Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146).

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, April 30, 1993." Also available in print.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, 14th May, 1999." Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.L.P.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-76) and index.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the utility of nonlinear phonological frameworks for designing and executing an intervention program with phonologically disordered children. Six such children between the ages of 3 and 6 years participated in the study three times a week over three consecutive six-week blocks. The following general questions were addressed: 1. Will nonlinear phonological frameworks help to predict logical and attainable intervention goals for phonologically disordered children? 2. Are the separate prosodic and segmental levels of representation of nonlinear phonology psychologically real? 3. If the 'prosodic tier' has some observable clinical reality, will there be a difference in proportion and rate of syllable/word shapes acquired as a result of intervention methods that contrast the onset and rime versus those that utilize the mora a constituent? 4. If the 'segmental/melodic tier' has some observable independence, is there any advantage to be gained from targeting specified features at 'higher' versus lower' levels in the feature hierarchy in phonemic inventory intervention? An alternating block, mulitiple baseline design (counterbalanced over six single subjects) provided an opportunity to investigate the above questions. Within each six-week block, three week periods were devoted in turn to prosodic (syllable structure) training and segmental training. Prosodic subblocks were divided into two four-session sunblocks to contrast developmental change for targets presented as moraic constituents versus onset-rime constituents. Segmental periods were divided into two four-session subblocks to contrast developmental change for features from higher and lower levels in the feature hierarchy. Analyses during and after the study demonstrated the following with respect to the four research questions: 1. The nonlinear frameworks provided a logical model for deriving attainable intervention goals. All of the children became intelligible by the end of the project as a result of attaining the goals determined by nonlinear phonological theory. 2. Rate of attainment of syllabic and segmental goals differed, with a faster rate of change for syllabic goals overall, suggesting independence of segmental and prosodic tiers, and possible dominance of the prosodic tier. Interactions between tiers were also observed, suggesting that they are interdependent as well as autonomous. 3. Moraic and onset-rime condition quantitative results were virtually equivalent, but some qualitative differences appeared which had relevance for the each of the theories with respect to status of the onset, word-final consonants, and epenthesis. 4. Higher level features in the feature hierarchy tended to be acquired before lower level features. The nonlinear phonological frameworks stimulated a successful intervention study. Evidence gained through this study in turn contributes to the understanding of the nonlinear constructs. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

Focus has turned from emphasis on phonetic sound errors to phonologic rule systems in the study of articulation disorders. The current theory proposes that the phonological disorders which children experience are controlled by higher levels in the brain than those that control the motor functioning of the brain. The purpose of the present study was to compare the use of phonological processes by a group of school-age children with moderate to severe multiple articulation disorders (MAD) with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) to the phonological processes used by those without developmental apraxia of speech. For the purposes of this study, those without DAS were classified as functional articulation disorder (FAD).

The questions this study sought to answer were: Do normally developing children exhibit phonological process deviations; what is the frequency of occurrence of each phonological process deviation by age group; and does the number of phonological process deviations and the average total frequency of occurrence of phonological process deviations decrease as age increases?

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of three modes of stress on error productions of children with developmental apraxia of speech during a sentence repetition task. The study was designed to answer the question: Will there be a significant difference in the number of errors for each mode when: a) training to distinguish among the stress modes is not provided? b) training to distinguish among the stress modes is provided?

This investigation sought to determine the accuracy and consistency of judgements made by three groups of judges, relative to successive approximations of /r/. The three groups were made up of speech pathologists, student trainees, and untrained individuals, respectively. It was the task of these judges to rank order three /r/ productions into the following categories: correct; partially correct; and incorrect. This task is basically the same as reinforcing approximations of /r/ within the therapy situation, and appears not to require extensive training. Many authors (Curry et al., 1943; Perrin, 1954; Oyer, 1959; Siegel, 1962; Irwin, 1965; and Elbert et al., 1967) have found little difference between trained and untrained listeners in identifying correct versus incorrect articulation. An apparent need existed to investigate what the accuracy and consistency of judgements would be by introducing successive approximations as a controlled or independent variable.

No description available.