This study examined the relations among expressive phonology, phonological sensitivity, and early decoding skills in children attending kindergarten through 2nd grade. Extant literature suggests that children with disordered speech may be at additional risk for reading difficulties; however, due to methodological shortcomings, findings from previous research are questionable. A total of 140 children between the ages of 5- and 8-years of age were randomly selected from a pool of 392 children recruited from local schools to participate in assessments involving oral language, expressive phonology, phonological sensitivity, and early decoding skills. Results from correlational analyses revealed significant relations between most measures of phonological sensitivity, expressive phonology, and decoding skills, even after partialling out variance common to oral language. Additionally, results from simultaneous multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the Phonological Sensitivity, Lexical Access and Multisyllabic speech production jointly predicted early decoding skills (ÄR2 = .34). Phonological Memory and single-naming speech production did not. Additionally, Phonological Sensitivity, Lexical Access, and Multisyllabic speech production each predicted unique variance in Decoding. Finally, hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that whereas for the youngest group of children, those with poorer speech skills (as measured by multisyllabic word productions) or poorer phonological sensitivity skills also displayed poorer decoding skills, this relation was not found to be significant for the older children. Age did not moderate the relations between Lexical Access and Decoding. Results support extant literature suggesting that reading deficits stem from an underlying phonological deficit and that speech may serve as an early indicator of potential reading problems. Clinical implications include the need to use more sensitive, complex expressive phonological measures and to incorporate exposure to written language into speech therapy sessions. Additionally, future research should focus on extending current findings by examining the relations among speech and reading in a longitudinal nature. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2004. / April 7, 2004. / Phonological Processing, Phonological Sensitivity, Decoding, Speech, Reading / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christopher Lonigan, Outside Committee Member; Lisa Trautman, Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member.

Vocabulary is considered one of the critical language skills necessary for children to develop at a young age, as it has been shown to be highly correlated with future academic success in school. Children from low-income environments have been identified as at risk for delayed acquisition in this area, as their environments often lack the exposure and opportunities necessary for vocabulary acquisition. Shared storybook reading is considered an ideal context in which to target learning of vocabulary. Researchers have been successful in teaching parents from low socioeconomic status (SES) to implement shared storybook reading strategies, and as a result, some gains, although not dramatic, have been observed in children's vocabulary. However, parents have not been taught how to embed effective vocabulary instruction into book reading. This study investigated the effects of teaching mothers of preschoolers from low SES homes how to embed rich vocabulary instruction in shared storybook reading through scripts on mothers' behaviors during book reading and the word learning of the preschoolers. A multiple baseline design across mother-child dyads and books was utilized. Data on the mothers' reading behaviors were collected through audiotaped reading sessions. Tapes were transcribed and coded for the mothers' comments, questions, and explanations relating to target words and other words in the story. Additionally, an alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two types of scripted reading procedures, word explanation condition and a no word explanation condition. Each type of scripted reading involved the use of comments and questions relating to target vocabulary words. However, the script in the word explanation condition also included the provision of a definition of the target word. Varying levels of children's vocabulary knowledge were assessed on a weekly basis. Increases in the mothers' vocabulary-related utterances were observed with the implementation of the scripted reading procedures. Additionally, large gains were observed in children's knowledge of novel words. The evidence suggests that teaching mothers from low SES homes how to embed vocabulary instruction in book reading through the use of scripts results in changes in the mothers' behavior, along with increases in children's word knowledge. This easy to implement method of intervention shows great promise for widespread application by professionals working with families and children. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / June 28, 2006. / Word Learning, Vocabulary Acquisition, Language, Preschool, Parent Training, Low-Income / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary Frances Hanline, Outside Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member; Carla Wood-Jackson, Committee Member.

Research has documented the importance of early oral language and phonological sensitivity abilities in relation to later reading success. More research is needed to measure specific components of oral language abilities in order to better understand oral language development during the preschool years and its relation to emergent literacy. The present study was designed to expand the research base on language production and emergent writing and drawing abilities in 3-year-old children. This investigation utilized standardized language assessment and a spontaneous language sample in order to provide an in depth analysis of oral language. Spontaneous language samples were analyzed for length of utterance, vocabulary diversity, and lexical components. Emergent writing and drawing were evaluated utilizing a developmental scale. This investigation also sought to document developmental changes in spontaneous language production in a story retell task. In addition, a subgroup of these children was re-evaluated at 4 years in order to determine whether language and emergent writing and drawing at 3 years predict language and emergent literacy abilities at 4 years. The methods for the proposed study are presented for data collection, transcription, coding, and analysis of language, emergent literacy and emergent writing measures. Results indicated that standardized measures of both receptive and expressive language were related to spontaneous language variables at 3 years. On the story retell task, children were able to retell parts of a story about a familiar routine at 3 years and provided significantly more information in their story retell at 4 years. Both standardized language and spontaneous language measured at 3 years were significant predictors of oral language abilities at 4 years. Although standardized language was a better predictor of oral language, the lexical composite uniquely contributed to the prediction of oral language abilities at 4 years. The predictor variables were not significantly related to phonological awareness and print awareness measured at 4 years. Due to the strength of the concurrent and predictive relationships found in this study, future research should continue to explore relationships between early language abilities and later academic outcomes. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2004. / March 31, 2004. / Story Retell, Narrative Development, Phonological Awareness, Print Awareness, Language Development / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Wetherby, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Lisa Scott Trautman, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, Outside Committee Member; Christopher Lonigan, Outside Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.

This study investigated the development and validation of the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) expressive vocabulary measure. Three hundred, seventy-one children from two school districts representative of the demographics of Florida were tested in the spring of the 2008-09 school year. Results indicated that this new measure was associated with performance on outcome measures of kindergarten word reading and first and second grade reading comprehension. It was equally associated with outcome measures for children qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), English Language Learners (ELL), and Minority students except for students qualifying for FRL in Kindergarten. However, when reading ability was held constant, the differential prediction was no longer significant. The FAIR measure had a strong relation with the EVT-2 averaging .80 across the three grades indicative of concurrent validity. Item difficulty had a small correlation with imageability and a moderate, negative correlation with word frequency. The added value of prompting was investigated and surprisingly was found to contribute to low student probabilities of answering an item correctly after receiving a prompt and did not add any value when predicting to a reading outcome. The results of this study suggest that FAIR may provide a viable assessment option that balances ease and time of administration with predictive power and connection to instruction. / 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. / December 7, 2009. / Reading, Assessment, Vocabulary / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Barbara Foorman, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, University Representative; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.

Many theories for explaining speech production problems in apraxia of speech (AOS) have been advanced. Schmidt's schema theory of motor control has been widely used to explain motor learning in normal subjects as well as in individuals with motor speech disorders especially, AOS. Several studies have provided the data on motor learning in limb system from the perspective of schema theory of motor control and learning. Those studies investigated important variables of motor learning such as practice (random and blocked), feedback (100% feedback, reduced feedback), and their influence on acquisition and retention. However, few studies have investigated motor speech production for AOS. Furthermore, many of the variables directly related to relearning or learning outcomes of complex motoric speech behavior have gone uninvestigated. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the manipulation of several parameters (the schedules of practice trials, the schedules of feedback, and retention) of motor learning theory on the verbal acquisition and retention of words in a foreign language (Korean). Thirty two normal English speaking subjects participated in this study. Ten Korean sentences were presented for each participant to practice. The subjects were directed to practice by listening to the sentences that the experimenter orally modeled for them. The speech samples were produced with one day of retention and one week of retention following training. The results showed that the combination of 100 practice trials and 20% feedback was more effective than the other combinations on the retention of novel verbal productions of Korean phrases one day after training. Also, the effects of the combination of 100 practice trials and 20% reduced feedback were retained one week after acquisition. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2007. / January 25, 2007. / Practice Trials On Motor Speech Retention, Apraxia Of Speech, Treatment Of Apraxia Of Speech, Retention, Motor Learning Theory, Effect Of Feedback Schedules / Includes bibliographical references. / Leonard L. LaPointe, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rolf A. Zwaan, Outside Committee Member; Julie A. G. Stierwalt, Committee Member; Richard J. Morris, Committee Member.

Purpose: Reading plays a critical role in ensuring children's academic achievement (Lonigan, Burgess, & Jason, 2000). This investigation focused on the acquisition of mental orthographic images (MOIs). Specifically, it examined word position effects during MOI learning of novel words in typically-developing kindergarten students. Methods: Forty-seven typically-developing, kindergarten students ranging in age from 5-6 years were presented with 12 novel words. MOI acquisition by word position was assessed through a spelling generation task. Results: Words were analyzed based on four word positions and orthotactic and phonotactic probabilities. Analysis revealed that students acquired significantly more MOI information for the onset position over any other word position. In addition, MOI acquisition was greater for words containing graphemes of high orthotactic probability. Conclusion: Young students quickly acquire information from novel written words; this ability is affected by word position. These results, once corroborated, may lead to educational decisions about whether explicit or implicit instruction is required for all written word learning. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2008. / July 3, 2008. / Mental Orthographic Images, Reading, Spelling, Word Position / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenn Apel, Professor Directing Thesis; Shurita Thomas-Tate, Committee Member; Lisa Scott, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the vocabulary of low SES students, who also had low standardized language and cognitive scores, could be improved through a supplemental one-on-one intervention. Three first graders (6 years of age), who also had low weekly scores in a larger listening center intervention, received individualized Tier 2 intervention. In the baseline condition, students listened to interactive stories four days weekly under headphones during a listening center, classwide activity, with instruction on seven words embedded in stories. In the intervention condition, the participants received the same listening center intervention, but with several modifications including listening to the story via boom box with adult monitoring and implementation of a scaffolding hierarchy if correct answers were not provided. Data were collected on the prompts needed to achieve an accurate response, and the participants were tested weekly to measure knowledge of the words presented. All participants showed an increase in the number of independent responses given during instruction. However, minimal effects on word knowledge were shown during weekly testing. Clinical implications of this study suggest that although supplemental interventions may be helpful in improving vocabulary acquisition, additional programming is needed to ensure more complete learning. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art. / Summer Semester, 2008. / April 23, 2008. / Vocabulary, Low SES / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Thesis; Shurita Thomas-Tate, Committee Member; Kathryn Bojczyk, Committee Member.

Children adopted internationally are at risk for communication delays because of their history prior to adoption and the fact that they often do not share the same language with their adoptive parents. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of a Family-Guided Routines-Based Intervention (FG-RBI) program in teaching the parents of children adopted internationally to embed instructional strategies throughout their daily routines. Three parent-child dyads participated in a multiple baseline design study to improve communicative interactions within the context of everyday learning opportunities. Observations of behavior during three-minute videotaped routines revealed modest increases in the parents' use of environmental arrangement strategies. Two of the three parents also learned to use contingent imitation as a responsive strategy. All parent participants agreed that the relationship-based intervention model was congruent with the unique needs of families who adopt internationally. Five parents who adopted internationally, but were not a part of the project, evaluated videotaped segments of parent-child interaction during baseline and intervention routines. Results of the social validity measure further substantiated the positive change in parent-implemented instructional strategies. This study contributes to the growing research base supporting FG-RBI and other parent-implemented approaches in early intervention. Even more so, it brings needed attention to the at-risk population of children adopted internationally. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2008. / July 31, 2008. / Parent Implemented Intervention, Language Development, Early Intervention, International Adoption, Routines Based, Communication Strategies, Family Guided / Includes bibliographical references. / Juliann Woods, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary Frances Hanline, Outside Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member; Amy Wetherby, Committee Member.

Scholars have studied issues of public relations evaluation and encroachment separately, yet none have previously examined perceptions about evaluation and encroachment together in applied settings. This study features responses obtained during interviews with 21 public relations practitioners working in for-profit companies. These responses contribute to existing literature because they reflect current perceptions of both evaluation and encroachment in real world settings. This study seeks to expand systems theory by addressing systems that de-value communication. It also seeks to broaden excellence theory by explaining how to maintain public relations' independence. Responses revealed that while most practitioners attempt to evaluate their results using either qualitative or quantitative methods (or a combination of both), real obstacles to both approaches remain. Thus a combined approach seems most effective. Presently, most practitioners are not concerned about encroachment and feel that evaluation is only one part of a public relations department's defense against encroachment. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2005. / January 24, 2005. / Encroachment, Corporate Public Relations, Evaluation / Includes bibliographical references. / Donnalyn Pompper, Professor Directing Thesis; Jay Rayburn, Committee Member; Felecia Jordan-Jackson, Committee Member.

Individuals with dementia have language and memory deficits that interfere with their functional abilities, such as conversation skills. A Variety of treatments have been developed to address these deficits during group conversation activities. Interventions that provide various sensory cues (e.g., visual, verbal, tactile) have been found to facilitate conversation groups. The current research attempted to evaluate the effects of auditory plus tactile and auditory plus written conditions on the conversational behavior of five persons with dementia in a group activity using an alternating treatment design. In a listening treatment condition (auditory plus tactile) participants listened to a story read by a staff facilitator while holding an object that was related to the story and answered questions about the story. In the reading treatment condition (auditory plus written), participants took turns reading aloud the story text and then took turns reading aloud questions about the story to elicit conversation. The quantity and quality of utterances for the participants and the facilitator were scored from transcripts of the audiotaped sessions. The results revealed no treatment effects for the quantity and quality of utterances by the participants for either condition. The treatments were subsequently modified to reduce the length and complexity of the story stimuli. With the treatment modification, only one participant demonstrated a clear increase in quantity and quality of utterances after treatment was implemented. Naïve judges' ratings of seven conversational quality indicators corroborated the lack of treatment effects. Baseline sessions were judged to be more comfortable, more clear, having more novel information, more on-topic utterances, more equality of turns, more participant-led discussion, and more participant engagement than either treatment condition. Factors related to the participant characteristics, the treatment protocol, and the physical environment may have contributed to the lack of treatment effects in this study as compared to other more successful conversational interventions. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2003. / April 2, 2003. / Memory Loss, Dementia Cueing / Includes bibliographical references. / Michelle Bourgeois, Professor Directing Dissertation; Linda Vinton, Outside Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.