Teachers of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often struggle to find effective instructional methods to use with their students on a daily basis. The characteristic verbal, social, and behavioral limitations of children with ASD make finding effective teaching methods difficult. Though some intensive intervention methods, such as discrete trial teaching (DTT), have numerous studies demonstrating their effectiveness with students with ASD, the required one-on-one format makes it impractical to use in a classroom setting on a regular basis. Direct Instruction (DI) appears in the literature as a promising intervention for students with developmental disabilities. One benefit of DI is that, unlike DTT and similar interventions, it can be implemented in a group format. This group format provides a practical alternative for classroom teachers to use with their students with ASD. This study utilized a multiple probe across behaviors design to further investigate the use of DI to teach high school students with ASD how to answer “wh-” questions. The researcher used the Science Research Associates (SRA) Reading Mastery language program, which is a DI program designed to develop language skills. Three participants between the ages of 15 and 17 participated in 20-25 minute instructional sessions four times a week for eight weeks. Data were collected on each participant’s accuracy in answering “wh-” questions during baseline, acquisition (teaching), and maintenance conditions. The results indicate that DI was effective in helping participants acquire the language skills necessary to accurately respond to “what,” “where," and “who” questions. Implications for small group language instruction for students with ASD and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

There is concern about the recently increasing number of infants born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), yet little is known about its long-term neurodevelopmental effects. School-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are in a unique position to comment on potential long-term consequences of NAS because their caseloads include children with a variety of communication disorders and comorbidities. School-based SLPs across the United States (N = 258) responded to a survey about the presence of children with NAS on their caseloads and their perceptions of the children’s communication disorders and comorbidities. Results revealed that children with NAS currently are being treated by SLPs. They primarily present with receptive/expressive language and literacy disorders, and comorbid Broad Developmental Delay, ADD, and ADHD. Furthermore, documentation of NAS is often not available to SLPs, hindering creation of protocols for identification and treatment. The results of this study indicate that investment in future research is warranted.

La créativité comme prévention du stress et de la souffrance au travail. De l’analyse des « pathologies de la communication » du cas des aides à domicile à celle de l’expérience de créativité collective chez les employés de DassaultComment comprendre et agir contre les malaises, ‒ du stress à la souffrance ‒, et les dysfonctionnements internes de l’entreprise moderne ?Nous montrons comment la créativité peut être une démarche communicationnelle préventive et omnipotente, une alternative capable de résorber une communication pathogène engendrée par le management, au profit d’une communication sociale moins instrumentale qu’institutionnelle et formelle.Notre démonstration se structure en 3 parties, chaque partie faisant émerger un paradoxe.Le premier est repéré à partir d’une lecture socio-historique réinterrogeant le travail d’antan. Il s’inscrit certes comme un lieu de souffrance, mais aussi de plaisir, présent dans la notion clé d’otium. Le second provient de l’univers pathogène de l’entreprise et apparait à la lecture de cet espace à partir du paradigme habermassien des « pathologies de la communication ». Le cas d’aides à domicile en situation de stress mais aussi de souffrance a été soumis à cette nouvelle "grille" de lecture. L’analyse est complétée d’une approche winnicotienne, permettant d’y voir les mécanismes inconscients générés par le néomanagement défaillant.Dans la troisième partie, au cœur des mouvements du processus créatif, via une approche socio-psychanalytique, nous partons des théories de Winnicott sur la créativité, pour la transposer et la dépasser, dans la vie interne de l’entreprise.Cette théorie est articulée et complétée par une étude empirique menée auprès d’employés Dassault qui ont fait cette insolite expérience de la création d’un « espace transitionnel hétérotopique », permettant paradoxalement de s’affranchir du cadre du travail tout en y étant lié. / Creativity as prevention of stress and suffering at work Analysis of "pathologies of communication": the case of care assistants among employees of Dassault into the experience of collective creativityHow to understand and act against discomfort – from stress to suffering - and the internal problems of modern business?We show how creativity can be a preventive and omnipotent communication approach, an alternative that can reduce a communication pathogen caused by management, in favor of a less instrumental than institutional and formal communication social.Our proof is structured in three parts, each bringing forth a paradox.The first is identified from a socio-historical examination of traditional work. Indeed, it enrolled as a place of suffering, but also of joy, present in the key concept of otium.The second comes from the pathogen world of business and appears from the examination of this space from the Habermassian paradigm of "pathologies of communication." The case of care assistants under stress but also suffering has been subjected to this new reading report. The analysis is complemented by a Winnicotian approach, allowing perceiving the unconscious mechanisms generated by the failed neomanagement.In the third part, in the middle of the movement about creative process, through a socio-psychoanalytic approach, we start with Winnicot theories about creativity, to transpose and beyond, in the internal life of the company.This theory is articulated and supplemented by an empirical study with Dassault employees who made the unusual experience of creating a 'transitional space heterotopic "paradoxically allowing to get rid of the work area and in the the same tine to be connected to it.

This article reviews the effectiveness of dose forms and the efficacy of dosage and distribution in morphosyntax intervention for children. Dose forms include the commonly used techniques, procedures, and intervention contexts that constitute teaching episodes; dosage includes the quantitative measures of dose, dose frequency, total intervention duration, and cumulative intervention intensity (S. F. Warren, M. E. Fey, & P. J. Yoder, 2007). Based on the literature, this article first outlines and evaluates the range of dose forms and intervention contexts that clinicians and researchers can employ to facilitate morphosyntactic acquisition. Then, it defines and evaluates research outcomes and provides examples of the dosage components. Current evidence, which focuses primarily on young children and early-developing morphology and sentence structures, suggests that some dose forms and dosage levels are more effective with some populations and some morphosyntactic forms than with others. Distributed practice within sessions and throughout the total period of treatment appears to be more facilitative than massed practice, at least for children with typical language development. The scant research concerning total intervention duration suggests that it affects children's developmental trajectory and that treatment attendance matters. What is missing from the research base is detailed information about the effectiveness and efficacy of intervention for the acquisition of particular morphosyntactic forms in specific populations. The article summarizes these gaps in 3 research goals that reflect the argument of S. F. Warren et al. that it is time to conduct systematic comparisons of specific dose forms while testing how each measure of dosage affects outcomes.

No description available.

INTRODUÇÃO: O termo memória operacional (MO) refere-se a um constructo cognitivo capaz de armazenar e manter a informação acessível para uso determinado por um tempo limitado, possibilitando a manipulação de diversas informações simultâneas e sequenciais como operações matemáticas longas ou complexas, compreensão de palavras pouco frequentes, extensas ou frases complexas. A linguagem está entre as funções cognitivas que dependem do funcionamento da memória operacional e pode estar comprometida em várias condições patológicas, dentre elas o traumatismo cranioencefálico (TCE). Dados da literatura referentes a essa população ainda são restritos ou pouco consistentes. OBJETIVOS: investigar se o teste n-back é uma medida válida para identificar o déficit de memória em pacientes com TCE, estabelecer nota de corte e curva ROC do teste n-back, comparar o desempenho entre os indivíduos saudáveis e aqueles que sofreram TCE, comparar o teste n-back com os testes de linguagem e aspectos da lesão neurológica, tais como gravidade e tempo, tempo de coma e localização hemisférica da lesão nos resultados para verificar o desempenho e a relevância na separação dos casos em pacientes e controles.MÉTODOS: 53 indivíduos brasileiros (26 adultos com TCE e 30 adultos saudáveis) foram avaliados por bateria de estímulos verbais auditivos para verificar diferenças inter-grupos na capacidade de processamento da memória operacional, quanto ao numero de respostas corretas (acurácia), capacidade máxima de processamento na memória operacional (span) e também verificar a relação da memória operacional com habilidades linguísticas, através da comparação de testes. RESULTADOS: na comparação entre os pacientes e os indivíduos do grupo controle observou-se diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos tanto para os testes de base quanto para os resultados do n-back. Os grupos foram estatisticamente pareados em relação às variáveis sócio-demográficas (idade, escolaridade e gênero). O modelo estatístico com as variáveis do teste n-back demonstrou ótima separação dos casos em pacientes/ controle com a área sob a curva ROC de 89%. O modelo também mostrou convergência com os testes de linguagem para compreensão auditiva de sentenças, fluência verbal e aspectos discursivos-pragmáticos e com o nível cognitivo. O lado da lesão foi estatisticamente significante para o n-back, fluência verbal e discurso conversacional. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados mostram que o n-back na maneira como foi desenhado é capaz de diferenciar os indivíduos alterados e os normais na habilidade de memória operacional. No estudo foi possível discriminar o comportamento de indivíduos com lesão encefálica adquirida e indivíduos saudáveis quanto à medida de acurácia e capacidade máxima de manipulação da informação na memória operacional. Esse comportamento reflete o funcionamento linguístico e cognitivo que se correlaciona com o mecanismo de memória operacional / INTRODUCTION: The term working memory (WM) refers to a construct cognitive capability of storing and keeping information on line to a determined use for a limited time, enabling the manipulation of diverse simultaneous and sequential information such as long or complex mathematical operations, comprehension of less frequent words, extensive or complex sentences. The language is among the cognitive functions which depends on the operational memory behavior and may be engaged in many pathological conditions, among them the TBI (traumatic brain injury). Literature dada relative to such population are still restrict or weak. AIM: investigate whether the n -back task is a valid measure for identifying memory deficits in patients with TBI; establish cutoff and ROC curve of n-back task; to compare performance between normals individuals and those who have suffered TBI; to compare n-back task with tests of language and aspects of neurological injury, such as severity, coma and hemispheric laterality of the lesion to verify the performance and relevance in the separation of cases. METHODOS: 53 individuals Brazilians (26 adults with TBI and 30 healthy adults) were assessed by a battery of auditory verbal stimuli for detecting differences between groups in the processing capacity of working memory, as the accuracy and span also check the relationship of working memory to language skills, through the comparison tests. RESULTS: in the comparison between patients and control subjects was observed statistically significant differences between groups thus to the tests as the basis tests as to results of the n -back. The groups were statistically matched in relation to socio-demographic variables (age, education and gender). The statistical model with variables of the n -back test showed good separation of cases where patients / control with the area under the ROC curve of 89 % . The model also showed convergence with language tests for auditory comprehension of sentences, verbal fluency and pragmatic - discursive aspects and the cognitive level. The side of the lesion was statistically significant for the n -back, verbal fluency and conversational discourse. CONCLUSION: the results demonstrated that the n-back on the way it was designed is able to distinguish the changed individuals and the normal on the working memory ability. On the study it was possible to discriminate the behaviors of individuals with acquired brain injury and healthy individuals regarding the accuracy and maximum capacity of manipulating information on the working memory. Such behavior reflects the linguistic and cognitive function which correlates with the working memory mechanism

INTRODUÇÃO: O termo memória operacional (MO) refere-se a um constructo cognitivo capaz de armazenar e manter a informação acessível para uso determinado por um tempo limitado, possibilitando a manipulação de diversas informações simultâneas e sequenciais como operações matemáticas longas ou complexas, compreensão de palavras pouco frequentes, extensas ou frases complexas. A linguagem está entre as funções cognitivas que dependem do funcionamento da memória operacional e pode estar comprometida em várias condições patológicas, dentre elas o traumatismo cranioencefálico (TCE). Dados da literatura referentes a essa população ainda são restritos ou pouco consistentes. OBJETIVOS: investigar se o teste n-back é uma medida válida para identificar o déficit de memória em pacientes com TCE, estabelecer nota de corte e curva ROC do teste n-back, comparar o desempenho entre os indivíduos saudáveis e aqueles que sofreram TCE, comparar o teste n-back com os testes de linguagem e aspectos da lesão neurológica, tais como gravidade e tempo, tempo de coma e localização hemisférica da lesão nos resultados para verificar o desempenho e a relevância na separação dos casos em pacientes e controles.MÉTODOS: 53 indivíduos brasileiros (26 adultos com TCE e 30 adultos saudáveis) foram avaliados por bateria de estímulos verbais auditivos para verificar diferenças inter-grupos na capacidade de processamento da memória operacional, quanto ao numero de respostas corretas (acurácia), capacidade máxima de processamento na memória operacional (span) e também verificar a relação da memória operacional com habilidades linguísticas, através da comparação de testes. RESULTADOS: na comparação entre os pacientes e os indivíduos do grupo controle observou-se diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos tanto para os testes de base quanto para os resultados do n-back. Os grupos foram estatisticamente pareados em relação às variáveis sócio-demográficas (idade, escolaridade e gênero). O modelo estatístico com as variáveis do teste n-back demonstrou ótima separação dos casos em pacientes/ controle com a área sob a curva ROC de 89%. O modelo também mostrou convergência com os testes de linguagem para compreensão auditiva de sentenças, fluência verbal e aspectos discursivos-pragmáticos e com o nível cognitivo. O lado da lesão foi estatisticamente significante para o n-back, fluência verbal e discurso conversacional. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados mostram que o n-back na maneira como foi desenhado é capaz de diferenciar os indivíduos alterados e os normais na habilidade de memória operacional. No estudo foi possível discriminar o comportamento de indivíduos com lesão encefálica adquirida e indivíduos saudáveis quanto à medida de acurácia e capacidade máxima de manipulação da informação na memória operacional. Esse comportamento reflete o funcionamento linguístico e cognitivo que se correlaciona com o mecanismo de memória operacional / INTRODUCTION: The term working memory (WM) refers to a construct cognitive capability of storing and keeping information on line to a determined use for a limited time, enabling the manipulation of diverse simultaneous and sequential information such as long or complex mathematical operations, comprehension of less frequent words, extensive or complex sentences. The language is among the cognitive functions which depends on the operational memory behavior and may be engaged in many pathological conditions, among them the TBI (traumatic brain injury). Literature dada relative to such population are still restrict or weak. AIM: investigate whether the n -back task is a valid measure for identifying memory deficits in patients with TBI; establish cutoff and ROC curve of n-back task; to compare performance between normals individuals and those who have suffered TBI; to compare n-back task with tests of language and aspects of neurological injury, such as severity, coma and hemispheric laterality of the lesion to verify the performance and relevance in the separation of cases. METHODOS: 53 individuals Brazilians (26 adults with TBI and 30 healthy adults) were assessed by a battery of auditory verbal stimuli for detecting differences between groups in the processing capacity of working memory, as the accuracy and span also check the relationship of working memory to language skills, through the comparison tests. RESULTS: in the comparison between patients and control subjects was observed statistically significant differences between groups thus to the tests as the basis tests as to results of the n -back. The groups were statistically matched in relation to socio-demographic variables (age, education and gender). The statistical model with variables of the n -back test showed good separation of cases where patients / control with the area under the ROC curve of 89 % . The model also showed convergence with language tests for auditory comprehension of sentences, verbal fluency and pragmatic - discursive aspects and the cognitive level. The side of the lesion was statistically significant for the n -back, verbal fluency and conversational discourse. CONCLUSION: the results demonstrated that the n-back on the way it was designed is able to distinguish the changed individuals and the normal on the working memory ability. On the study it was possible to discriminate the behaviors of individuals with acquired brain injury and healthy individuals regarding the accuracy and maximum capacity of manipulating information on the working memory. Such behavior reflects the linguistic and cognitive function which correlates with the working memory mechanism

This master thesis deals with issues of development of applications for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in environment of special education for mentally challenged pupils with communication disorders. Thesis presents issues of development contemporary applications and follows on design principles of Computer therapy project, which compliance during the design and implementation should prevent the current issues. The aim of the thesis is creation of application for AAC of YES/NO type and i-CT framework - framework simplifying creation of similar apps for described environment. Both apps works on iOS and Android systems and were tested in an environment of people with mental disabilities.