Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2002." Also available in print.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, April 29, 1996." Also available in print.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 14, 1999." Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Individuals with developmental language impairment can show deficits into adulthood. This suggests that neural networks related to their language do not normalize with time. We examined the ability of 16 adults with and without impaired language to learn individual words in an unfamiliar language. Adults with impaired language were able to segment individual words from running speech, but needed more time to do so than their normal-language peers. ICA analysis of fMRI data indicated that adults with language impairment activate a neural network that is comparable to that of adults with normal language. However, a regional analysis indicated relative hyperactivation of a collection of regions associated with language processing. These results are discussed with reference to the Statistical Learning Framework and the sub-skills thought to relate to word segmentation. (C) 2017 The University of Arizona. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Diploma thesis Assessment of language skills of specific language impaired children deals with children with specific language impairment in preschool and early school age (6-8 years). The thesis is to map the resources that are dealing with this issue and define the concept of specific language impairment in our country and foreign environment, because it is a very problematic term The theoretical part describes the status of speech therapy and special education diagnosis of children with specific language impairment in Czech Republic and foreign countries. It maps out how this developmental disorder speech therapists and special educators diagnose, what tools to use and what diagnostic criteria used in their practices. The aim of our research activities in the framework of this thesis is to determine whether and what value could have a Battery of tests of phonological skills (Seidlová Málková, Caravolas 2013) for the diagnostic process of specific language impairment. And also try to detect whether the battery includes tests to detect potential child with specific language impairment and thus contribute to the differential diagnosis. Keywords: Specific language impairment, language assessment, diagnostic markers, Battery of tests of phonological skills

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the level of comprehension of czech sentences with a different syntactic complexity in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children at family risk for dyslexia (experimental groups) compared to typically developing peers (control group). Statistically significant differences were proven both between the SLI group and the family risk group and between the SLI group and control group. The assumed descending tendency of achievement in the test blocks was not substantiated.

There has been limited investigation into the nature of specific language impairment (SLI) in adolescence, and even less investigation into speech production in SLI, particularly beyond the preschool years. Phonological output is crucial to oral expressive language, one of the characteristic areas of deficit in SLI. It was hypothesized that adolescents with SLI present with residual speech errors. Accordingly, this study investigated the presence, nature and cause of speech deficits in adolescents with persistent SLI. Adolescents aged 13.0-14.0 years with persistent SLI (n=31) were compared to typically developing (TD) peers (n=31) on an Oral Motor Evaluation (OME) and a Speech Assessment Battery (SAB), consisting of: Multisyllabic Word Repetition, Nonsense Word Repetition, Phrase Repetition, Sentence Repetition and Tongue Twisters. Tasks were analysed in terms of accuracy and the amount of effort required, to determine efficiency and automaticity of phonological output. All participants completed a battery of memory tasks and the language abilities of the SLI group were evaluated. Caregivers completed questionnaires investigating risk factors. Results indicated that adolescents with persistent SLI produced a higher number of inconsistent and context-dependent deviant speech behaviours than TD peers, involving syllable structure changes (phoneme additions/omissions), phoneme substitutions, fluency errors and repetitions/revisions. Participants with SLI also had a higher incidence of neuromotor deficits. Persistent SLI appears to relate to a multifactorial etiology, involving both genetic and early history factors. There was high comorbidity of attention deficits, with implications for resource allocation. Results were interpreted within a functional capacity viewpoint. Speech deficits are thought to contribute to a threshold effect, where even subtle deficits in one area can compromise processing in another area. Speech production in this population appears to be more resource-demanding than in TD peers, which may affect concurrent performance on linguistic and memory tasks. This hypothesis is supported by the high correlation between speech tasks and expressive syntax for SLI participants. The high incidence of speech deficits in adolescents with SLI ii has implications for research and clinical practice with individuals of all ages with SLI.

Crianças com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) podem apresentar dificuldades de recepção e emissão da linguagem que podem trazer prejuízos na sua interação com outras crianças, familiares e sociedade uma vez que estudos relatam a importância social da comunicação como um veículo de extensas redes de trocas sociais, pelas quais se forma e se transforma a cultura e, em consequência a própria realidade social. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar as habilidades comunicativas de seis crianças com DEL, na faixa etária entre sete e oito anos e onze meses e comparar com crianças com desenvolvimento típico pertencentes ao grupo controle (GC), pareado por idade e gênero. A investigação compreendeu: (i) a avaliação do período da narrativa oral com quatro figuras de sequência lógico temporal e (ii) avaliação do desempenho em habilidades sociais comunicativas (HSC) por meio da analise de filmagens de situações estruturadas entre cada criança com DEL e seu respectivo par do GC e entre cada criança com DEL e um adulto do gênero feminino. Como resultado, todas as crianças com DEL apresentaram déficits nas HSC tanto nas interações com seus pares quanto com o adulto e cinco delas mostraram desempenho narrativo abaixo do esperado em relação ao GC, o que evidencia prejuízo nas interações sociais desses indivíduos. O estudo permitiu caracterizar e identificar necessidades especiais relacionadas ao repertório social e comportamental, mas são necessários novos estudos sobre protocolos de avaliação e intervenção que tenham como meta tanto a melhoria nos aspectos de fala e linguagem quanto nas relações interpessoais das crianças com DEL. / Children with Specific Language Impairment ( SLI ) may present difficulties in receiving and issuing of language that can bring harm in their interaction with other children , family and society as social studies report the importance of communication as a vehicle for extensive exchange networks social and shape by which the culture is transformed and therefore social reality . The aim of this study was to investigate the communicative abilities of six children with SLI , aged between seven and eight years and eleven months and compared with typically developing children in the control group ( CG) , matched for age and gender . The investigation included: ( i ) assessing the period of oral narrative with four figures logical temporal sequence and ( ii ) assessing performance in communicative social skills ( HSC ) through the analysis of shooting situations structured between each child with SLI and its respective pair of the GC and between each child with SLI and an adult female . As a result , all children with SLI showed deficits in HSC both in interactions with their peers and with adult and five of them showed narrative performance below expectations compared to GC , which show impaired social interactions of these individuals . The study allowed us to characterize and identify special needs related to social and behavioral repertoire , but further studies are needed on protocols for assessment and intervention that have as a goal the improvement in both aspects of speech and language and interpersonal relationships of children with SLI .

It is well known that language processing depends on specialized areas in the left side of the brain in the majority of the population. A popular view is that developmental language disorders result from a poorly lateralized brain, but evidence in support of this has been weak and inconsistent. In this thesis, I investigated language-related asymmetries in brain structure and function, and their behavioural relevance in both individuals with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing adults. Combining different brain imaging techniques, I looked at group-level as well as individual estimates of language laterality and its relationship to language abilities. The aim of my first two studies was to investigate the neural underpinnings of SLI in terms of white matter microstructure and functional organization associated with auditory processing. For this, diffusion and functional MRI data was obtained in a small number of families with a history of SLI and in control families. Compared with neurotypical controls, children with SLI had lower white matter integrity in the corpus callosum, and in white matter areas corresponding to the dorsal and ventral language pathways. The expected functional lateralization for auditory processing was not observed in either group. In the second half of my thesis, I assessed language laterality in 215 neurotypical adults. I demonstrated that functional transcranial Doppler (FTCD) ultrasonography could reliably assess functional lateralization across different language processes. From this large group, I identified 16 individuals with atypical language lateralization and compared them to a group of 16 typically lateralized individuals using a combination of FTCD, MRI and behavioural measures of language laterality and language abilities. The two groups differed significantly in terms of lateralization assessed by functional MRI and diffusion imaging. The atypical group had lower left and greater right hemisphere activation compared with the typical group, and lacked the leftwards asymmetry in the ventral language tract seen in the typical group. The groups did not differ in terms of cognitive measures. Different functional laterality assessments were concordant in the typically lateralized individuals but were inconsistent in the individuals assessed as atypical by FTCD. In brief, my findings suggest that for some individuals language lateralization may be unstable and varies depending on task or other factors. Even so, such differences do not appear to have consequences for language or other cognitive development.