Autism affects 1 in 88 children (Center for Disease Control, 2009), approximately 50% of whom will not develop speech (Seal & Bonvillian, 1997). Some researchers hypothesize that these difficulties in developing oral speech reflect underlying motor speech deficits (Prizant, 1996; Seal & Bonvillian, 1997; Szypulski, 2003; Andrianopoulos, Boucher, Velleman & colleagues 2007-2010). This investigation sought to identify the presence or absence of specific motor speech markers in ASD through an innovative best-practice protocol for assessing the speech, prosody, and voice quality of individuals with ASD. The study focused on apraxic-like motor planning/programming features and dysarthric-like motor execution features in imitated, elicited, and spontaneous speech in 15 children with ASD between 4;0 and 12;11 years as compared to 15 children who were NTD. Speech analyses included imitated speech tasks for [f] and [a] prolongation, the short phrase "pea tea key" and AMRs and SMRs; elicited speech tasks for Counting 1-10 and singing Happy Birthday; along with spontaneous speech tasks for telling two stories based on wordless picture stories and discussing a topic of interest. Results indicated that children with ASD presented with significantly decreased Maximum Phonation Times; lower formant values; lower pitch values; decreased rate of speech characterized by increased utterance, pause and vowel durations; reduced number of syllable repetitions in AMR and SMR tasks; variable and/or inconsistent performance across tasks; and a mildly deviant voice, further characterized by mildly deviant levels of roughness and strain, atypical production of prosody and inconsistent nasality. Based on the results of this empirical investigation, an acoustic-perceptual and motor speech profile for a sample population of children with an autism spectrum disorder can be determined by six tasks: prolongation of [f] and [a], articulation of AMRs and SMRs, Counting 1-10, and telling a story based on a wordless picture book. These objective measures can empirically determine the presence, prevalence, and nature of speech, phonatory, and prosodic deficits in this sample population. They support that intervention for children with ASD should not only focus on pragmatics, MLU, and vocabulary, as is often the case. Rather, voice and motor speech intervention protocols should be incorporated as appropriate to individuals with autism.

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) struggle in a variety of social contexts. These children display different forms of social withdrawal, the most prevalent being shyness which is behaviorally manifested as reticence. The goal of the current study was to further explore the relationship between DLD and reticence in children using a revised set of items from the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS). A total of 220 children participated in the study. A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if there were significant differences related to group, age, and gender on reticence. Findings revealed a significant difference based on group, indicating children with DLD demonstrate significantly higher levels of reticence; however, age and gender were not significant. Interaction effects between the three variables were also not significant. These findings replicated previously reported findings regarding reticence in children with DLD.

The ability to communicate is essential for children with developing language systems, and ultimately to being successful academically and eventually vocationally. In a world where communication is vital, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at a disadvantage and require additional options to express themselves; augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies have presented promising options for helping these children communicate. One technology option that has proven to be of particular interest to families of children with ASD involves the use AAC iPad apps. Research has been conducted in AAC, ASD, and music, but there is limited research to date, which integrates these three areas. This investigation was designed to address the lack of evidence-based AAC app interventions specifically designed to meet the communication needs of children with ASD. This pilot study will serve to further the evidence available to date indicating that SpeakAll! can be effectively implementing in 1:1 interventions using food reinforcers. This intervention adapts the SpeakAll! intervention protocol in a classroom setting with natural music activities to aid in functional communication.

A survey was sent to classroom teachers in Central Florida educating students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to investigate: 1) intervention practices currently used in the classroom for students with ASD; 2) if the interventions being used are evidence-based, and; 3) if there a difference in use of evidence-based interventions between teachers with the Florida Autism Endorsement and teachers without the Endorsement. A nonprobability purposive study was conducted via an email-based survey. The survey was designed using the tailored design method and was created in Qualtrics.com, an online survey software program. The survey was divided into three major sections: an intervention section which included a variety of evidence and non-evidenced-based practices drawn from the current research literature; a section focused on how teachers select the interventions they use in their classrooms; and, a demographic section. The survey was sent via email to classroom teachers registered with University of Central Florida Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. Participant inclusion criteria included: 1) currently a classroom teacher in a Central Florida, and 2) at least one student with ASD in the classroom. Forty surveys were completed for a ten percent response rate. Results indicated that a variety of evidence- based and non-evidence-based interventions were being used in classrooms. The top three reported interventions were Visual Supports (95 %), Computer Program Applications (93%), and Social Stories (73 %). Based on current empirical evidence, these top three interventions have insufficient evidence regarding their efficacy for use with students with ASD. In addition, two of the interventions reported to be used have a negative evidence base suggesting they may be harmful for some students with ASD. There were no significant differences between teachers with the Florida ASD Endorsement and teachers without

Previous studies have examined how the language skills of children with adolescent mothers differs from children of older mothers. However, there is limited information on what specific strategies adolescent mothers utilize to increase early language and emergent literacy skills in their children. The aim of the present study is to examine adolescent mothers’ use of strategies to increase the early language and emergent literacy skills of their young children. A sample of 14 adolescent mothers enrolled in a teen parenting program were surveyed on their use of common strategies that are shown to facilitate early development of language and literacy skills in young children, and they provided a self-report of their child’s language development using a norm-referenced tool. A researcher developed questionnaire was used to determine the frequency of strategies used by the adolescent mothers. The MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories were used to gather child language development data to compare with the frequency of strategy usage. The measures were analyzed with ANOVAs, Pearson Correlations and Spearman’s rank-order correlations to determine the significance and relationship between variables. Adolescent mothers were found to generally score low on the Self-Assessment of Language and Literacy Implementation (SALLI), with deficits specifically in the areas of Directiveness and Home Environment. The CDIs showed that the children were reported to have below average language development, and their scores were significantly related to aspects of the adolescent mother’s reported implementation.

22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q) is the most common microdeletion known in humans. Studies have hypothesized that larger nasopharyngeal proportions lead to velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) in individuals in 22q.22q patients that undergo the pharyngeal flap surgery to correct their velopharyngeal insufficiency have been reported to experience an increased rate of surgical complications due to their complex anatomical differences.Treatment of velopharyngeal insufficiency among patients with 22q therefore requires quantitative anatomical data of the nasopharyngeal area for surgical planning. No studies to date have analyzed the nasopharyngeal volume in a non-sedated pediatric population with 22q. The aim of this study was to investigate the volumetric and linear characteristics of the nasopharyngeal port among children with 22q using a novel, non-sedated 3D imaging protocol. MRI data were obtained on 20 participants, 10 with a confirmed diagnosis of 22q and 10 control subjects. All participants were between 4-12 years of age. 3D MRI data were collected while the velum was relaxed as the participants lay in the supine position. The 3D scan involved a 0.8 in-plane isotropic resolution with an acquisition time of less than 5 minutes.MRI data were transferred into Amira 6 Visualization Volume Modeling software (Visage Imaging GmbH, Berlin, Germany). Both volumetric and linear measurements of the nasopharyngeal port were taken. The measures were selected based on relevance to speech resonance features and comparable studies in the literature. Linear measurements were taken of the velopharyngeal (VP) width, anterior cranial base angle (ACBA), pharyngeal depth, osseous pharyngeal depth, and adenoid-nasopharyngeal ratio (ANR). Volumetric measurements included adenoid volume (AV), nasopharyngeal volume (NPV), and oronasopharyngeal volume (ONV) . Independent samples t-tests were used to assess differences between the control and clinical groups. The total volume of the nasopharynx was found to be significantly larger in the 22q group (2890.70 mm3) compared to the control group (1542.10 mm3). Significant differences were additionally noted among linear measures, including a more obtuse angle of the ACBA in the 22q group. These results support our initial hypothesis regarding larger nasopharyngeal airways in patients with 22q compared to the control group. Quantitative anatomical data of nasopharyngeal proportions in children with 22q can be used to tailor surgery to provide a more personalized treatment approach to enhance speech and surgical outcomes in the 22q population.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.