Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 4, 2001." Also available in print.

Children with autism often display deficits in the area of play. The research in this area has focused on teaching various play skills, however, there is minimal research on the use of a curriculum-based assessment linked to direct instruction on emerging play skills. The purpose of this study was to determine whether three preschool children with or at-risk for autism would learn and generalize targeted play activities chosen from a developmental play assessment. The children demonstrated increased spontaneous occurrence of identified activities during the short-term intervention. Generalization in the classroom did not occur. Maintenance was displayed for each child 7 weeks after completion of the study. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2005. / June 29, 2005. / Autism, Preschool, Play Intervention, Developmental Assessment / Includes bibliographical references. / Juliann J. Woods, Professor Directing Thesis; Christine A. Readdick, Outside Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member; Julie J. Lowman, Committee Member.

The investigators of this study set out to determine if extended Reaction Time (RT) in people with Parkinson disease is due to impairments in the ability to initiate and execute motor movements, a deficit in cognitive processing function, or a combination of the two. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the relation between RT and cognition on two tests, one that measured RT and another that did not. We proposed that if RT is an index of cognitive processing, then it should correlate negatively with measures of cognition (i.e. as RT increases, cognitive measures decrease). If increased RT in Parkinson disease is purely a function of motor impairment, then the pattern of RT for individuals with Parkinson disease should mirror that of a control group but with generally longer RTs. Participants were given a general measure of cognition (paper/pencil test) and a computerized battery of cognitive tasks that incorporated RT and accuracy across varying levels of complexity. Results indicated overall lower scores on measures of general cognition for the group with Parkinson disease in comparison with scores of the control group. The Subject group also demonstrated lengthier reaction times on the computerized measures (CalCAP) than that of the Control group. However, the Subject group's results on the DRS-2 did not negatively correlate with measures of RT making it difficult to determine if deficits in cognition played a role in the extended RT. Group comparisons revealed significant differences on a number of the measures both with regard to RT and accuracy. These results could indicate cognitive component in increased RT of the Subject group. However, the results obtained were far from conclusive and overall we were unable to determine the underlying cause of extended RT in our subject group. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2006. / June 30, 2006. / Motor Processing, Bradyphrenia, Bradykinesia, Reaction Time, Parkinson Disease, Cognitive Processing / Includes bibliographical references. / Julie Stierwalt, Professor Directing Thesis; Leonard LaPointe, Committee Member; Gary Heald, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether preschool children from low-income environments learn phonological awareness skills when presented with interactive activities while listening to stories in an independent listening center. Four preschool children participated in a multiple baseline across participants. Participants were given interactive books with opportunities for rhyming, alliteration, blending, and segmenting. The children listened to stories under headphones for 15 weeks. Results showed that participants quickly improved their performance on the rhyming and alliteration measures. Their performance steadily improved on the blending and segmenting measures. Use of interactive books in a listening center format during the preschool years could help preschool children learn the phonological awareness skills needed to become successful readers in the future / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2008. / April 22, 2008. / Interactive Books, Phonological Awareness, Preschool Children / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Thesis; Lisa Scott, Committee Member; Kathryn Bojczyk, Committee Member.

There is great interest in determining the effects of Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation (TES) on voice. A possible factor that influences electrical stimulation transfer to the extrinsic and intrinsic laryngeal muscles is subcutaneous fat, which relates to neck fat. Recent reports have shown a correlation between the thickness of the subcutaneous fat layer and the loss of electrical signal within the skin. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine if participants grouped by somatotype displayed different acoustic voice outcomes following a one-hour TES session, and to 2) examine whether subjective reports of vocal–warm-up, vocal fatigue, and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) differed among the somatotype groups. Thirty-three subjects grouped by somatotype completed an hour of TES to the anterior neck. Pre and post voice recordings of sustained vowel and oral reading were used to calculate speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), speaking fundamental frequency standard deviation (SFFSD), and sound pressure level (SPL) and harmonic amplitude differences. In addition, participants provided comments regarding the neck sensation five minutes and 48 hours after TES. These responses related to three categories: vocal warm up, vocal fatigue, and DOMS. Repeated measure ANOVAs were used to test the differences from pre-stimulation to post-stimulation for each of the dependent variables. Post-hoc comparisons were completed using the Bonferroni test. No statically significant differences occurred for the F0 and SPL among the somatotype groups. However, somatotype group differences occurred between the amplitudes of the first and second harmonics (H1*, H2*), whereas the amplitude differences between the first harmonic and the first and third formant frequencies (H1*-A1, H1*-A3*) were not statically significant. With regard to perceptual measures, Over half (51.5 %) of all participants reported sensations of vocal warming up five minutes after the end of stimulation. Two out of four endomorphs, fifteen out of 25 mesomorphs, and no ectomprophs reported symptoms of vocal warm-up. Almost half of the participants 48.5% reported sensations of vocal fatigue immediately after stimulation ended. Fourteen out of the thirty-three participants (42.4%) reported symptoms of DOMS 24- 48 hours following the stimulation. All four of the endomorphic population reported symptoms of DOMS, 25% of the mesomorphic participants reported symptoms of DOMS, and no ectomorphic participants reported symptoms of DOMS. Results suggest no systematic effects of TES to the anterior neck on the selected acoustic measures. However, these results indicate that clinicians should use caution when applying TES to patient populations with high endomorphic characteristics. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / July 1, 2010. / Voice, Voice Therapy, Electrical Stimulation, Swallow Therapy, Dysphagia / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard Morris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Marc Freeman, University Representative; Julie Stierwalt, Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine multiple dimensions of written language produced by eighty-nine children in grades 2, 3, and 4 in narrative and expository writing samples. Two written composition samples were collected from students exhibiting typical development in second, third, and fourth grades using one narrative and one expository writing prompt via a scripted, generated elicitation method. Additionally, participants completed group-administered, norm-referenced measures of receptive vocabulary, word level reading, and reading comprehension. The writing samples were transcribed into Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Chapman, 2005), coded, and analyzed for developmental progression of linguistic elements represented by the five factors of productivity, grammatical complexity, grammatical accuracy, lexical diversity, and macrostructure. Reading comprehension scores were used as covariates in the multivariate analyses of variance. Results indicated that levels of productivity and macrostructure increased steadily with age. Across the narrative and expository samples examined, levels of productivity were highly correlated and nearly equivalent within each grade, whereas a trend was noted for levels of macrostructure in the expository genre to increase more sharply from second to third grade than in the narrative genre. There was a grade effect for grammatical complexity in the expository genre, whereas there were no significant differences between grade levels for narrative grammatical complexity. Interestingly, the second graders scored higher than the third and fourth graders on measures of grammatical complexity (especially MLTu) in their expository samples. Comparison of grammatical complexity levels across genres revealed a small, negative correlation across all three grade levels. No grade level differences were detected for grammatical accuracy and lexical diversity in either genre; although, there was a trend for fourth graders to produce a higher number of grammatical errors than second and third graders. Students in each grade performed similarly regardless of genre type on measures of grammatical accuracy and lexical diversity. Relations among measures of microstructure and macrostructure were revealed between productivity and macrostructure in both genres and between macrostructure and grammatical accuracy in the expository genre. Inter-correlations of measures within grade level are discussed. There were no significant effects of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or gender on writing outcomes. Interestingly, trade-offs in performance on certain linguistic features appeared to occur for second and fourth graders. Results of this study suggest that variables of written microstructure and macrostructure were sensitive to grade and genre level differences, that productivity (a measure of microstructure), and macrostructure were related in both genres for all three grade levels, and that one cannot assume the older students will outperform younger students on all measures. This latter finding was thought to be due to a trade-off between linguistic and cognitive demands for second and fourth graders. Consequently, future research needs to establish these trade-off trends occur in larger samples and examine the effects of different academic contexts (e.g., variable elicitation techniques, discourse structures, content specific assignments) on this phenomenon. The findings of this investigation are discussed in light of grade level standards for writing and the identification of students with writing difficulties. Multiple suggestions are presented for educational implications of the results, and specific directions provided for future research. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / November 13, 2009. / Writing, Writing Development, Microstructure, Macrostructure, Linguistic Feature Analysis / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenn Apel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Barbara Foorman, University Representative; Lisa Scott, Committee Member; Shurita Thomas-Tate, Committee Member.

Purpose: To investigate lingual-palatal pressures generated along the antero-posterior length of the tongue by younger and older adults for Maximum Isometric tongue Pressure (MIP) and swallowing tasks (LSP), and to explore the relation between oral/palatal dimensions and lingual-palatal pressure generation. Method: Lingual-palatal pressures at anteromedian and posteromedian tongue bulb positions were obtained via the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI) for 120 healthy subjects in two gender-balanced groups: younger adults (18 - 34 yrs) and 60 older adults (50 - 83 yrs). Oral and palatal dimensions were directly measured from dental impressions and tongue volume was estimated by equation. Results: MIP was significantly greater at the anteromedian bulb location, for young adults, and for males; however, a three-way interaction existed at the posteromedian bulb location. Mean LSP for thin liquids were greater at the anteromedian than the posteromedian and older adults exhibited greater LSP at the posteromedian position than anteromedian position for puree boluses. Higher Percentage of Maximum isometric Tongue Pressure (PMTP) was employed at the posteromedian position for puree boluses without further antero-posterior differences by consistency. Both LSP and PMTP increased with viscosity; however, younger adults exhibited more accommodation to viscosity than older adults. Significant, moderate relations existed between MIP and palatal width, estimated tongue volume, and oral cavity volumes; however, all significant relations between oral/palatal dimensions and either LSP or PMTP were small. Conclusion: Normal aging exhibits preferential decline in anteromedian MIP compared to posteromedian MIP, diminished gender differences in anteromedian and posteromedian MIP along the length of the tongue, and a decline in accommodation to viscosity, predominantly by the anterior tongue. Aging patterns may help identify individuals who may be vulnerable to lingual weakness and may distinguish normal age-related changes from disordered lingual function along the antero-posterior dimension of the tongue. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2011. / October 14, 2011. / age, anterior, lingual-palatal pressure, posterior, swallowing, tongue / Includes bibliographical references. / Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles C. Ouimet, University Representative; Leonard L. LaPointe, Committee Member; Carla Wood Jackson, Committee Member; Carlin F. Hageman, Committee Member.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the underlying factors related to dialect awareness in second, third, and fourth grade students. Eighty-seven students were administered measures of written and spoken dialect usage, dialect awareness, executive functioning, metalinguistic awareness, and language ability. Performance on each measure was analyzed to determine whether differences were seen by dialect usage group (strong, some, or no variation from Mainstream American English). Students who used the least amounts of morphsyntactic non-Mainstream American English features outperformed their peers on all measures. Correlational analyses showed that increased performance on measures of executive functioning, metalinguistic awareness, and language was significantly related to increased performance on dialect awareness tasks. Hierarchal multiple regression analyses showed that language skills accounted for most of the variation in dialect awareness performance, while cognitive shifting and blending abilities accounted for an additional small amount of variance. While dialect awareness is a complex task to measure, clinical implications of this investigation suggest that strong overall language abilities are needed to successfully increase dialect awareness. Students who are having difficulty with dialect awareness may benefit from a program that addresses these skills explicitly, while also targeting overall language. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / June 26, 2012. / African American English, dialect awareness, executive functioning, metalinguistic awareness / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenn Apel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Richard Wagner, University Representative; Shurita Thomas-Tate, Committee Member; Carol McDonald Connor, Committee Member; Ramonda Horton-Ikard, Committee Member.

This study rhetorically analyzes online news images of suicide bombing. I compare and contrast the visual representation of five different suicide bombing events. I gathered 181 images and 500 websites from the Google search engine, specifically from the Google News feature. Roland Barthes, Michael McGee, Stuart Hall, Susan Sontag and Grounded Theory all serve as theoretical underpinnings for the final analysis and discussion. My findings reveal that militaries create harmony; suicide bombing is the primary cause of death; terrorism is the main source of destruction; the official (governmental) response to terrorism is more visually reported about than civilian responses; and computer generated graphics are the product of journalistic/occupational convenience. Two broad observations are made about the data: namely, there is little visual variety among news sources when visually reporting about suicide bombing, and suicide bombing is visually constructed as being a cause and not an effect of conflict. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2004. / August 11, 2004. / Suicide Bombing, Terrorism, Media, Rhetoric, Rhetorical Analysis, Photojournalism, Ideograph / Includes bibliographical references. / Marilyn J. Young, Professor Directing Thesis; Greg Elmer, Committee Member; Andy Opel, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of the IGDI-ECI and to model communication growth on the key skill elements of the IGDI-ECI in toddlers with significant communication delays. Concurrent validity of the measure was evaluated by examining correlations at 24 and 36 months between the Total Communication Score of the IGDI-ECI and the CDI, CSBS:DP, PLS-4, and a caregiver child communication sample. The Total Communication score (a composite of gestures, vocalizations, word and multiple word use) did not significantly correlate with other measures at 24 months, but correlated with the PLS-4 at 36 months. Hierarchical linear models demonstrated growth curves for Total Communication and key skill elements that differ somewhat from other samples of children with IFSPs. HLMs also showed that the IGDI-ECI at entry predicts outcomes at 36 months on the measure itself but not on the caregiver-child communication sample. Implications and directions for future research were discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / ERROR. / communication assessment, early childhood communication, progress monitoring / Includes bibliographical references. / Mary Frances Hanline, University Representative; Carla Jackson, Committee Member; Ann Kaiser, Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.