bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Process \'prǎ|,ses\n: The Action of Moving Forward Progressively from One Point to Another on the Way to Completion
Authors: Pruning Carol A.
Published: July 2014

A rationale for the application of a stage process model for the language-disordered child is presented. The major behaviors of the communicative system (pragmatic-semantic-syntactic-phonological) are summarized and organized in stages from pre-linguistic to the adult level. The article provides clinicians with guidelines, based on complexity, for the content and sequencing of communicative behaviors to be used in planning remedial programs.
The Dysarthrias of Shy-Drager Syndrome
Authors: Linebough Craig
Published: July 2014

Shy-Drager syndrome is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that may include among its signs some form of dysarthria. Of 80 patients with Shy-Drager syndrome, 35 presented some form of dysarthria. Of these, 15 presented dysarthria indicative of cerebellar dysfunction, 11 with dysarthria indicating involvement of the striatum, and nine with various mixed dysarthrias indicative of multiple motor system involvement. The results of this study reaffirm the value of assessing motor speech in the differential diagnosis of neuromotor impairments and emphasize the importance of maintaining effective modes of communication for patients having progressive disorders.
Analysis of Tympanometry of a Severe to Profound Hearing-Impaired Population of School-Age Children
Authors: Morgenstern Nilda , Jones-Crymes Barbara
Published: July 2014

Impedance audiometry provides a reliable technique for identifying undetected middle ear pathologies in children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. In this study, tympanograms were obtained on 104 children with sensorineural hearing losses of 60 dB or more. The tympanograms were classified according to type and were compared for bilateral similarity. A high percentage of the younger children had abnormal tympanograms, with almost half of these children having the same type of abnormal tympanogram bilaterally. The use of impedance audiometry as a screening technique for hearing-impaired school-age children is discussed.
Speech and Language Testing With Distinct Ethnic-Racial Groups: A Survey of Procedures for Improving Validity
Authors: Evard Beth L. , Sabers Darrell L.
Published: July 2014

Several procedures are being used currently to improve the validity of speech and language evaluation for ethnic or racial groups from lower-income populations. Procedures mentioned in this article include: (1) developing a new test, (2) modifying test items or keyed responses on existing tests, and (3) developing new norms for existing tests. Examples are given for each procedure, and advantages and disadvantages are discussed.
The Influence of Pauses in the Competing Signal on Synthetic Sentence Identification Scores
Authors: Martin Frederick N. , Mussell Sue Ann
Published: July 2014

Thirty normal-hearing subjects participated in an experiment testing the effects of pauses in the competing discourse on the synthetic sentence identification (SSI) task. When speech noise was added to the continuous discourse used for competition, subjects found it more difficult to identify the key words in the synthetic sentences.
A Child With Noonan Syndrome
Authors: Hopkins-Acos Patricia , Bunker Karen
Published: July 2014

The speech, language, and hearing characteristics of a child with Noonan syndrome are described in this report. The physical characteristics of this disorder are presented. Also included is a description of a pragmatic language analysis completed to provide a description of social-linguistic communication and a basis for treatment.
Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Dissection
Authors: Wilson Frank B. , Oldring D. J. , Mueller Kathleen
Published: July 2014

This case study describes successful management of spastic dysphonia using a procedure whereby the right recurrent laryngeal nerve was severed. Thirteen months following the surgical treatment, the subject reported a return of the preoperative vocal characteristics of spastic dysphonia. Tests and inspection revealed that the right recurrent nerve was again intact and the right vocal fold was functional. A second surgical procedure was performed, modified to prevent neural reconnection, with a return of the improved voice observed following the initial surgery. The results are discussed in terms of etiological considerations of spastic dysphonia.
Performance of Children with Severe to Profound Auditory Impairment in Instrumentally Guided Reduction of Nasal Resonance
Authors: Fletcher Samuel G. , Higgins Jerry M.
Published: July 2014

Twelve students at the Kentucky School for the Deaf were studied using a bioelectronic instrument to provide visual feedback of the degree of nasal resonance, thereby guiding them toward reduction of excessively nasal voice quality. The subjects were given a maximum of fourteen 20-min sessions of training. The results indicated that the feedback information was used very effectively by five subjects and somewhat effectively by four others. The remaining three subjects did not demonstrate a consistent relationship between periods of training and reductions in nasal resonance. Pre- and post-training testing using stimuli not included in the training material demonstrated significant generalization of the nasalance control gained in the training sessions.
Collapsed Ear Canals in the Elderly Nursing Home Population
Authors: Schow Ronald L. , Goldbaum Diane Edwards
Published: July 2014

In a sample of 104 elderly nursing home residents, collapsed ear canals were found in 41% of the subjects. Age emerged as a significant factor in these data since collapsed ear canals were significantly more common among the nursing home residents that were age 80 or over. Based on these findings, mean hearing threshold data on this population will overestimate hearing loss by 2-8 dB when collapsing ear canals are not considered.
Consonant and Syllable Harmony in the Speech of Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Leonard Laurence B. , Miller Judith A. , Brown Heather
Published: July 2014

The focus of this study was an examination of the functions served by consonant assimilation and reduplication in the speech of eight language-disordered children. The findings suggested that assimilation may have served the function of allowing the children to produce words in a manner enabling them to avoid difficult consonants, while reduplication may have served the function of allowing the children to produce multisyllabic words at a time when they were not yet able to handle the syllable structure of the adult forms of these words. The implications of these findings for lexical and speech sound training are discussed.
Early Phonological Behavior in Normal-Speaking and Language Disordered Children
Authors: Schwartz Richard G. , Leonard Laurence B. , Folger M. Karen , Wilcox M. Jeanne
Published: July 2014

Various aspects of the phonological behavior of three normal-speaking and three language disordered children, matched on the basis of mean utterance length, sex, and cognitive development, were compared. The children's spontaneous speech was analyzed to reveal selection constraints inferred from characteristics of the adult form of the words attempted by the child, production constraints inferred from characteristics of the children's productions, phonological processes, and five dimensions of phonological variability. While some individual variation was noted, no substantial group differences were revealed. The phonologies of the normal-speaking and language disordered children were strikingly similar. The implications of these similarities are discussed in terms of a synergistic view of linguistic disorders and remediation.
The SSI and NU6 in Clinical Hearing Aid Evaluation
Authors: Orchik Daniel J. , Roddy Norma
Published: July 2014

The Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI) and the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (NU6) were compared in a hearing aid evaluation procedure using normal-hearing listeners and subjects with sensorineural hearing loss. Listener performance was assessed at three message-to-competition ratios (MCR) employing the same competing message. Aided benefit and residual deficit were evaluated for both measures and, in general, the results obtained with the NU6 indicated greater aided benefit as well as greater residual deficit than the SSI for these hearing-impaired subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for clinical hearing aid evaluations.
Earmold Options for Wideband Hearing Aids
Authors: Killion Mead C.
Published: July 2014

A summary of recent developments in earmold constructions for wideband hearing aides is presented. Earmold modification techniques, special earmolds, and temporary earmolds are discussed. The appendix contains the results from transmission line theory as applied to earmold acoustics and some sources for useful earmold supplies.
The Concomitant Problems of Young Stutterers
Authors: Blood Gordon W. , Seider Robin
Published: July 2014

This investigation was designed to survey a sample of 650 speech-language pathologists providing services in elementary schools and to obtain information on the concomitant problems of stutterers in their caseloads. The results of the survey revealed that 32% of all the young stutterers were free of any other problems. The remaining 68% were reported as having some other type of problem (articulation, language, voice, emotional disturbance, neurological handicap, etc.) in addition to their stutterering. Results also present the type of therapy received by each subgroup. Limitations of the survey method and clinical and research implications are discussed.
Individual Speaker Influence on Relative Intelligibility of Esophageal Speech and Artificial Larynx Speech
Authors: Kalb Marti Butell , Carpenter Mary A.
Published: July 2014

Comparisons were made of the relative intelligibility of esophageal and artificial larynx speech. Care was taken to minimize the variable effects of individual speaker characteristics. For example, rather than relying solely on data comparisons between groups of different speakers, contrasts were also made between sample from subjects who could use both means of alaryngeal speech.

Fifteen proficient male laryngectomized speakers were selected. Five used only esophageal speech, five used only artificial larynx speech, and five produced both forms of speech. Recordings were made while the subjects read 50 PB (Phonetically Balanced) words embedded in a carrier phrase and were transcribed by 30 naive listeners. Differences in intelligibility between esophageal and artificial larynx speech resulted when data comparisons were based on different speaker groups. However, differences were not evident when data from the same speakers were compared. The results were interpreted to highlight the possible influence of individual speaker characteristics, rather than differences between communication methods.
Ipsilateral Auditory Pathway Suppression in Dichotic CV Speech Perception
Authors: McNeil Malcolm R. , Pettit John M. , Olsen Wayne O.
Published: July 2014

The exact nature of ipsilateral auditory pathway suppression under dichotic stimulation remains controversial. To help resolve this controversy, the distinctive feature confusions (blend vs nonblend errors) made on a dichotic listening CV test by two hemispherectomees were analyzed. Results support ipsilateral auditory pathway suppression under dichotic CV stimulation. Ipsilateral auditory pathway suppression is discussed in terms of stimulus specificity, subject, and task difference.
The Role of Distinctive Features in Articulation Errors
Authors: Singh Sadanand , Hayden Mary Ellen , Toombs Margaret Stutts
Published: July 2014

Articulation errors of 1,077 children of various ages, etiologies, and sexes were taken from several standardized articulation tests. The Singh and Singh (1976) distinctive feature system was used to produce profiles for each subgroup for consonant phonemes in the initial, medial, and final word positions. Distinctive features were used with different degrees of importance causing hierarchial orders among the features. The hierarchy of features established in this study was consistent with those found in previous studies. It was more pronounced for the initial position than for the medial and final positions, and for the younger age groups as compared with the older groups. In addition, the feature hierarchy for the articulation-disordered group was more distinct than that for the language group. Females revealed a generally superior performance to males, but this superiority was in general not statistically significant. Findings are discussed as to their relevance in the overall application of a phonological theory to speech production strategies.
Reflex Modulation
Authors: Reiter Levi A. , Goetzinger Cornelius P. , Press Steven E.
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of reflex modulation (RM) audiometry in assessing the hearing sensitivity of difficult-to-test subjects. RM describes the inhibitory effect of a tone upon a subsequently elicited eyeblink reflex. Five ENT subjects were referred to the University of Kansas Andiology Clinic because of medicolegal problems or doubts regarding their hearing status. After conventional pure tone and speech audiometry had produced equivocal results, the subjects were tested by RM. The study indicates that RM is effective as an objective test of hearing for these subjects. Since RM sensitivity is not frequently dependent, it has a potential role as an adjunct to the brainstem evoked response (BSER) for testing low frequencies.
Long-Term Effects on Speech of Chronic Cerebellar Stimulation in Cerebral Palsy
Authors: Wolfe Virginia I. , Ratusnik David L. , Penn Richard D.
Published: July 2014

Chronic cerebellar stimulation (CCS) of the anterior lobe is undertaken for relief of motor dysfunction in cerebral palsy, but the long-term effect on speech and voice has been uncertain. The present study evaluated speech before cerebellar stimulation and between one year and two years, seven months following stimulation in nine patients with congenital cerebral palsy and one patient with traumatic brain damage.

Severity of dysarthria was not significantly altered as assessed by a panel of listeners. No patient demonstrated deterioration in speech. Only two of the 10 patients showed small positive changes in the majority of parameters evaluated including rate, articulation, and voice.
A Minimal-Word-Pair Model for Teaching the Linguistic Significance of Distinctive Feature Properties
Authors: Blache Stephen E. , Parsons Carl L. , Humphreys Jean M.
Published: July 2014

A word level behavioral routine for the remediation of distinctive feature errors was developed for resolving some current theoretical criticisms of minimal-pair therapy. Seven children with moderate to severe non-organic phonological disabilities were taught to correctly discriminate and produce sounds in words by utilizing lexical contrasts. A one-group pretest-posttest design was utilized to establish that the number and severity of the sound substitutions decreased with training. Phonemic improvement was demonstrated with as few as three minimal-pair-words. A paradigm is proffered for future development and explanation.
Canon Communication Use by Adults
Authors: Beukelman David R. , Yorkston Kathryn M. , Gorhoff Sandra C. , Mitsuda Patricia M. , Kenyon V. Talley
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to document aspects of successful Canon Communicator use by 13 subjects. Questionnaires were completed by the speech-language pathologists serving these individuals. Subjects ranged in age from 17 to 64 years. They had used the Canon as a communication augmentation device from 2 to 24 months. All were either anarthric or severely dysarthric as a result of a neurological disorder (cerebral palsy, bilateral CVA, closed head injury, ALS) but none were diagnosed as aphasic. The decision to recommend the Canon was made more rapidly for older adults. Although a majority of the subjects used more than one communication system, all subjects for whom the Canon remained appropriate (11 of 13) continued to use this device more frequently than other systems. No malfunction other than power supply system was reported.
A Comparison of Functional Gain and 2 CM
3
Coupler Gain
Authors: Hawkins David B. , Haskell George B.
Published: July 2014

The amount by which individual functional gain differed from 2 cm
3
coupler gain for a single wide-band hearing aid was determined empirically for 20 hearing-impaired adults. Both occluding and non-occluding earmold fittings were evaluated. The amount of this difference accounted for by known measurement differences, such as coupler, real-ear response differences, earmold differences, and sound field pressure differences between the eardrum and hearing aid microphone location, was also established. While it was found that accounting for the known major measurement differences resulted in a reasonable estimate of median differences between measurements of functional gain and measurements of gain in a 2 cm
3
coupler, individual variability was quite high.
Acoustic Characteristics of Voice Production after Staffieri's Surgical Reconstructive Procedure
Authors: Robbins Joanne , Fisher Hilda B.
Published: July 2014

Selected phonatory variables for two laryngeal cancer patients were studied before and after total laryngectomy with reconstruction designed to restore phonation. Each subject performed five speaking tasks while simultaneous pneumographic and voice recordings were obtained. Measures of sound pressure level, fundamental frequency, vowel formant structure, frequency range, words per minute, maximum phonation time, and syllables per breath were compared pre- and post-operatively. Results indicated that for the post-surgical condition there was reduction in intensity, frequency, and temporal measures for the two subjects studied. Results are analyzed and discussed in relation to variation within subjects and between subjects, and by comparison with the acoustic parameters of normal and esophageal talkers.
A 1/3 Octave-Band Noise Generator for Sound-Field Audiometric Measurements
Authors: Lippmann Richard , Adams Doug
Published: July 2014

The design of a low-cost 1/3 octave-band noise generator is presented. This device produces 1/3 octave bands of noise with center frequencies from 100 to 10,000 Hz using a recently introduced switch-capacitor filter with a frequency response which is similar to that of the 1/2 octave filters in the GR 1925 multifilter. The spectrum level of the noise bands produce by this device falls at a rate of 60 dB/octave or more. The noise generator may be used with an audiometer for sound-field measurements in non-anechoic audiometric testing rooms or for earphone measurements. It may also be used as a 1/3 octave-band filter with a center frequency from 100 to 10,000 Hz or as an octave-band filter with a center frequency from 125 to 8000 Hz.
Profiles of Children with Severe Oral Language Disorders
Authors: Luick Anthony H. , Kirk Samuel A. , Agranowitz Aleen , Busby Robert
Published: July 2014

The major purpose of this study is to determine whether children assigned to classes for severe oral language handicaps in California by a multidisciplinary diagnostic team exhibit a characteristic ITPA performance profile or a number of distinct profiles. A factor analysis and a cluster analysis was made on the scores of 237 children.

It was found that on the factor analysis the results showed a clear auditory-vocal factor and a visual-motor factor. All five tests in the visual-motor channel were superior to the five tests in the auditory-vocal channel. Within the auditory-vocal channel the lowest scores were in auditory association and grammatical closure. Ninety-seven percent of the oral language handicapped children had the lowest scores on these two subtests. It appears from these results that the major deficit of children assigned to severe oral language classes is a deficit in the central organization process, formerly referred to as "central aphasia, or inner language".
A Program for Achieving Generalization of Grammatical Rules to Spontaneous Discourse
Authors: Culatta Barbara , Horn Donna
Published: July 2014

Four language-disordered children were presented with a 4-step program designed to achieve generalization of target grammatical rules to spontaneous discourse. A multiple baseline design was used to compare trained and untrained rule usage. During each step of the program, the clinician arranged for the child's own intentions to evoke the target rule. Progression through the program entailed systematically increasing the number of nontarget events the child needed to convey, and decreasing the frequency with which the clinician modelled the target. Trained target rules increased in frequency while untrained rules did not. When therapy was then initiated on the untrained rules, they also increased in frequency while the first rules continued to be produced at mastery level.
Velopharyngeal Incompetence in a Patient with Multifocal Eosinophilic Granuloma (Hand-Schüller-Christian Disease)
Authors: Cohn Ellen Rassas , Garver Kenneth L. , Metz H. Cameron , McWilliams Betty Jane , Skolnick M. Leon , Garrett William S.
Published: July 2014

The diagnosis and management of velopharyngeal insufficiency in a 16-year-old boy with multifocal eosinophilic granuloma (Hand-Schüller-Christian disease) is described. Medical history, speech and velopharyngeal valving information, and the results of clinical management are presented.
An Analysis of Elicited Imitation as a Language Evaluation Procedure
Authors: Connell Phil J. , Myles-Zitzer Catherine
Published: July 2014

Two aspects of elicited imitation procedures, the relationship between imitation and spontaneous performance and the effect of nonlinguistic context, were examined using seven normal preschool children. The children performed two tasks: (a) they participated in a conversation with an adult and (b) they imitated 80 sentences controlled for length and structure while viewing a videotape depicting four types of nonlinguistic contexts. The results indicated that elicited imitation performance did not accurately predict spontaneous speech performance and that the addition of nonlinguistic context cues did not significantly effect the accuracy of imitation. The implications of these findings to clinical procedures are discussed.
Paired Gestural and Vocal Behavior in One-Year-Old Cleft Lip and Palate Children
Authors: Long Nancy V. , Dalston Rodger M.
Published: July 2014

The paired gestural plus vocalization communicative abilities of 10 normal and 10 cleft palate children were examined. All subjects were 12 months old and were matched with respect to sex, race, socioeconomic level, hearing acuity, and language spoken at home. During data collection, mothers were asked to play with their children. These interactions were videotaped and analyzed for the amount of paired gestural plus vocalization behavior displayed. Results of the investigation yielded significant differences between the two groups on the amount of paired giving plus vocalization behavior exhibited. Further study was suggested regarding the possible existence of an intermediate linguistic development stage in which preverbal vocalizations become attached to communicative gestures.
Contingent Self-Stimulation for Stuttering
Authors: Martin Richard R. , Haroldson Samuel K.
Published: July 2014

In this investigation, 10 adult stutterers were given time-out contingent on each stuttering. Ten stutterers administered themselves time-out contingent on each stuttering. Stutterers in both time-out conditions evidenced marked reductions in stuttering compared with spontaneous speaking base rates. Stutterers who presented their own time-outs for stuttering, however, showed significantly less extinction of reduced stuttering following the time-out period, and significantly greater generalization to a telephone speaking situation, than did stutterers who were given time-out by an experimenter.
Phonological Evaluation and Remediation of Speech Deviations of a Child with a Repaired Cleft Palate
Authors: Hodson Barbara Williams , Chin Linda , Redmond Barbara , Simpson Robert
Published: July 2014

Phonological evaluation of the speech of a 5-year-old boy with a repaired cleft palate identified the prevalence of the following phonological patterns: singleton obstruent omission (both prevocalic and postvocalic, but particularly prevocalic voiceless); velar deviations (omissions and fronting); cluster reduction and cluster deletion; stridency deletion (omissions and stopping); liquid deviations (omissions, gliding, stopping, nasalizing, and vowelizing); and glottal replacement. The basic aspects of an individually designed facilitative remediation program based on the subject's phonological system are presented, and the results are discussed.
Speech-Language Clinician Personality Variables and Clinical Effectiveness
Authors: Crane Susan Lake , Cooper Eugene B.
Published: July 2014

The relationship between judged clinical effectiveness and personality variables as determined by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was studied in a population of 130 female graduate students in speech-language pathology from nine universities in six different states. An MMPI profile analysis for the total group indicated that the group was similar to other female graduate student populations and that the typical student, while being manifestly normal, might be described as being rather passive, compliant, stereotypically feminine, sensitive, anxious, highly imaginative, creative, and energetic. Although no single MMPI scale was found to differentiate between subject clinical effectiveness groups, the subjects' MMPI profiles were found to predict accurately the clinical effectiveness group to which the subjects were assigned.
Test-Retest Stability of the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude in a Sample of Hearing-Impaired Children and Adolescents
Authors: Watson Betty U.
Published: July 2014

The test-retest stabilitv of the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) was examined in a group of hearing-impaired children and adolescents. Test-retest correlations for subjects retested after approximately 1 year, 3 years, and 5 vears were .79, .85, and .62 respectively. These findings are similar to those reported for normal subjects in studies using verbal intelligence measures. In spite of reasonably high test-retest correlations, more than one half of the sample showed a 10-point or greater difference in Learning Quotient between the two evaluations, and more than one third of the sample showed a 15-point or greater difference. These findings demonstrate the necessity of basing important decisions on more than one measure of intelligence.
Difficulties Experienced by Tinnitus Sufferers
Authors: Tyler Richard S. , Baker Lesley J.
Published: July 2014

Ninety-seven member of a tinnitus self-help group were asked to list the difficulties that they had as a result of their tinnitus. Seventy-two replies were returned from 22 men and 48 women (sex not report in two cases) whose average age was 61 years. Tinnitus was associated with hearing difficulties in 53%, effects on lifestyle in 93%, effects on general health in 56%, and emotional difficulties in 70% of the sample. Getting to sleep was the most frequently mentioned difficulty, and many respondents indicated that they experienced depression, annoyance, and insecurity. The clinical applications of this open-ended questionnaire are discussed.
Phonological Proficiency of Two Cleft Palate Toddlers with School-Age Follow-up
Authors: Lynch Joan I. , Fox Donna R. , Brookshire Bonnie L.
Published: July 2014

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the speech-sound production of two children with repaired bilateral cleft lip and palate. Speech samples were obtained during videotaping of spontaneous interactions between the children and their parent(s) when the subjects were between 29 and 37 months of age. Re-evaluation of both language and phonological abilities was accomplished when the children were between 5 and 7 years of age. Based on phonemic transcription of these data, error matrices were prepared illustrating word-initial and word-final consonants produced. Place and manner of consonant production were analyzed and the individual phonological processes employed by each child were discussed. Results indicated individual differences between the subjects in that one subject's emerging phonological system was more characteristic of developmental delay while the other was more characteristic of structural inadequacy. These differences have implication for the management of preschool cleft palate children.
Recovery and Persistence of Stuttering among Relatives of Stutterers
Authors: Seider Robin A. , Kidd Kenneth K. , Gladstien Keith L.
Published: July 2014

Recovery and persistence of stuttering were examined in the first-degree relatives of a large group of adult persistent stutterers. The percentage of recovered individuals reported in these families supports the hypothesis that recovered and persistent stuttering are not independent disorders. Sex and type of relative were significant variables in the distributions of recovery and persistence of stuttering. Handedness in male subjects and birth order did not distinguish between recovered and persistent stutterers. Female recovered stutterers had significantly earlier ages of stuttering onset than the other groups (male recovered stutterers and male and female persistent stutterers). Female recovered stutterers also tended to recover earlier than male recovered stutterers, and the durations of stuttering symptoms were similar in both sexes.
Integrated Spoken and Written English Instruction for the Hearing-Impaired Student
Authors: Kelly Jacquelyn F. , Whitehead Robert L.
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to investigate the effect of integrated instruction in both spoken and written English on oral expression of hearing-impaired persons. Twenty-five hearing-impaired young adults were enrolled in English courses that focused on reading and writing skills only (control group) or on reading, writing, and complementary oral language instruction (experimental group). The experimental group demonstrated significant improvement in grammatical correctness of spoken English and in speech intelligibility, while the control group failed to demonstrate a significant improvement in these areas.
Behavioral and Nonbehavioral Variables in the Measurement of Stutterers' Communication Attitudes
Authors: Ulliana Louise , Ingham Roger J.
Published: July 2014

The influence of the behavioral variables, stuttering and speech, and the nonbehavioral variables, feelings or attitudes regarding speech, on stutterers' responses to the modified Erickson Communication Attitude Scale (known as the S24) was investigated in two studies. In the first study, 19 adult stutterers answered an amended version of the S24 Scale; it permitted subjects to nominate the basis of their response to each item on the Scale. The findings indicated that subjects regarded their responses to Scale items as largely influenced by their judgments about their stuttering and speech behavior. The second study involved within-subject experiments with three adult male stutterers. Each subject identified those situations that influenced answers on the S24 Scale. Six weekly recordings of the subjects' speech in these situations showed that stuttering frequency was consistently higher in situations associated with item responses implying negative attitudes than in situations associated with positive attitude responses. The findings challenge the claim that the S24 Scale primarily assesses feelings or attitudes regarding speech or interpersonal communication.
Effects of Rise-Fall Time, Frequency, and Intensity on the Early/Middle Evoked Response
Authors: Beattie Randall C. , Moretti Margaret , Warren Virginia
Published: July 2014

Auditory evoked responses to tone pips were recorded on 10 normally hearing adults. Tone pips centered at 500 and 2000 Hz with 1, 2, and 4 ms rise-fall times were presented at intensities of 40, 30, 20, and 10 dB nHL. The band-pass of the recording-amplifier system was set to 55 and 3000 Hz. Responses were measured during the first 25 ms following the onset of the stimulus and the first three prominent waves were labeled P10, N15, and P20. The results indicated that varying rise-fall times from 1 to 4 ms had little effect on the detectability of these waves. Consequently, the 4-ms rise-fall time was recommended because of its greater frequency specificity. The number of identifiable responses was similar for both 500 and 2000 Hz for waves P10, N15, and P20. The similarity in the number of detectable responses suggests that any of these waves may be used as a threshold indicator. The acoustic/physiologic mechanisms underlying the latency changes are discussed.
Comparing the Unaided Visual Exam to Lateral Cinefluorography in Estimating Several Parameters of Velopharyngeal Function
Authors: Eisenbach C. R. , Williams W. N.
Published: July 2014

Retrospectively, the medical records of patients with known velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) were reviewed for comments based on an unaided visual examination regarding their velopharyngeal function. These comments were compared to objective findings obtained from the cinefluorographic evaluations performed on each of the patients. A total of 68 recorded comments (47 patients) were identified and fell into four broad categories: (1) velar length, (2) depth of the nasopharynx, (3) velopharyngeal closure, and (4) velar mobility. The results revealed an agreement level of 60% between judgments made from visual examinations and cinefluorographic evaluations. This relatively poor agreement suggests that management decisions concerning VPI must include some method of objectively assessing velopharyngeal form and function during connected speech.
On Describing Idiosyncratic Phonologic Systems
Authors: Camarata Stephen , Gandour Jack
Published: July 2014

A phone distribution procedure for analyzing idiosyncratic phonologic systems in children is applied to a phonologically impaired child's distribution of alveolar and velar stops. Results show that these stops occur in complementary distribution: Alveolar stops occur before high vowels and velar stops occur before nonhigh vowels. It is further demonstrated that phonologic process analysis fails to reveal this unusual distribution of alveolar and velar stops. Thus, it is argued that phonologic process analysis must necessarily be supplemented by other procedures capable of detecting and describing unusual distribution patterns in order to achieve an accurate clinical diagnosis and to select the most appropriate target for a successful clinical treatment program.
Effects of Speech and Speech and Sign Instruction on Oral Language Learning and Generalization of Action + Object Combinations by Down's Syndrome Children
Authors: Romski Mary Ann , Ruder Kenneth F.
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to compare the effects of speech and speech-plus-sign stimulation during comprehension treatment on the oral language learning and generalization of action + object relational meanings. Ten home-reared Down's syndrome children in Early Stage I received concurrent comprehension treatment in Speech and Speech-Sign conditions using a miniature linguistic system. Upon attainment of criterion level performance in both conditions, generalization tasks were administered to measure the effects of the comprehension treatment on the comprehension and the production of treated and untreated action + object combinations. The results obtained from this study indicated that the two treatment conditions did not differ significantly for either learning or generalization. The data did, however, indicate that individual patterns of acquisition were evident among the children. Caution is advised concerning the automatic adoption or rejection of manual sign as part of oral language intervention programs.
Facilitating Word Combination in Language-Impaired Children through Discourse Structure
Authors: Schwartz Richard G. , Chapman Kathy , Terrell Brenda Y. , Prelock Patricia , Rowan Lynne
Published: July 2014

The influence of an adult-child discourse structure on the production of early word combinations was examined in language-impaired children. The subjects were 10 children (2:8–3:4) at the single-word utterance level. Eight of the children were engaged in 10 experimental sessions utilizing vertical structures (e.g., Adult: "Who's this?" Child: "Daddy." Adult: "What's Daddy throwing?" Child: "Ball." Adult: "Yeah, Daddy's throwing the ball."), while the remaining children, serving as controls, were engaged in an alternate activity. Examination of pretest and posttest data as well as session data revealed a substantial increase in the number of multiword productions for most of the children in the experimental group but not for the children serving as controls. These findings indicate that vertical structures have a facilitating effect on the multiword productions of language-impaired children comparable to that found in an identical procedure with normally developing children. The use of a naturally occurring adult-child discourse structure as an intervention procedure is discussed.
Word, Syllable, and Sound Awareness in Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Kamhi Alan G. , Lee René Friemoth , Nelson Lauren K.
Published: July 2014

The present investigation evaluated language-disordered children's metalinguistic awareness of words, syllables, and sounds. Subjects were 15 language-disordered children matched for mental age to 15 normally developing children and for language age to another 15 normally developing children. In the first task, children were asked to divide sentences, bisyllabic words, and monosyllabic words into smaller units. In the second task, children were asked several questions designed to assess their word awareness. The language-disordered children performed significantly poorer than both groups of normally developing children in dividing sentences and words. The language-disordered children also did not show the same level of responses to the word-awareness questions as the normally developing children. These findings indicate that language-disordered children's metalinguistic deficit is not limited to difficulty making grammatical judgments. Importantly, these disordered children's lack of word, syllable, and sound awareness places them significantly at risk for future academic difficulties, in particular, learning how to read.
Therapy and Research
Authors: Siegel Gerald M. , Spradlin Joseph E.
Published: July 2014

The thesis is developed that therapy and research are not necessarily the same activity and that clinicians are not necessarily researchers. Though there are commonalities between research and therapy, especially as the use of single-subject research designs has increased, using the scientific method to guide therapy is not the same as doing science. The requirements of good therapy and good research are often different in critical ways. Both research and therapy are important to the vitality of the profession, and the profession is strengthened when the differences are acknowledged.
Encoding of New versus Old Information by Autistic Children
Authors: McCaleb Peggy , Prizant Barry M.
Published: July 2014

Research and literature on communication problems of autistic individuals have identified specific pragmatic deficiencies. This preliminary study focused upon describing autistic children's verbal performance in regard to the pragmatic ability of encoding new versus old information. Four autistic children with MLUs of 1.96–2.82 were videotaped on two occasions in interactions with their teachers or speech-language pathologists. All of the subjects' referential utterances, including referential echolalic utterances, were categorized as the encoding of new or old information. Two prominent means that speakers used for encoding new versus old information were examined: the encoding of new information through single-word utterances (i.e., a lexicalization strategy) and the use of contrastive stress to highlight new information in multiword utterances.

The results revealed that the 4 subjects did encode new information through lexicalization in single-word utterances and through contrastive stress in multiword utterances. However, the subjects encoded old information almost as frequently as they encoded new information. The encoding of a new action or state change was marked relatively infrequently by the subjects, and they consistently produced repetitions of previously encoded information when they failed to offer new information to their listeners. The results are discussed in reference to cognitive processing patterns of autistic individuals.
Relative Translucency of ASL Signs Representing Three Semantic Classes
Authors: Page Judith L.
Published: July 2014

One variable that has been shown to facilitate sign learning is the perceived translucency between a sign and its gloss. Unfortunately, there is limited information regarding which signs or what types of signs are translucent for young children. The current investigation is an attempt to determine whether children and adults perceive different amounts of translucency in signs drawn from early sign teaching lexicons and representing three different semantic classes. Results indicate that 4- and 7-year-old children and adults perceive signs that represent action to be more translucent than signs representing nomination and signs that represent nomination to be more translucent than signs representing attribution.
Acoustic and Physiologic Correlates of the Voicing Distinction in Esophageal Speech
Authors: Connor Nadine P. , Hamlet Sandra L. , Joyce Jeanette C.
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to compare high- and low-intelligibility productions of /t/ and /d/ in esophageal speakers by using a combination of acoustic, perceptual, and physiologic measurements. Observations from these comparisons were incorporated into clinical strategies for modifying a single subject's low-intelligibility utterances. Acoustic comparison indicated that esophageal speakers used voice onset and phonation off-times but not vowel durations to differentiate /t/ and /d/ in high-intelligibility productions. Intraoral pressure measures during /t/ and /d/ production demonstrated excessively high intraoral pressures in both consonants for a low-intelligibility speaker and did not suggest systematic differences in intraoral pressure between /t/ versus /d/. Two weeks of biofeedback treatment with a low-intelligibility speaker were associated with a reduction in intraoral pressures for /t/ and /d/ productions, improved intelligibility, and changes in acoustic characteristics for /t/.
Object Grouping Strategies by Adults
Authors: Abkarian G. G.
Published: July 2014

Eighty unimpaired adult subjects were exposed to the iconic-symbolic (I-S) subtest (Muma & Muma, 1979), an instrument designed to provide evidence regarding object grouping processes in clinical populations. I-S instructions and a revised (REV) instruction were employed. Subjects were also asked to provide a rationale statement for each object grouping. The 2,880 rationale statements thus generated were analyzed on the isomorphism between the statements and the object grouping criteria presumed by the I-S test design. Significantly higher isomorphic levels occurred under REV instructions, although fewer than one-half of the REV subjects performed at the cognitive (i.e., symbolic) stage defined and predicted by the I-S protocols. Subjects demonstrated an overwhelming preference for the formation of taxonomic classes rather than for schematic-based object groupings as has been argued by some writers. Analysis of rationale statements strongly suggested that three major strategies were employed by individual subjects in the establishment of object classes: an intensional, an extensional, and a mixed intensional-extensional strategy. It was concluded that (a) adult subjects show a range of classification strategies, (b) those strategies are best described by using something other than an iconic-symbolic dichotomy, and (c) classification tasks devoid of a rationale component may foster incomplete and potentially distorted conclusions concerning grouping abilities and underlying processes.
Relationship between Pure-Tone and Speech Loudness Discomfort Levels among Hearing-Impaired Subjects
Authors: Beattie Randall C. , Boyd Robyn L.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate how accurately pure-tone (250–6000 Hz) loudness discomfort levels (LDLs) predict speech (CID Test W-22) LDLs. One ear was tested in each of 50 elderly subjects with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The results revealed poor-to-fair correlations (r = 0.00 to 0.42) and large standard errors of estimate ( 9.5 dB). Thus, it was concluded that pure-tone LDLs are not accurate predictors of the speech LDL, and, if the clinician wants to ascertain the upper intensity for listening to speech, this measurement must be made directly.
Evaluation of a Simile Recognition Treatment Program for Hearing-Impaired Students
Authors: Smith Maureen A. , Schloss Patrick J. , Israelite Neita Kay
Published: July 2014

The investigation incorporated a changing criterion design to demonstrate the effectiveness of a treatment program designed to increase recognition of similes by two hearing-impaired students. Results indicated that the treatment program increased the students' ability to correctly match similes and descriptive passages. Implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Visual Training and Correction of Articulation Disorders by Use of Dynamic Palatography
Authors: Michi Ken-Ichi , Suzuki Noriko , Yamashita Yukari , Imai Satoko
Published: July 2014

The dynamic palatograph is an electrical apparatus that generates a visual display of constantly changing palatolingual contact as a function of time, using an artificial palatal plate with affixed electrodes. This paper describes a technique of speech therapy incorporating dynamic palatography for a cleft palate patient. The patient, a 6-year-old Japanese girl with a repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate, had been judged to demonstrate articulation disorders involving contact of the tongue with the hard palate or alveolus following surgical improvement of velopharyngeal function. Prior to therapy the tongue tended to contact the hard palate more posteriorly than normal. After therapy with the dynamic palatograph, palatolingual contact was normal in comparison with average speakers.

Our findings suggest that the facility of constant visual indication of tongue posture to the clinician and patient during corrective speech therapy using dynamic palatography may expedite results with cleft palate patients in the speech clinic when implemented in a carefully structured treatment plan.