis, 2008); yet, in classrooms today, the typical signal-to-noise ratio ranges from 40-73 dBA (Lewis, 2008). With at least 75% of the school day being spent in listening activities (e.g. reading, instructions, lecture, etc.), this noise level in the classroom has great impact on what a child hears and, thus, learns (Blazer, 2008). Unfortunately, with each new year, classroom sizes are increasing and creating an even more detrimental noise level and signal-to-noise …

Development Of Speech Recognition Threshold And Word Recognition Materials For Native Vietnamese Speakers, Claire Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the documented need for reliable speech audiometry materials for measures such as speech recognition threshold and word recognition score, such recorded materials are not available in the Vietnamese language. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Vietnamese bisyllabic and monosyllabic word lists for use in the measurement of speech recognition and word recognition ability, respectively. To create the speech recognition threshold materials, common Vietnamese bisyllabic words were digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Vietnamese and presented for evaluation to 20 native speakers of Vietnamese with normal hearing. …