Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals with right hemisphere damage (RHD) process impliciture sentences differently from matched controls. The research questions were: (a) Are participants with RHD less accurate than healthy controls in impliciture sentence processing? (b) Does the introduction of story context affect impliciture processing in participants with RHD? (c) Do participants with RHD demonstrate response time profiles that differ from controls?Method: Seven participants with RHD and 16 matched controls participated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants listened to 144 impliciture sentences, and verbally responded with the interpretation they thought best fit what the sentence meant. In Experiment 2, participants listened to 100 stories and verbally responded with their interpretation of what the final impliciture sentence meant. There were two story types for each sentence: one that facilitated the normally preferred interpretation, and one that negated that interpretation.Results: For Experiment 1, three participants were less accurate in impliciture comprehension when compared to controls. The results were significant for lexical, possessive, quantitative, and temporal implicitures. For Experiment 2, three participants demonstrated increased accuracy with context. The results were significant for hyperbole, possessive, quantitative, and temporal implicitures. However, item analysis showed that each participant with RHD had difficulty negating the preferred interpretation of the impliciture. For the response time analysis, the control group was significantly slower in the negating compared to the facilitating context condition (F<N>profile). In contrast, participants with RHD did not demonstrate a difference (F=N profile).Conclusions: These findings suggest that reduced accuracy in impliciture processing occurs in some individuals with RHD, although additional research is needed to determine what characteristics are related to poor impliciture comprehension. Participants also were unable to use story contexts as effectively as the control group, showing difficulty negating the normally-preferred interpretation. Because response time profiles differed between participants with RHD and the control group, it is likely that the integrity of the right hemisphere is required for normal processing of impliciture and use of contextual cues. The results suggest a number of additional avenues of research in both the normally aging and RHD populations.

This research was guided by a theoretical framework positing that children with typical language apply general cognitive resources, such as attention, to facilitate language acquisition, and limitations in these processes may contribute to poor language skills. From this perspective, studying the attentional functioning of children who exhibit difficulty with language would have value for both informing this theory and understanding the nature of the disorder. However, research on the attention of children with specific language impairment (SLI) is limited, as only a few subdomains have been addressed to date. In addition, although school-age children with SLI have been studied, the assessment of attentional functioning in preschool children with this disorder has been minimal. This is likely the result the limitations inherent to the methods used for evaluating attentional skills at younger ages. The purpose of this research was to extend a method previously used successfully with preschool children to study selected aspects of attentional control including susceptibility to distraction, inhibitory control, and updating skills. The research questions were: (a) Do children with SLI exhibit increased susceptibility to distraction relative to their typically-developing peers, and if so, does it vary according to the type of distracter (visual, nonverbal-auditory, linguistic) presented? (b) Do children with SLI exhibit poor inhibitory control relative to their typically-developing peers? (c) Do children with SLI and their typically-developing peers display evidence of updating? Thirty-one preschool children with SLI and 31 controls participated in two computer tasks designed to assess these mechanisms of attentional control. The susceptibility to distraction task involved resisting distracters presented in different stimulus modalities (visual and auditory-linguistic/nonlinguistic). Inhibition and updating skills were assessed using a stop signal paradigm. In comparison to typically-developing children, the children with SLI exhibited increased susceptibility to distraction and poor inhibitory control. Unlike the controls, they exhibited no evidence of updating. The results of this investigation will contribute to a long-term goal of addressing how attention may affect language acquisition in children with SLI. In addition, the successful methodology employed in this study may offer an improved procedure for diagnosing attentional difficulties at an early age, regardless of language status.

A common recommendation for communication partners of people with hearing loss is to speak clearly, but how effective is this simple instruction? Does everyone produce clear speech using the same strategies? Is clear speech produced when given minimal instruction the same as that produced when competing background noise is present? The present study examined the acoustic characteristics of passage level speech produced in four different conditions. Twelve talkers (8 female, 4 male) with a mean age of 21 years were audio recorded reading three paragraph length passages. In the first condition talkers read each passage conversationally as though speaking to a friend. In the three experimental conditions, talkers were instructed to speak as clearly as they could, speak as clearly as they could in the presence of multitalker babble, and speak as clearly as they could in the presence of speech-shaped noise. The babble and noise were presented over headphones at a level of 75 dB SPL. Acoustic measures examined changes in rate, frequency, and intensity across condition. Results of this study help clarify what changes talkers make in response to instructions to speak clearly compared to conditions with competing background noise.

Studies of speech perception indicate that it is more difficult for people with and without hearing loss to detect speech in noise. Functional communication in noise, however, has been less often studied; there is currently no well-designed measure of communication effectiveness. The Diapix Task (Baker & Hazan, 2011) has potential; it elicits dialogue by having two people converse to find differences between two pictures. The purpose of the present study was to develop a reliable measure of communication effectiveness and use this measure to determine how noise influences communication. Experiment 1 investigated use of the Diapix Task as a measure of communication effectiveness in noise. Seven young adults with normal hearing, paired with an assistant, completed the Task with three different picture pairs in a sound field of cafeteria noise. Communication effectiveness was measured by counting communication breakdowns. Results indicated that the Task did elicit breakdowns and, out of nine picture pairs, one elicited a different amount of breakdowns than the others; this pair was excluded. Experiment 2 used the Diapix Task to measure communication effectiveness in quiet and different types of noise. Relation between self-reported use of communication strategies and communication effectiveness was also explored. Fourteen young adults with normal hearing completed the Diapix Task with an assistant in three conditions: quiet, cafeteria noise, and competing dialogue. Results indicated that significantly more breakdowns occurred in noise than quiet, but that there was no significant difference between types of noise. Additionally, self-reported use of communication strategies did not correlate with communication effectiveness. Results support use of the Diapix Task as a functional measure of communication effectiveness in young adults with normal hearing; future research should investigate use of the Diapix Task to measure communication effectiveness in clinical populations.

The brain's neural responses to words of different frequencies provide information on lexical organization and the cognitive processes involved in word identification and retrieval of meaning. Monolingual research has shown that exposure to high frequency words yields less cognitive difficulty than low frequency words as demonstrated by smaller N400 waves within even-related potential (ERP) methodology. The purpose of the present study was to compare frequency effects in adult native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers of English during a sentence reading task embedded with high and low frequency word-pairs. Both L1 and L2 groups produced N400 waves of larger amplitudes for high frequency words compared to low frequency words that peaked around the 400 ms time mark. Group comparison found no significant difference in N400 wave amplitude and peak latency between both groups. The results are discussed with respect to theories of L2 word learning and lexical organization.

One of the fundamental challenges for communication by speech is the variability in speech production/acoustics. Talkers vary in the size and shape of their vocal tract, in dialect, and in speaking mannerisms. These differences all impact the acoustic output. Despite this lack of invariance in the acoustic signal, listeners can correctly perceive the speech of many different talkers. This ability to adapt one's perception to the particular acoustic structure of a talker has been investigated for over fifty years. The prevailing explanation for this phenomenon is that listeners construct talker-specific representations that can serve as referents for subsequent speech sounds. Specifically, it is thought that listeners may either be creating mappings between acoustics and phonemes or extracting the vocal tract anatomy and shape for each individual talker. This research focuses on an alternative explanation. A separate line of work has demonstrated that much of the variance between talkers' productions can be captured in their neutral vocal tract shape (that is, the average shape of their vocal tract across multiple vowel productions). The current model tested is that listeners compute an average spectrum (long term average spectrum - LTAS) of a talker's speech and use it as a referent. If this LTAS resembles the acoustic output of the neutral vocal tract shape - the neutral vowel - then it could accommodate some of the talker based variability. The LTAS model results in four main hypotheses: 1) during carrier phrases, listeners compute an LTAS for the talker; 2) this LTAS resembles the spectrum of the neutral vowel; 3) listeners represent subsequent targets relative to this LTAS referent; 4) such a representation reduces talker-specific acoustic variability. The goal of this project was to further develop and test the predictions arising from these hypotheses. Results suggest that the LTAS model needs to be further investigated, as the simple model proposed does not explain the effects found across all studies.

Dosage has been identified as important element of intervention that has the potential to affect intervention efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of dose schedule for treatment of grammatical morphology deficits in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Sixteen 4-5 year old children with SLI participated in a 6-week intervention program during which children received equivalent daily Enhanced Conversational Recast treatment targeting grammatical morpheme errors. Half of the children received treatment in one 30-minute session (massed condition). The other half received treatment in three 10-minutes sessions (spaced condition) over a 3-hour period. Progress was assessed three times weekly by probing a child’s use of his/her treatment morpheme and untreated morpheme (a maturational control) in untreated contexts. Pre-to-post treatment morpheme usage differed significantly for children regardless of dosage condition, demonstrating overall treatment efficacy. There were no differences in treatment effects for the massed and spaced conditions. In addition, nonverbal IQ and receptive vocabulary test scores correlated with treatment effect sizes. The study adds to evidence that Enhanced Conversational Recast can produce positive results, in a relatively short period of time, for children with specific language impairment. Moreover, it appears that clinicians may have some flexibility in terms of the dose schedule they employ to deliver this treatment in an evidence-based manner.

Orientadores: Ivone Panhoca, Maria de Lurdes Zanolli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T03:32:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Zia_Juliana_M.pdf: 453743 bytes, checksum: a3f9df2fe00b38841f34460513f326d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Linguagem, aqui, é a esfera simbólica que "sustenta" e torna possível o exercício da vida em sociedade, possibilitando a estruturação das relações sociais, desta forma, a linguagem é o que faz dos indivíduos ¿seres sociais¿. E o gesto, nesta concepção teórica, é compreendido como uma esfera simbólica, como unidade sígnica, que participa das relações sócio-interativas humanas, fazendo parte do processo maior de construção do conhecimento. O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi analisar a gestualidade de uma criança com atraso de linguagem nas relações interativo-lingüísticas no contexto da terapia fonoaudiológica em grupo. Trata-se de um estudo de caso de observação participante, realizado por meio do método qualitativo, utilizando-se como diretriz teórico-metodológica os pressupostos da abordagem histórico-cultural. O estudo enfocou uma das cinco crianças que formavam um grupo terapêutico fonoaudiológico, todos do sexo masculino, com hipótese diagnóstica de atraso de linguagem, na faixa etária de 5 a 8 anos de idade. As cinco crianças foram trabalhadas em grupo durante oito meses, em sessões semanais de uma hora e meia de duração, totalizando 23 sessões terapêuticas. O material coletado foi composto de aproximadamente 34 horas de vídeo-tapes e 500 páginas de transcrições, além dos relatórios semanais das sessões. A análise de dados foi realizada por meio da análise microgenética. Este tipo de interpretação de dados é realizado por meio da análise detalhada dos recortes que refletem ações, fatos e processos dos episódios interativos ocorridos em um determinado contexto, representados aqui, na terapia fonoaudiológica em grupo. O objeto de estudo eleito foi o desenvolvimento da língua(gem), entendido como um processo dinâmico na relação do sujeito com ela, ou seja, a ¿língua em atividade¿. Esta forma de tratar os dados permite uma análise mais completa e detalhada dos processos de desenvolvimento. Adotou-se, portanto, uma posição desenvolvimental. Através da análise qualitativa dos dados, observou-se o que a interpretação e atribuição de sentidos aos gestos produzidos pela criança, por parte dos outros membros do grupo, viabilizaram sua inserção no grupo terapêutico, possibilitando que ela fosse interpretada e conseguisse interpretar, constituindo-se, assim, como sujeito daquele grupo. Concluiu-se que o fato de o gesto ser acolhido / significado naquele determinado contexto lingüístico-interativo favoreceu a (re) construção da linguagem da criança e, acima de tudo, a (re) construção da sua identidade / Abstract: Language, in this case, is the symbolic sphere that ¿sustains¿ and makes possible the exercise of life in society, providing structure in social relationships. Therefore, language is what makes individuals ¿social beings¿. And gesture, in this theoretical conception, is comprehended as a symbolic sphere, as a signal unit, that participates in human social-interactive relationships, as well as in the major process of knowledge building. The general objective of this work was to analyze gestures of a child with language delay in interactive-linguistic relationships under the context of group phonoaudiologicall therapy. This is a case study of participant observation, performed by means of the qualitative method, utilizing presuppositions as the theoretical-methodological guideline of the historical-cultural approach. The study focused on one of the five children who completed a phonoaudiological therapeutic group, all of them being males, with diagnostic hypothesis of language delay, in the age group between 5 and 8 years old. The five children were studied in group during eight months, in week sessions of one and a half hours of duration, totalizing 23 therapeutic sessions. The collected material was compounded of nearly 34 hours of videotapes and 500 pages of transcriptions, in addition to week reports of the sessions. The data analysis was performed by means of the microgenetic analysis. This kind of data interpretation is accomplished through the detailed analysis of cuttings that reflects actions, facts and processes of interactive episodes occurred in a certain context, represented in this case by the group phonoaudiological therapy. The selected object of study was the development of the language, understood as a dynamic process in its relationship with the subject, i.e. the ¿language in activity¿. This form of treating the data allows a more whole and detailed analysis of development processes. Therefore, a developmental position was adopted. Through the data qualitative analysis, it was observed that the interpretation and attribution of feelings to gestures produced by the child, through other members of the group, viabilized their insertion in the therapeutic group, allowing that they were interpreted and able to interpret, constituting this way as the subject of that group. The conclusion is that the fact of the gesture being received / signified in that determined linguistic-interactive context favored the (re) building of the child¿s language and, above all, the (re) building of their identity / Mestrado / Saude da Criança e do Adolescente / Mestre em Saude da Criança e do Adolescente

Orientador: Adriana Lia Friszman de Laplane / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T04:12:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jordao_LindaBoghossian_M.pdf: 20684428 bytes, checksum: 613e5801cd4fe29e55225489f0394f85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Tomando como ponto de partida as dificuldades de leitura e escrita observadas em uma sala de aula de 4ª. Série do ensino fundamental, a pesquisa teve como objetivos desenvolver uma proposta de intervenção em sala de aula, com base na perspectiva do Letramento e com enfoque nas práticas de leitura e escrita, e discutir as possibilidades de contribuição da Fonoaudiologia na escola. Foi utilizada uma abordagem qualitativa com caráter de pesquisa-ação, com a finalidade de produzir mudanças no meio pesquisado. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma escola estadual de ensino fundamental da cidade de Campinas, por uma equipe interdisciplinar de pesquisadoras e professoras. A proposta de intervenção foi desenvolvida em parceria com a professora de sala, por meio de um projeto temático, em que os alunos produziram um filme. O projeto temático permitiu integrar conhecimentos de diferentes tipos e agregou o trabalho de professores, alunos e pesquisadores. Os resultados mostraram que os alunos participantes se engajaram de forma ativa nas atividades propostas durante o projeto de intervenção e que o seu desempenho em leitura e escrita melhorou, assim como o comportamento da turma estudada. A pesquisa propiciou a reflexão sobre o papel da Fonoaudiologia como interlocutora da equipe escolar. Concluiu-se que o fonoaudiólogo pode somar esforços com os professores e contribuir com os conhecimentos que a sua disciplina integra para propiciar a compreensão do processo de letramento e melhorar o desempenho dos alunos na aprendizagem escolar / Abstract: As a starting point the reading and writing difficulties observed in a 4th Grade classroom, the research aimed to develop a proposal on classroom intervention, based on the literacy perspective and focused on reading and writing practices, and discuss the possibilities of the contribution of Speech and Language Pathology at schooL It was used a qualitative approach focusing collaborative action-research in order to produce changes in the environment studied. The survey was conducted in a public Junior High School in the city of Campinas, by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and teachers. The intervention proposal was developed in partnership with the classroom teacher through a thematic project, in which the students produced a film. The thematic project allowed integrating different kinds of knowledge and added value to the work of the teachers, students and researchers. The results showed that the students participated in an active way in the activities proposed during the intervention and their performance in reading and writing have improved, as well as the behavior of the group studied. The research led to a reflection regarding the role of the Speech Therapy as the spokesperson of the school staff. It was concluded that the Speech and Language Pathologist can join and add forces with the teachers and contribute to the knowledge that their discipline provides to offer an understanding of the process of Literacy and to improve student performance in school learning / Mestrado / Interdisciplinaridade e Reabilitação / Mestra em Saúde, Interdisciplinaridade e Reabilitação

Language recovery was examined in 108 individuals with aphasia in the chronic phase of recovery who participated in various forms of aphasia treatment over extended periods of time. The Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) was administered at multiple time points and Aphasia Quotient (AQ) scores were used as a measure of language performance over time. As a group, the cohort showed an improvement of +6.52 AQ points, yielding an average rate of change of +4.07 AQ points per year. The rate of change was greatest at earlier times post onset (between three months and two years), and improvement was greatest for individuals with aphasia in the moderate severity range. Age, sex, and fluency did not have a significant effect on recovery. Education level had marginal predictive value in the direction of those with less education showing greater rate of improvement. These results suggest that language recovery continues during the chronic stage for individuals who are involved in some form of rehabilitation activity, especially in individuals with aphasia of moderate severity.