The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of utterance length and meaningfulness on the speech initiation times of stuttering and nonstuttering children. Subjects were 36 elementary school students: 18 stutterers and 18 nonstutterers matched by age, grade, and gender. Each child produced 23 each of a short meaningful, long meaningful, and long nonsense utterance in response to a visual cue. Results are consistent with other studies that found stutterers to be slower than nonstutterers when responding verbally to an external cue. It is also apparent that nonstuttering, stuttering-only, and stuttering-plus children are affected differently by utterance length and meaningfulness. This indicates that the three groups may process speech motor events for verbal responses differently.

This study evaluated empirically the Test for Examining Expressive Morphology and the Patterned Elicitation Syntax Test with Morphophonemic Analysis to determine their capacity to aid in answering the following diagnostic questions: (1) "Is there a language impairment" and (2) "What are the specific areas of deficit?" For the first question, a discriminant analysis using 40 preschool children (20 with specific language impairment (SLI), and 20 with normally developing language) revealed 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity for each test. For the second question, an item analysis revealed inconsistent pass/fail rates and low point-to-point agreement for SLI children's performance on items targeting the same morphosyntactic structure across tests. Given their high discriminant capacity, but inconsistent item-level performance, both tests proved appropriate diagnostic tools for question 1 but inappropriate for question 2.

<p> Children with language impairments frequently benefit from language intervention which utilizes children's books. However, careful selection of the children's books by interventionists must be done, as these children are frequently delayed in narrative abilities. This research investigates the narrative level of children's books used in language intervention with three methodologies of narrative analysis. Results indicate that children's books have narratives that span across developmental levels; revealing that not all books are appropriate for all children in narrative terms. Clinical implications are discussed.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive, syntactic, and pragmatic language skills of school age children. Subjects were chosen from sixth and ninth grades and randomly placed in one of two interaction paradigms. A common task, construction of a geometric puzzle, was presented to a group of subjects by the examiner and those subjects then taught the task to their peers. / In the first interaction paradigm subjects were asked to answer three question strategies; definitive, empirical and evaluative. In the second interaction paradigm the subjects teaching the task asked questions of their own design with the evaluative questions being asked by the examiner upon completion of the puzzle task. Each subject also gave a narrative three to five minutes in length. Cognition was measured by the reasoning cluster of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery. / Responses to questions were analyzed descriptively for all subjects for differences in function using a pragmatic taxonomy developed for this study. Narratives were analyzed descriptively for differences in syntax using the Language Assessment Remediation Screening Procedure. Narratives were analyzed statistically for differences in T-unit length, clause length and clause usage. Correlations were drawn between cognitive test scores with T-unit length, clause length and clauses per T-unit. / Findings indicated statistically significant differences between groups in the words per T-unit and the words per clause used in the narratives. Descriptive differences were found between groups in the use of response and question strategies. Differences were also found in the type, but not the number of verb extensions between groups. Correlations between language and cognitive test scores were not statistically significant. The implications of the results in the evaluation and treatment of the language disordered child were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-03, Section: B, page: 0689. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The Radioear B70A and Siemens Fonator electromechanical vibrators were coupled separately to the fingertip of 72 normal young adults. Tactual thresholds were obtained with (a) pure tones in octave and half-octave intervals from 125 through 1,000 Hertz and (b) phonemes comprising the Ling Five Sound Speech Test. / Threshold measurements served as a sensation level reference for tactual stimuli used in a subsequent visual-tactual communication task. Subjects used a television monitor to observe a videotaped speaker uttering sentences from the CID Everyday Sentences Lists. The tape soundtrack drove a respective vibrator at predetermined suprathreshold levels. Subjects failed to demonstrate statistically significant differences in speechreading performance as a function of systematic changes in the intensity of tactual stimuli with either electromechanical vibrator. Statistically significant differences were observed as a function of speechreading the same sentences twice. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-09, Section: B, page: 2866. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore speech reactions to normal auditory feedback (NAF) and delayed auditory feedback (DAF), with reference to three factors: (1) speech-confidence, (2) gender, and (3) the duration of DAF. Male and female subjects were divided into speakers of high speech-confidence (HM and HF respectively) and speakers of low speech-confidence (LM and LF respectively). Speech reactions of these four groups to the speech stress of delayed auditory feedback were examined. Measurements of speech included speech errors, rate of speech, total talking time, intensity of speech, and fundamental frequency. In general, results indicated that the speech responses of high- and low-confident speakers could not be differentiated. With regard to gender however, for two of the outcome variables, i.e., speech errors and upward intensity range, males and females responded to the experimental conditions differentially. Finally, findings confirmed that delayed auditory feedback will generally disrupt normal speech production. However, data were inconclusive regarding the effects of specific durations of DAF on speech production. / A secondary goal of the study was to examine the scores obtained from the Inventory of Communication Attitudes with reference to the similarities and differences among the four subject groups. A significant difference was found in the self-reported speech-confidence levels of LM and LF subjects. In contrast, the speech-confidence scores of HM and HF subjects were not significantly different. / A final objective of the study was to investigate how listeners perceived the speech-confidence level of speakers. In general, it was determined that the ability of listeners to detect the same level of speech-confidence as that reported by the speakers was relatively difficult. Results also showed that listeners perceived females as being "Confident" and "Very Confident" speakers more often than they did males. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: B, page: 5671. / Major Professor: Richard Ham. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Unit-by-unit identification of stuttering is a commonly used clinical technique. Although widely used in the clinical process, investigations have revealed low agreement levels when comparing the unit-by-unit identifications made by different judges. Previous studies have attributed some of this disagreement to characteristics of the judges making the decisions. Only cursory factors (age and gender of judges) have been identified thus far. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between selected characteristics of judges and number of stuttering units identified by those judges, and secondly, to relate the same selected characteristics to the number of stuttering units in agreement with pooled judgements of stuttering made by experienced speech-language pathologists. Characteristics of judges studied were musical training, foreign language experience, singing experience (obtained through survey), musical aptitude (obtained from the Seashore Measures of Musical Abilities) academic success (obtained from grade point averages) and success on academic achievement tests (obtained from S.A.T. and G.R.E. scores). / Forty judges listened to audio recordings of 100 sentences (five repetitions of 20 sentences) which were read by confirmed stutterers. Judges marked where stuttering occurred on a script which would allow stuttering identification on a word or in the space between words. Number of stuttering units marked by judges and number of stuttering units marked in agreement with experienced clinicians were tabulated for all judges. / Spearman correlation coefficients beyond the.05 level of significance were calculated for total number of stuttering units identified by judges and 2 G.R.E. subtests (analytic and quantitative scores). Number of stuttering units identified by judges which were in agreement with experienced clinicians were positively correlated beyond the.05 level with G.R.E quantitative score, G.R.E. analytic score and total G.R.E. score and negatively correlated beyond the.05 level with self judged foreign language competency. / These findings should be treated cautiously due to large confidence interval calculated for this sample size. Trends in the data distribution, future research directions and implications for student selection into graduate programs are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-09, Section: B, page: 4631. / Major Professor: Richard E. Ham. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The purpose of this study was to examine the affective semantics of stuttering and non-stuttering individuals. Overall affective semantics, its component elements of evaluation, activity, and potency and the relationships between these factors and age and severity of stuttering were investigated. / A 2 x 3 x 3 x 17 nested factor design was used. The 21 male stuttering subjects were matched to 21 male non-stuttering subjects with regard to age and intelligence in addition to pre-established criteria concerning language history, visual and hearing abilities, and reading level skills. The 42 subjects were further divided into three age groups: child, adolescent and adult. Subjects who stuttered were rated mild-moderate or moderate-severe. / The subjects were administered a 17 concept, 14 scale semantic differential. The data were examined by an analysis of variance, the T-test, cell means, and the Distance statistic. / The results indicated that: / (1) No significant difference was found between stuttering and non-stuttering individuals regardless of age with respect to overall affective semantics. The adolescent group, however, showed a significant difference when the D-statistic was applied. / When comparisons were made by age for stutterers only, a T-test revealed no significant differences between the child and adolescent, and child and adult groups. There was, however, a significant difference between the adolescent and adult group. The average score for the older group showed more extreme reactions. This apparent conflict was discussed. / (2) There was a significant difference between stuttering and non-stuttering individuals with respect to the evaluative semantic factor. / (3) Although no significant difference was found between stutterers and non-stutterers with regard to the factors of potency and activity, when an analysis of variance was applied, the D-statistic revealed a significant difference at the adolescent level with regard to the activity factor. / (4) Severity did not produce a significant difference between the mild-moderate and moderate-severe stuttering groups when a T-test was applied. / Implications for both future research and clinical applications were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: B, page: 2126. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 31-10, Section: B, page: 6321. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1970.

Forty-eight females, sixteen in each of three age groups (20 to 30 years, 40 to 50 years, and 60 to 70 years), performed a series of diotic competing message subtests under two different response formats (recognition and recall). The diotic subtests were constructed to emphasize either a semantic (body parts or colors) or a phonemic (releasing or arresting consonant contrasts) relationship among the diotic word pairs. Results of the experiment suggest that age of the listener, nature of the stimuli, and response paradigm all influence diotic performance. Each age group differed in performance, and semantic subtests were easier than phonemic subtests. A hierarchy of subtest difficulty was established (body parts or colors < releasing consonant contrasts < arresting consonant contrasts), but this hierarchy varied some according to age group. Recognition performance was better than recall performance, but only on phonemic subtests; and no age-related differences in recognition and recall were found. Different error patterns were also identified among different aged listeners. Results were discussed in terms of auditory processing/perceptual changes that occur with increasing age. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: B, page: 4030. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.