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

It would be useful to obtain information about social and emotional characteristics in children who are receiving articulation/phonological intervention in order to assess the effectiveness of various treatment approaches from a social/emotional perspective. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not articulation and phonological intervention influences children's social and emotional characteristics as perceived by their parents and, if so, which articulation approach (traditional vs. phonological cycling) results in more improvement in different domains of social and emotional characteristics. The specific social and emotional characteristics explored in this study are social skills, communication, independence, self-esteem, and domestic responsibility as assessed by the Affective Behavior Scales for the Disabled-Modified (ABSD-Modified, Brannan, 1991). In this study, each of the subject's parents completed a rating scale of social and emotional characteristics of their child at the beginning of intervention and again after 20 weeks of intervention. The scores for the five social and emotional domains were compared for differences prior to and following intervention. Additionally, the amount of improvement for those social and emotional characteristics was compared between the two groups, one group receiving traditional articulation intervention and the other group receiving a phonological cycling approach. Data analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between pre- and post-intervention subscale scores for the traditional articulation intervention group and for the phonological cycling intervention group combined. The results also indicated no statistically significant difference in the amount of change in social and emotional characteristics between the two groups of subjects. However, the research data did show trends toward the statistically significant level of .05 in the social/emotional domains of self-esteem (p = .097) and communication (p = .091) for the phonological cycling group. Trends toward the statistically significant level in the two domains of self-esteem and communication suggest that articulation/phonological intervention may influence other areas in the individual's life. Therefore, further investigation of the research questions posed for this study is warranted.

Background: Diagnostic accuracy and reliability of acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) in the presence of co-occurring aphasia and/or dysarthria is crucial for appropriate treatment selection and clinical decision making. However, overlapping symptomology and lack of operationalization of AOS assessment methods have contributed to inadequate interrater reliability of perceptual measures differentially diagnostic of AOS. Purpose: This study investigated factors influencing the operationalization of AOS assessment methods, primarily interrater reliability of perceptual characteristics of differentially diagnostic (i.e., phonetic and prosodic errors) measures in order to inform assessment methods in AOS with concomitant aphasia. In addition, several other factors influencing the operationalization of AOS assessment methods were explored including: the utility of a pre-existing stimulus readily available in a standardized aphasia assessment (WAB-R), interrater reliability of non-discriminatory characteristics of AOS (i.e., auditory groping and false starts), the influence of alternating motion rates (AMRs) and sequential motion rates (SMRs) on a diagnosis of AOS, and the influence of the WAB-R subtests on error production by diagnostic group. Methods: Forty participants presenting with varying aphasia subtypes and severities and potential motor speech impairment were included. Speech production errors were analyzed by four raters using narrow transcription methods in response to the WAB-R spoken language subtest stimuli (Naming, Repetition, and Spontaneous Speech subtests) of the WAB-R. Interrater reliability of perceptual measurement of both differentially diagnostic and non-discriminatory features of AOS when using consistent stimuli (WAB-R), measures (Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale) and trained raters using narrow transcription methods were examined. In addition, percentage agreement of AOS diagnoses with and without the inclusion of AMRs/SMRs, as well as the influence of WAB-R subtest on error production across groups with AOS with concomitant aphasia and those with aphasia only were also examined. Results: Both differentially diagnostic as well as non-discriminatory speech characteristics were shown to demonstrate adequate interrater reliability across a variety of aphasia subtypes and severities of both AOS and aphasia. Adequate agreement between a diagnosis of AOS with and without the inclusion of AMRs/SMRs was reported as well as a lack of significant differences of phonetic and prosodic error production between subtests. Conclusion: The current work provides preliminary evidence of adequate interrater reliability of perceptual features of AOS using consistent stimuli (WAB-R), measures (Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale), and trained raters using narrow transcription. Findings from this work also support the inclusion of the AMRs/SMRs in AOS assessment and highlight the importance of their role when assessing individuals with borderline/mild motor speech impairments. These preliminary results support the consistency and operationalization of assessment methods through the investigation of reliability of perceptual measurements of differentially diagnostic characteristics of AOS in the presence of aphasia.

This investigation compared the auditory conceptualization ability (Lindamood and Lindamood, 1970) or vocal phonics (Van Riper, 1963) of third grade students with and without articulation deficits in an attempt to determine if a relationship exists between auditory conceptualization ability and articulation ability. The specific question posed was: Is there a statistically significant difference in auditory conceptualization ability between third grade children with various degrees of articulation deficits and third grade children without articulation deficits.

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.