A recent development in the field of technical aids for the handicapped is electronic speech synthesis. Whereas this revolutionary advancement may have many benefits for persons whose speech is defective or for those individuals who have lost the use of their natural speech apparatus through physical trauma, a satisfactory analysis of language training models applicable to the instruction of the Phonic Mirror Handivoice model HC 120 had not yet been accomplished. In the present study, two non-vocal cerebral palsied subjects participated throughout a series of three experiments. It was considered important to examine intensively the performances of these selected individuals as they interacted with and learned about the various aspects of a unique form of vocal behavior. In the first experiment, a traditional paired-associates procedure, Method A, was the standard training method with which other methods were compared. Method B was essentially a paired-associates procedure that emphasized the personal histories of verbal behavior for each subject; Method C established discriminative control over vocal responses by natural features of the environment; Method D combined a paired-associates procedure with one in which the subject directly supplied supplementary verbal stimuli as part of the training procedure. The criterion for effectiveness was the number of training/testing cycles required for each S to achieve criterion (of 100% correct) on each word list. The results of these comparisons indicated that none of the three methods was any more or less effective than the traditional paired-associates procedures. Upon the completion of the second comparison (i.e., Method A and Method C), an informal retention survey was conducted. The responses from both subjects to this survey indicated poor retention for test stimuli established on early lists but increasing retention on the more recently trained lists. Experiment 2 was therefore designed to determine the replicability of this retention phenomenon both within and between the two S's, using Method A, across three different word lists. This experiment showed that when test stimuli were presented 24 hours after training, there was little or no loss of control over the appropriate word. An additional finding was that little or no retention was exhibited by either S for words which had not been retested at the 24 hour interval and whose retest intervals were 4, 5, and 6 days. A feature of the Experiment 2 survey was that the variables of time (elapsed from training to testing) and additional training were confounded. Therefore, Experiment 3, again using Method A, was conducted to separately (1)evaluate the effectiveness of a simple retraining procedure on extended retention, and (2)examine the effect of elapsed time on discriminative control over the previously established verbal responses. The results of the retraining procedure were positive. Whereas previous surveys of Experiment 2 had produced little or no evidence of retention beyond the 48 hour interval, 60% of the test stimuli in Experiment 3 discriminated their appropriate verbal responses. In contrast, the word lists which had not undergone retraining at the 24 hour interval nor had been followed by additional training of new word lists exhibited retention of either 0 or 20%. Two major outcomes of the present study were (1)the four training methods were all effective, but not differentially so, in teaching the numeric language of the HandiVoice, and (2)effective retention over a number of days could be achieved by a single retraining session. These findings offer several practical guidelines for future HandiVoice instructors to establish and maintain a new but important form of verbal behavior.

No description available.

<p> English phonological abilities of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children were compared to those of monolingual children at 30 months of age and at five years. Measures of language abilities and language experience at 30 months were included in order to determine the impact that these variables have on English phonological ability. We hypothesized that early phonological abilities will be predictive of later phonological abilities for both monolingual and bilingual children. We also hypothesized that early language abilities and experience with each language will be predictive of concurrent and later phonological abilities, but we expected the relationship to be stronger between English language abilities and phonological abilities than Spanish language abilities and English phonological abilities. Phonology measures were collected for 10 monolingual and 47 bilingual participants at 30 months and at five years of age. Results indicate that early English phonological abilities are not predictive of later phonological abilities for monolingual or bilingual children. Although language experience was related to language ability (vocabulary size), relative exposure to English was not directly related to English phonological abilities. Although monolingual children had significantly poorer English phonological abilities at 30 months than monolingual English speaking children, their English phonological abilities were commensurate with those of the monolingual group at five years. These findings suggest that bilingual children are learning properties of English phonology at a faster rate than their monolingual peers between 30 months and five years of age.</p>

<p> Traditionally, Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) has been used as means of increasing verbal output (expressive language) in individuals with Broca&rsquo;s aphasia; however, recently MIT has been studied for its potential impacts on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population, as well. The purpose of this study was to examine the features of music (i.e., exaggerated pitch and/or rhythm) found in traditional MIT against traditional speech to determine the impact of these musical features on receptive language abilities in individuals with ASD. This study involved an ASD group and a typically developing (TD) group, both with school-age children. Each group was presented with an experimental protocol, which included prompting each subject with a simple verbal command to manipulate one of four objects that had been placed in front of them. These commands were presented in a traditional speech condition, an exaggerated intonation condition, or a rhythmically controlled condition. We hypothesized that the rhythmic condition would be the most successful for promoting auditory comprehension of verbal commands in the subjects with ASD. Our hypothesis was partially supported, as one of the ASD subjects found the most success with the rhythmically controlled commands; but the other ASD subject found intonation to be the most helpful condition. Both ASD subjects indicated that music was more successful than traditional speech for comprehending simple auditory commands. Future studies should extend to other age groups, and should also examine why these musical components are more successful than speech within the ASD population.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, August, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-57). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.L.T.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-71). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-62).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-213).