Reports of working memory in healthy and neurologically impaired individuals are commonly used in discussions of the theoretical models of working memory created to hypothesize the link between working memory and verbal comprehension. Because of the evidence implicating the frontal cortex and circuitry in working memory, the influence of verbal working memory abilities on language is of particular interest in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), a population with neurological impairment in subcortical and frontal cortex circuitry, and executive deficits that affect language processing. The development of computerized measures for working memory has improved the precision of clinical researchers' assessments and provided tools for interventions. The effects of manipulating parameters of computerized tests are unclearly understood and should be carefully considered when selecting or developing computerized measures of attention or memory. Empirical studies rarely provide a strong rationale for selecting a particular interstimulus interval (ISI), which vary greatly across studies. ISI is particularly important to consider in tasks of verbal working memory, in which subjects are required to retain and manipulate information for the duration of the ISI. The influence of stimulus modality also has not been adequately explored, although Schumacher et al. (1996) conclude that verbal working memory is amodal, simply using phonological representations translated from visual or auditory stimuli. Twenty four non-demented individuals with PD performed similarly to an age- and gender-matched healthy control group for all measures. Both groups performed more slowly and less accurately in a 2-back compared to a 1-back test of working memory. Response time lengthened but accuracy improved as ISI lengthened across three levels (800, 1600, and 3200 ms) in the n- back tests, indicating participants utilized the additional time to determine the correct response. Visual or auditory presentation of stimuli did not generally influence response time or accuracy, supporting an amodal theory of verbal working memory. Influential parameters of stimuli in computerized measures of working memory need to be carefully considered and reported in the continuing investigations of the complex relationship between language use and working memory. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2005. / October 12, 2005. / Working Memory, Parkinson's Disease, Cognition, Computerized Assessment / Includes bibliographical references. / Leonard L. LaPointe, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rolf A. Zwaan, Outside Committee Member; Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Committee Member; Michelle S. Bourgeois, Committee Member.

The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of three in-service training methods on the quality of IEP objectives developed by speech-language pathologists. Forty-nine school-based speech-language pathologists were randomly assigned to one of three in-service training activities: reading-materials only, workshop-only, and workshop followed by peer coaching. The reading-materials only group read information regarding the development of educationally relevant objectives from a web site. The workshop-only and peer coaching groups received information regarding the development of educationally relevant objectives at a half-day in-service workshop. The peer coaching group received an extra hour of training regarding the peer coaching process. Following the in-service workshop, participants in the peer coaching group posted two objectives to a website each month for two months to be critiqued by a peer. The reading-materials only and workshop-only groups received no follow-up support during this two-month period. The quality of IEP objectives was the primary dependent variable. A two-way ANOVA with one between group factor and one repeated measures factor revealed that the workshop-only and peer coaching groups wrote significantly higher quality objectives than the reading-materials group. A time by group interaction revealed improvements in the workshop-only and peer coaching groups at post-training and maintained at follow-up compared to the reading materials group. Surveys revealed that the peer coaching group attributed positive changes in the quality of their objectives to participation in the study. They also rated the web-based peer coaching process positively and were relatively positive about participating in peer coaching in the future. A social validation assessment of parents' perceptions of the quality of objectives developed by the participants before and after intervention revealed that parents did not distinguish between high quality and low quality objectives. The results lend support to the effectiveness of the workshop-only format for the acquisition and transfer of a skill when participants already possess a working understanding of the workshop content. Reciprocal peer coaching via a website was ineffective for promoting continued improvement in the quality of IEP objectives. Further investigation into the effectiveness of expert coaching via a website for promoting continued growth is warranted. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2003. / October 10, 2003. / Staff Development, Transfer of Learning, Adult Learning / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Keller, Outside Committee Member; Amy Wetherby, Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member; Donna Crowley, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effect(s) of syntactic knowledge and syntactic awareness on adolescents" reading comprehension. One hundred and eighty, 9th and 10th grade students" syntactic awareness, syntactic knowledge, and reading comprehension skills were assessed. In addition, other known contributors to reading comprehension were assessed including word level reading, working memory, and vocabulary knowledge skills. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the indirect and direct effects of syntactic awareness and syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension. Students" syntactic awareness contributed significant variance on reading comprehension but did not indirectly relate to reading comprehension through syntactic knowledge. Conversely, syntactic knowledge did not have an indirect or direct effect on reading comprehension. This study confirmed the significant contribution of syntactic awareness to reading comprehension. From these findings, researchers are able to define the specific skills associated with the contributions language comprehension makes to reading comprehension as syntactic awareness and vocabulary knowledge. From these findings, it appears that the contributions that language comprehension makes to reading comprehension, as defined by the Simple View of Reading, are best characterized as syntactic awareness and vocabulary knowledge. / 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 24, 2011. / Reading Comprehension, Syntactic Awareness, Syntactic Knowledge / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenn Apel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, University Representative; Toby MaCrae, Committee Member; Jeanne Wanzek, Committee Member.

With the increase of dual language learners in the United States, high efficacy service delivery to this group is a pertinent issue in speech-language pathology. There is a need for research addressing the social validity of empirically-supported service delivery options for families of dual language learners. The purpose of this study is to examine families' perceptions of two such options: telepractice and bilingual language support. To obtain background information and opinions from families, the investigator distributed a 56-item questionnaire to parents of dual language learners. Families indicated they were generally uncertain about telepractice, but were interested in bilingual language support. This suggests telepractice is not a socially valid option at present, but bilingual intervention is emerging as a preferred option for families of dual language learners. Results from this study also suggest there are relationships between families' linguistic backgrounds and their opinions of both telepractice and bilingual language support. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2013. / July 8, 2013. / bilingual, dual language learning, family-centered, Spanish, speech-language pathology, telepractice / Includes bibliographical references. / Carla Wood Jackson, Professor Directing Thesis; Gretchen Sunderman, Committee Member; Rebecca Galeano, Committee Member.

Joint engagement is the child's ability to share an experience involving an object with social partners. This skill is critical to the social and communication development of young children. Previous semi-structured investigations in clinical settings revealed that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present with deficits in joint engagement. Additionally, findings from retrospective studies of home videotapes of children later diagnosed with ASD indicate that ASD symptoms can be observed within naturally occurring activities prior to a diagnosis. Therefore a systematic method of examining the joint engagement skills of children at risk for ASD within everyday activities is warranted. Children between 17 and 34 months (N = 42) were recruited from the FIRST WORDS® Project prospective study based on risk for ASD. Participants were videotaped during everyday activities and interactions with maternal caregivers. Consistent with the results of retrospective home video studies of children diagnosed with ASD and previous joint engagement investigations, the participants in the current study spent more time playing with toys than in other everyday activities, such as book reading and playing with people. Results indicated that the participants spent the majority of their time in object engagement without symbols and rarely participated in supported or coordinated joint engagement. Children who spent more time in coordinated joint engagement received lower autism severity ratings in the social affect domain of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord, Rutter, DiLvore, & Risi, 2002). Additionally, object engagement with and without symbols was associated with autism severity. The understanding and use of symbols during various engagement states was associated with fewer autism symptoms and higher verbal ability. Overall, these findings indicated that systematic home observations of children's joint engagement skills could contribute to the early identification of ASD symptoms in infants and toddlers. These observations also provide detailed information on children's use and understanding of symbols within everyday activities. Examining the joint engagement skills of children at risk for ASD in natural environments could validate caregivers' oncerns of ASD symptoms and help build consensus with a diagnostic evaluation in a clinical setting. The current findings also have important implications for promoting the education of caregivers and professionals on the importance of this pivotal skill. / 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, 2010. / April 20, 2010. / Mother-child Interactions, Early Identification, Autism / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy M. Wetherby, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ann Mullis, University Representative; Juliann Woods, Committee Member; Shurita Thomas-Tate, Committee Member.

Purpose: There is evidence to support the Motor Learning Guided (MLG) approach as a feasible and effective treatment for speech production impairments. To achieve the next step in providing a solid evidence base, the current study compares the more recently developed MLG with an established treatment (Sound Production Treatment; SPT) in a randomized study of training novel speech in healthy adults. Methods: Twenty native English speakers between the ages of 18-30 with no history of neurological, speech, or hearing disorder with less than 2 years of Spanish more than 2 years ago participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to receive training of novel speech phrases using the MLG training protocol or the SPT training protocol. Target stimuli consisted of five Spanish "tongue twister" phrases. A control set of five Spanish "tongue twisters" balanced for syllable length and target sounds were used to identify generalization of learning. Three baseline measures were collected followed by four training sessions, a 1-week and 2-week follow-up. Baseline, 1-week and 2-weeks post-training measures also included the control phrases to assess generalization. Results: Two-way repeated measure ANOVA's were performed to examine treatment affects both within and between groups. There were statistically significant treatment effects for each training group and the pattern of learning for the novel speech targets was virtually equivalent between the MLG training group and the SPT training group. The training effect was maintained, with no significant decline across the two post treatment measures. Generalization, identified by performance on control set of phrases at baseline, 1 week and 2 weeks post measures was noted. Specifically, there was a significant improvement over time however, the speech gains were not as great as the trained phrases and there was no statistically significant difference between groups. Conclusion: These two methods were effective in training novel speech utterances to our participants. This further validates MLG as a treatment protocol offering good concurrent validity with an established treatment protocol (SPT). The primary purpose for comparing these two methods was to establish that both methods are effective treatments for individuals with motor speech impairment. This preliminary investigation has provided an important step in that direction. / 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, 2014. / July 16, 2014. / Apraxia of Speech, Healthy Adults, Motor Speech Disorders, Principles of Motor Learning, Speech Motor Learning, Treatment Methods / Includes bibliographical references. / Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gary Heald, University Representative; Leonard L. LaPointe, Committee Member; Megan K. MacPherson, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of simultaneous lexical-semantic retrieval on parameters of gait in younger and older healthy adults. This simultaneous cognitive-linguistic loading has implications for alterations in ambulation and gait and has been related to risk for injurious falls in both normal and clinical populations with movement disorders. Two groups were compared; twenty healthy young (aged 20-40) and 20 healthy older (aged 50+) individuals, balanced for gender, with no reported history of communication, language, cognitive, physical and neurological movement disorders, participated in this study. Participants walked across a 16 foot mat while verbally retrieving members or exemplars of a given semantic category. This task of lexical semantic retrieval also has been called generative naming or verbal fluency. The GAITRite Walkway System was used to record gait measurements and generate a Functional Ambulation Profile (FAP) score. The FAP score ranges from 0 to 100; the lower the score, the higher the risks for a serious fall with performance between 95 and 100 considered within normal limits. Participants performed three trials of walks; first, a baseline of walking with no speaking; second, walking while naming types of precious stones aloud; and third, naming types of diseases aloud. FAP scores, accuracy of responses and total number of responses were recorded and were compared across the two age groups. Results showed that the younger group had higher average FAP scores across all walking and talking conditions compared to the older group. Indicating that the older group had increased difficulty performing the speaking task while maintaining a safe gait. The differences were not significant when comparing age groups, however the significant differences in FAP scores within groups was exceptional. Thus, backing up previous research indicating that a medium or difficult lexical-semantic load can adversely impact gait and increase the risk for experiencing a fall. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2014. / June 16, 2014. / Cognitive-Linguistic, Fall, Fap, Fluency, Gait, Verbal / Includes bibliographical references. / Leonard L. LaPointe, Professor Directing Thesis; Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Committee Member; Richard Morris, Committee Member; Jonathan Adams, Committee Member.

Legal mandates, educational reform, and professional policy changes, have emphasized the need to promote the integration of services for students with communication impairments within the general education curriculum. However, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) continue to report the provision of primarily pull-out services with intervention content separate from the general education curriculum. SLPs report minimal use of collaboration required for evidenced-based models of service delivery--like response to intervention (RTI). Graduate training programs are challenged to provide coursework targeting competencies consistent with educational reform and professional policy efforts. Graduate students in the School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD) distance education master's degree program received instruction infused with experiential learning opportunities related to evidence-based practice, collaboration, problem solving models such as response to intervention, and embedding social communicative intervention in the curriculum to measure change in content knowledge and application. This study documented changes in content knowledge related to the preceding content areas, practical application of content knowledge through an action research project, and practices and perceptions related to collaboration and service delivery through questionnaires completed by graduate students and school personnel (e.g. collaborating teachers, graduate supervisors, and principals). The course led to gains in content knowledge and offered meaningful practical experiences to apply through implementation of a social communicative intervention in an elementary or secondary general education classroom. Significant change did not occur in practices related to collaboration and service delivery as supported by questionnaire results; however, some positive changes were noted in perceptions. Common themes emerged and informed results related to the selection of service delivery models and obstacles to collaboration. Overall results indicate sustained efforts may be needed to change actual behaviors in practice as future SLPs will continue to be challenged to use service delivery options compatible with including students with disabilities in general education settings. / 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, 2012. / March 13, 2012. / classroom-based services, collaboration, distance education, personnel preparation, response to intervention, speech and language therapy / Includes bibliographical references. / Juliann J. Woods, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michelle M. Kazmer, University Representative; Carol M. Connor, Committee Member; Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Committee Member.

The ability to use language effectively is a function we rely on every day. Unfortunately for many individuals, language ability can be impaired following damage to the language centers of the brain. Aphasia is the term that applies to individuals who have suffered such language impairment, and while there are six general classifications of aphasia, word retrieval difficulty is a universal component across them. As such, factors that influence word retrieval have been widely studied in individuals with aphasia. One such factor, word fluency, has been the focus of numerous investigations, leading to an understanding of the "word frequency effect". The word frequency effect is the understanding that words which occur with high frequency (i.e. hat, pen) are much easier to produce than words that occur with low frequency (i.e. violin, binoculars). More specifically, words of high frequency are produced more accurately and faster than low frequency words. This frequency effect in word retrieval is well documented. However, to date, there has been no investigation on the errors that are produced on high and low frequency words. Studying the error productions of individuals with aphasia might offer a greater understanding of word retrieval and where the breakdown may occur. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an analysis on the errors produced by individuals with aphasia across two word retrieval conditions (high and low frequency). Seven individuals with aphasia participated in this investigation. All seven were native English speakers, originally right-handed, suffered a single episode, left hemisphere thrombo-embolic CVA, were at least six months post onset, and had no overt sensory or severe motor speech impairments. Each participant completed word retrieval across conditions of high frequency (30 words) and low frequency (30 words). An analysis of the errors produced in the two conditions was completed according to the Foygel and Dell (2000) classification system. After the errors were coded, the expected configuration of errors (fewer errors in the high frequency condition) was obtained by this sample of individuals with aphasia. Specific analysis of error productions indicated several individual patterns of errors, which were similar across the two conditions. With a few exceptions (perseverations and "I don't know" responses), semantic errors were produced with the greatest frequency across both conditions. The remaining breakdown of errors differed slightly across conditions. The unique contribution of this study was the systematic analysis of error productions. These findings offer preliminary evidence that error patterns are similar across the two conditions, as a differential effect was not revealed. These results suggest that the underlying mechanism of word retrieval difficulty operates the same, regardless of word frequency. Finally, the knowledge of error patterns (in this case semantic errors) may have clinical implications for guiding treatment, although additional study is warranted to either support or refute these preliminary findings. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2012. / July 13, 2012. / aphasia, naming, word frequency / Includes bibliographical references. / Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Professor Directing Thesis; Leonard L. LaPointe, Committee Member; Charles Ouimet, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a caregiver-implemented vocabulary intervention for toddlers with language delays using mobile device applications (apps). This study used two apps to teach caregivers to use evidence-based communication intervention strategies to teach expressive vocabulary in everyday activities. A "talking" storybook app served as a personalized intervention support to teach targeted vocabulary words, and a videoconference app supported communication between the researcher and caregivers. Three caregiver-child dyads participated in the study. The researcher used a multiple baseline design across routines, with replication across participants to measure gains in children's communication and changes in caregiver's use of intervention strategies. Following the six-week intervention, caregivers participated in an interview to determine the social validity of using apps with toddlers in an intervention context and completed a survey to determine their level of satisfaction with the project. Results indicated that children made gains in their communication skills and learned targeted vocabulary words, and that caregivers learned to use intervention strategies through coaching sessions via videoconference. These results contribute to the literature on caregiver-implemented intervention and demonstrate how mobile devices can be incorporated into evidence-based practice in early communication intervention. / 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. / July 2, 2012. / caregiver, early intervention, iPad, language intervention, mobile device, routines / Includes bibliographical references. / Juliann Woods, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary Frances Hanline, University Representative; Carla Wood Jackson, Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.