Introduction Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a health condition in infants that results from the sudden discontinuation of substances that infants were exposed to in utero (Kocherlakota, 2014). Typical symptoms include: hyperirritability, sweating, hypertension, tremors, sleep deprivation, and seizures (Kocherlakota, 2014). The role of a SLP in treating infants with NAS in the NICU includes evaluation, assessment, and treatment of the feeding cycle. Our research is an early exploratory and descriptive study of the pre-natal, peri-natal, and post-natal characteristics of infants with NAS who required SLP assessment and intervention as opposed to those who did not. Our aim was to examine possible predictors of infants with feeding and swallowing difficulties. Methods Data was collected from a local hospital system that conducted a five-year retrospective chart review study. From charts of 140 infants in the NICU, infants were placed into two groups: infants who received SLP services (SLP group) and infants who did not receive SLP services (NSLP group). From those charts, 26 infants with NAS who received SLP services were placed in SLP group based on the availability of a match in NSLP group. Infants in both groups were matched based on gestational age, year of birth, and gender. Results/Conclusion There were no significant differences found between SLP group and NSLP groups in: number of prenatal visits, week/timing of initial prenatal visit, and dosage of buprenorphine taken by the mother. The two groups did not differ (all ps>.18) in their types of drug use, average dosage of buprenorphine taken, average number of prenatal visits, or average week of first visit. There was a statistically significant difference in maternal age in the SLP group (p<.05; M=29.7 years, SD=5.4) and in NSLP group (M=26.7 years, SD=4.3.). There was no statistically significant difference in initial measurements of weight, head circumference, length, Apgar scores at birth, and number of complications between groups. There were no significant differences found in NAS scores between groups regarding the highest NAS score or average NAS score, number of NAS scores and first day of collection or number of days collected. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of prescription drugs administered. Infants in SLP group had more prescription drugs on average (M=1.50, SD=.89) than NSLP group (M=1.04, SD=.20). There was a statistically significant difference in the amount of weight gained (SLP group gained 229 more grams) and in infant length of stay and overall cost (SLP group on average stayed in the NICU one week longer and cost $22,896 more). Little research has been conducted regarding NAS and the impact it has on feeding and swallowing. We found that there are statistically significant differences among infants who were in SLP and NSLP groups. It cannot be determined how many full-term infants have dysphagia; however, from a clinical opinion it is thought that most full-term babies with dysphagia also have a neurological impairment.

Identification and selection of a speech-language caseload in the school setting can be a challenging task. The initial stages of caseload selection are usually in the form of a screening procedure. Although speech-language information is gathered at that time, information about its relationship to each student's academic status is usually not obtained. Such information would be useful in a setting that requires the provision of special education services to be justified from a basis of academic need.

It is obvious that the effects of speaking rate on the ability of aphasic children to comprehend verbal material has not been extensively researched. The studies cited above suggest that an increase in rate adversely affects comprehension by various subjects, while a decrease in rate may improve comprehension by certain subjects. Therefore, the present study attempted to examine the effects of the rate at which an auditory stimulus is presented to aphasic and normal children.

Young children who are Hispanic, from low-income homes and have developmental delays are at a disadvantage for not having the basic early literacy foundation to become successful readers later in school (Ballantyne, Sanderman, D‘Emilio, & McLaughlin, 2008; Hammer, Farkas, & Maczuga, 2010; Ezell & Justice 2005; McCardle, Scarborough, & Catts, 2001). These challenges can be addressed in several ways. Early intervention including parent education and collaboration along with shared book reading are considered best practices and critical to improving child outcomes (NELP, 2008). In addition, children who have a solid foundation in early literacy skills including vocabulary development in their native language will later transfer to the development of vocabulary in English (Ballantyne et al., 2008). Yet, research on shared book reading practices within the home of Hispanics is minimal (Hammer and Miccio, 2006). It is necessary to expand the literature on how to adapt best practices to meet the needs of Hispanic families who are economically disadvantaged. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of parent training and coaching of dialogic reading strategies in Spanish on mothers‘ implementation of the strategies and total vocabulary expressed by the child during shared book reading within the home environment. In addition, the researcher explored parent receptiveness towards shared book reading strategies. The research design for the study was a single-subject multiple baseline across three motherchild dyad participants. The independent variable was the intervention which consisted of parent training video on dialogic reading, parent handouts, and researcher coaching. The dependent variables were the mother‘s implementation of dialogic reading strategies and the children‘s total expressed words during shared book reading. The mother-child dyads, originally from Mexico, lived in settled migrant community in central Florida. The three children regularly attended a iv local federally funded preschool and received services for speech and/or language. The results indicated that the mothers‘ implementation of dialogic reading increased after training and coaching and the children‘s expressed total vocabulary words also increased. Dyad‘s interests in the selected books, mother responsiveness during shared book reading, and duration of shared book reading may have impacted some of the variability in the results. Furthermore, mothers were unaware of the dialogic reading strategies prior to the intervention and reported positive feedback and a desire to learn more ways to help their children at home. Implications for research and practice include the need for parent education to support caretakers of young children with speech and/or language delays, involvement of parents in the intervention planning process including coaching options, adaptation of intervention to expand upon parent‘s funds of knowledge, complexity of code-switching and language differences, and greater collaboration between school and home.

Children with communication disorders are often at risk of literacy difficulties, especially students that present with autism and/or speech sound disorders. This quasi-experimental study was designed to examine the effects of a 10-week "hybrid" intervention for preschool students with and without communication disorders in an integrated classroom. The classroom intervention targets both vocabulary and phonological awareness, two critical components of literacy that are strongly correlated with one another. The objectives of this study were (1) to provide empirical evidence that classroom-based pre-literacy intervention can be effective for students with communication disabilities, allowing for more time with their peers in a potentially least-restrictive environment and (2) to demonstrate that typically-developing preschool children also benefit from classroom-based pre-literacy training.

Background. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent difficulties with social communication (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Due to the high prevalence of ASD there’s a significant demand for services to support these individuals and the involvement of caregivers is considered a crucial element of effective early intervention for young children with developmental disabilities (Siller & Morgan, 2018). The Incredible Years ® is an evidence-based behavioral parent training program with a large body of research demonstrating its efficacy with enhancing positive parenting practices during parent-child interactions for children with behavior problems (Menting et al., 2013). The program is built on the foundational concept of child-led free play. Recently, the program has been adapted for families with young children with developmental disabilities, Incredible Years Program for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Delays Ages 2-5® (IY-ASLD). IY-ASLD aims to help parents learn developmentally-attuned language and play strategies to effectively engage with toddlers with ASD or social communication delays. There are few published evaluations of IY-ASLD currently. However, the findings from pilot studies are promising in terms of the feasibility of implementation, with high levels parent satisfaction and attendance. The present study uses data from a pilot study of the IY-ASLD program (N=17), which was adapted to telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic with the assistance of program developer. This dissertation contributes to an emerging body of research by evaluating the IY-ASLD program in a community setting. By examining IY’s group treatment model in a telehealth format, we also gain valuable insight about virtual parenting interventions, which have the potential to significantly expand treatment to more families. Methods. Families were recruited from a specialized early intervention and preschool program that utilizes an Applied Behavior Analysis approach to education. Seventeen (N=17) parent-child dyads from the school enrolled in the program. All or virtually all children referred to this school by their school district are at-risk for or have been diagnosed with ASD. All of the children had an IEP or IFSP with mandated speech services, 71% of the children met criteria for ASD (N = 12) on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale-2-SF, and 2/3 of the sample had adaptive behavior composites below a standard score of 70 on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales- Third Edition Comprehensive Teacher Form (Sparrow et al., 2016) at baseline. The parent participants, all mothers, began and completed a 12-week IY-ASLD telehealth intervention delivered over HIPAA protected Zoom. Mothers were from diverse backgrounds (41% non US born), well-educated (94% college graduate) and had a high median household income. Data from participants was gathered through questionnaires administered to parents, child-functioning measures completed prior to treatment by school personnel, and parent-child interactions videos recorded in the home at pre-, mid-, and post-treatment across a 12-week IY-ASLD intervention. Primary outcome variables were parent verbal behaviors during 5-minute parent-child free play sessions recorded at each time point. Each vocal utterance during free play sessions was coded for function, consistent with the parenting skills that were targeted in the IY-ASLD program (e.g., reducing commands, questions, and corrections, increasing descriptive narration and praise, following the child’s lead). The independent variables were time and dosage (minutes spent in treatment) and the moderators were child’s functioning levels (special education teacher/clinician ratings on the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scales- Third Edition (Vineland-3, Sparrow et al., 2016) and Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition- Standard Form (CARS2= ST, Schloper et al., 2010). Results. Mothers in the IY-ASLD program significantly decreased the ratio of parent-directed language and increased the ratio of child-directed language they used during the free play sessions with large effect sizes and most of the change occurring in the mid-to-post interval. Descriptive statements (tacts) also increased significantly for all participants with large effect sizes; the number of directive or question statements (mands) decreased with medium effect sizes, though the results were not significant. Dosage was not a significant predictor of outcomes at post-treatment when pre-treatment parenting behaviors were taken into consideration, possibly due to low variability in attendance. When child level was analyzed as a moderator, there were large effect sizes for the observed changes in tacts, mands, and overall ratio of child-directed language when children were divided into ASD vs No ASD groups, but small effect sizes when looking at low vs high adaptative behavior groups. There was a significant interaction effect between change in parent language over time and ASD severity of the child; parents of children with ASD did not significantly reduce the number of mands over time, while parents of children without ASD significantly reduced their number of mands over time. This research provides support for a full-RCT of IY-ASLD in this setting, suggesting that the intervention promotes maternal use of child-directed language, particularly for children with language delays as opposed to those with more severe symptoms of ASD. Interventions such as IY-ASLD may help empower parents of preschoolers with disabilities with strategies to facilitate more rewarding free play interactions at home.

No description available.

The diploma thesis focuses on the role of teacher assistant in the nursery class. Its aim is to capture the activities that the assistant teacher performs in this class through qualitative research. The main aim of the research was to describe the activities of the teacher assistant that support pupils directly in the logopedic class of the kindergarten. The research was carried out at the nursery class of the kindergarten. The case studies of five pupils were processed on the basis of documentary analysis and observation and teacher assistant activities were categorized. It has been found that pupils has disruptive communication skills that has been shown since the beginning of development and, besides communication skills, involves in other areas of development. Teacher assistant pays attention to all pupils in the class. Activities that encourage them to engage in education and all kindergarten activities do not differ in content. His work focuses mainly on ensuring understanding, orientation and involvement of pupils in every situation. KEYWORDS Teacher Assistant, Pupil with Special Educational Needs, Speech and Language Disorders, Nursery School, Class for children with speech and language disorders, Special Education

Use of time-compressed speech stimuli has been found to be clinically effective in differential diagnosis of lesions of the temporal lobe. However, notably absent from the literature is information concerning performance of adults on time-compressed closed-set speech discrimination tasks. The goal of this study mas to compare performance of 12 males and 12 females between age 50 and age 70 on a time-compressed closed-set speech discrimination test against the performance of 12 males and 12 females between age 10 and age 28 on the same task. The Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification test (WPI) was presented in both non-compressed and time-compressed conditions to all subjects. Previous research suggests that a difference in performance between age groups and between males and females in the older age group should be expected. Average results indicated negligible differences between age or gender groups under any of the conditions tested. Additionally, the test yielded perfect or near perfect scores for all subjects in the non-compressed condition. Lack of differentiation of results suggests that the Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification CUIPI) may be insensitive to the discrimination disorders expected in older adults, that the subjects included in the study were atypical of older adults in general and therefore such discrimination disorders did not exist in the sample, or that the subjects in the study uiere able to apply some type of compensatory strategies which resulted in the unexpected performance.

A síndrome de Down (SD) é uma síndrome genética causada pela trissomia do cromossomo 21 e a causa mais comum de deficiência intelectual. Apresenta alterações em todo o desenvolvimento, em particular o linguístico, que é caracterizado por atraso de linguagem, principalmente quanto aos aspectos morfossintáticos. Tais déficits são confirmados por valores de Extensão Média do Enunciado (EME) abaixo do que seria esperado tanto para a idade cronológica (IC) quanto para a mental (IM) quando se consideram crianças com desenvolvimento típico (DT). A EME tem sido considerada na literatura internacional como o índice mais aceito e efetivo para medir o desenvolvimento gramatical e morfológico, tanto de indivíduos com DT quanto de indivíduos com alterações de linguagem, como por exemplo, o Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) e a SD. Pesquisas que comparam as duas populações apontam similaridades entre os desempenhos desses indivíduos quando se considera a EME. Na literatura nacional, estudos que abordem os aspectos morfossintáticos em indivíduos com SD e que considerem a EME como ferramenta de avaliação são escassos. O objetivo do presente estudo foi descrever as habilidades linguísticas de crianças com SD falantes do Português Brasileiro por meio da análise da EME, medida tanto em morfemas (EME-m) quanto em palavras (EME-p). Participaram do estudo três grupos de crianças, sendo um pesquisa (GP-SD) e dois controles (GC-DEL e GC-DT, cujos dados são retrospectivos de estudo anterior), cada um com 25 participantes. Os grupos foram divididos em três subgrupos, cada um, de acordo com a faixa etária (três, quatro e cinco anos). Os participantes do GP-SD foram pareados aos demais por IM. Foi realizada análise da EME de cada sujeito com SD, obtida por meio de amostras de fala, que resultou em 2500 enunciados. Os resultados indicaram que as crianças com SD apresentaram valores de EME menores que as crianças do GC-DEL e do GC-DT, o que aponta para diferenças entre os grupos, para déficits morfossintáticos e para atraso no desenvolvimento linguístico. Verificou-se ainda o desenvolvimento de habilidades morfossintáticas em idades mais avançadas. As similaridades com o GC de crianças com DEL nem sempre foram observadas, já que o GP-SD apresentou desempenho inferior e maior dificuldade quanto ao uso de palavras funcionais. Conclui-se assim, que as crianças com SD do presente estudo apresentaram déficits gramaticais importantes que se caracterizam pelo atraso do desenvolvimento morfossintático. A EME demonstrou ser uma ferramenta confiável e eficaz para identificar o desenvolvimento gramatical e linguístico da população com SD, o que confirma a validade da utilização de tal índice para essa população. Aponta se para a necessidade de estudos com populações maiores de indivíduos com SD, apesar da grande variabilidade interindividual, o que forneceria dados mais representativos para a prática clínica fonoaudiológica baseada em evidências. / Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic syndrome caused by trisomy 21 and it is the most common reason of intellectual disability. It leads to disorders in all development process, in particularly linguistic, which is characterized by language development delay, mainly regarding morphosyntax aspects. Those deficits are confirmed by values of Mean Length Utterance (MLU) lower than expected for chronological age (CA) as well as for mental age (MA) when considered typically developing children (TDC). MLU have been considered in international literature as the most acceptable and effective index to measure grammatical and morphological development to TDC as well as to children with language disorders, such as Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and DS. Researches that compare those former groups show similarities between their performances concerning MLU. National researches regarding morphosyntax aspects in DS considering MLU as an evaluation tool are scarce. The purpose of this study was depicting linguistics skills of children with DS, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, through MLU analysis measured in morphemes (MLU-m) as well as in words (MLU-w). Participated in the study three groups of children as follows: research group (RG-DS), two control groups (CG-SLI and CG-TDC which data are retrospective from previous study), each group had 25 children. Groups were divided into three subgroups according to the age range (three, four or five years old). The participants of RG-DS group were paired by MA. It was performed MLU analysis in each child with DS that was obtained through their speech samples that leaded to 2500 statements. Results indicated that children with DS showed MLU values lower than children from CG-SLI and CG-TDC, which indicates delay in linguistic development. Further, it was found greater morphosyntax development skills in children who were older aged. Similarities to CG-SLI were not often found, once RG-DS showed lower performance and greater difficulty at using function words. It is therefore concluded that children with DS in this study presented such grammatical deficits characterized by morphosyntax development delay. MLU demonstrated being a reliable and effective tool to identify linguistic and grammatical development in children with SD, what confirms the validity of the use of such index to that population. It points to the need of more studies with larger sample of children with DS, even considering individual variability, in order to provide data more representative to the Speech-Language Pathology clinical practice based on evidence.