Objective. As a result of newborn hearing screenings, an increasing number of infants are being identified with a hearing loss at birth or within a few months of life. The literature supports that early identification in conjunction with early intervention services have led to drastic improvements in speech and language outcomes for children who have a received a cochlear implant (CI). The purpose of this study was to investigate the amount, type, and quality of services that young children with CI(s) are receiving. Methods. Participants in this study included 22 teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing (TD/HH), 7 speech-language pathologists (SLP), and 4 early childhood interventionists (ECI). All of the service providers were serving at least one child with a CI(s) at the time of the study. Three on-line service provider surveys were modified from the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study (NEILS) in order to specifically address the concerns and interests of service provision for children with CIs. The three surveys addressed the birth-3, preschool, and school-age populations. Results. Results from the birth-3 and preschool populations with CIs were analyzed. The school-age population was not analyzed due to the low response rate from that age group. Findings from this study revealed that the TD/HH is the primary service provider for the birth-5 population with CIs. In addition, other service providers (i.e. SLP, ECI) reported that they do not feel completely comfortable working with the CI device (i.e. troubleshooting, utilizing the Ling Six Sound test). Another area of concern was the child's compliance in wearing the CI on a full-time, daily basis. Collaboration and education among professionals and the families of children with CIs must be stressed in order for early intervention services to effectively facilitate the child's speech, language, and educational development. Conclusion. The results revealed characteristics specific to both the child (i.e. services the child has received in the past 6 months as part of his/her intervention program) and the service provider (i.e. amount of professional education concerning children with CIs). More research is needed to assess the relationship between the amount and quality of service provision and the child's speech and language performance to ensure that this population is receiving appropriate early intervention services.

Limited research is available about how lexical and phonological verb properties interact with past tense production by children. Frequency of the inflected form and phonotactic probability might serve as input-driven alternatives to previously-studied factors such as lexical aspect and coda composition. Archival elicited production data from 4-9 year old children with typical language (N = 24) and specific language impairment (N=14) using 108 two-clause complex sentences/85 different verbs were analyzed for past tense use, coda composition, telicity, phonotactic probability (Vitevitch & Luce, 2004), and lexical frequency (CHILDES; MacWhinney, 2000). Several regression models were considered, including one with only categorical factors (e.g. obstruent/continuant ending), one with only continuous factors (e.g. average biphone probability), one with only phonological factors, one with only lexical factors, and several mixed models. Diagnostic status and verb regularity accounted for the majority of the variance. The combination of lexical frequency of the inflected form with residuals of stem lexical frequency was the best lexical model. Place and manner information for the final consonant of the stem comprised the best phonological model. These two models combined into a final overall predictive model.

Co-speech gesture is ubiquitous in everyday conversation, facilitating comprehension, learning, and memory. Information is often provided uniquely in the gesture modality and this information is integrated with speech, affecting the listener’s comprehension and memory of a message. Despite the robust evidence that gesture supports learning, the memory mechanisms that support this learning are unclear. The current study investigates the ability of patients with hippocampal damage to integrate and retain information from co-speech gesture. Four patients with bilateral hippocampal lesions, four patients with damage to the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and 17 healthy comparisons watched videos of a storyteller narrating four stories with gestures. Some of the gestures provided redundant information to the speech signal and some provided supplementary information that was unique. The participants retold the story immediately after, thirty-minutes after, and four weeks later. Co-speech gesture integration was measured by the proportion of words changed as a result of seeing a supplementary gesture. Memory retention for the stories was measured by the number of story features mentioned during each retelling. The patients with hippocampal amnesia were successful at integrating speech and gesture information immediately after hearing the story but did not show a benefit in memory for gestured features after delays. Though the hippocampus has previously been thought to be critical for relational memory, this finding suggests that the integration of speech and gesture may be mediated by other cognitive mechanisms.

This study aimed to answer whether current research addressing executive function abilities in cochlear implant users was accurately depicting their impairments. Secondly, this study aimed to identify differences in identification of executive function impairments when measured using parent report versus behavioral measures of executive function. Results suggest that children do have executive function impairments in areas of measure nonverbal planning, problem-solving, monitoring, and self-regulation abilities as well as attention to a visually presented array of pictures which has been documented in previous research. However, it is likely that these abilities are modulated by children with cochlear implants' poorer language ability as demonstrated on the PPVT, which seems not to be related to their age of implantation. The behavioral measures and parent report measures identified impairments in the subsets which required a greater language demand and subsequently subsets that were significantly more difficult for CI children.

Purpose: The chin down posture is a compensatory strategy commonly used to minimize the risk of aspiration in patients with a pharyngeal delay. There are several difficulties to determining if the chin down posture is effective at eliminating aspiration including: the variability on how to perform the posture, what the posture is called, and the anatomical changes resulting from the posture The main purpose of this study was to determine the anatomical changes associated with different postural positions (i.e., chin down, chin tuck, and head extended) using endoscopy. Method: Twenty healthy female subjects underwent nasoendoscopy and assumed four different head positions with and without a bolus in the oral cavity. Subjects were instructed on how to perform each posture prior to insertion of the endoscope. The four head position included a neutral, chin down (looking at the floor), chin tuck (chin to neck), and head extended position. Still images of each posture and condition were analyzed using ImageJ to measure the changes in area of airway opening and in distance between structures (e.g., posterior pharyngeal wall to epiglottis). Measured distances and area changes across postures were analyzed within and across subjects. Statistical and descriptive analyses were also completed. Results & Conclusions: The findings demonstrated that there are statistically significant differences in the anatomical structures of the pharynx when creating the chin down, chin tuck, and head extended positions. Furthermore, the presence of a small liquid bolus in the oral cavity played a significant role in changing the area observed in all postures compared to the non-bolus hold postures. Although we were unable to determine a significant statistical difference between the chin down and chin tuck postures, descriptive analyses of these postures lead to noticeable trends in airway opening and visible anatomy (e.g., laryngeal vestibule, vallecular space) across subjects. The chin tuck posture was found to provide subjects with the greatest decrease in area of airway opening from the neutral position, thus increasing airway protection.

The orofacial area stands apart from other body systems in that it possesses a unique performance anatomy whereby oral musculature inserts directly into the underlying cutaneous skin, allowing for the generation of complex three-dimensional deformations of the orofacial system. This anatomical substrate provides for the tight temporal synchrony between self-generated cutaneous somatosensation and oromotor control during functional behaviors in this region and provides the necessary feedback needed to learn and maintain skilled orofacial behaviors. The Directions into Velocity of Articulators (DIVA) model highlights the importance of the bidirectional relationship between sensation and production in the orofacial region in children learning speech. This relationship has not been as well-established in the adult orofacial system. The purpose of this observational study was to begin assessing the perception-action relationship in healthy adults and to describe how this relationship may be altered as a function of healthy aging. This study was designed to determine the correspondence between orofacial cutaneous perception using vibrotactile detection thresholds (VDT) and low-level static and dynamic force control tasks in three representative age cohorts. Correlational relationships among measures of somatosensory capacity and low-level skilled orofacial force control were determined for 60 adults (19-84 years). Significant correlational relationships were identified using non-parametric Spearman’s correlations with an alpha at 0.1 between the 5 Hz test probe and several 0.5 N low-level force control assessments in the static and slow ramp-and-hold condition. These findings indicate that as vibrotactile detection thresholds increase (labial sensation decreases), ability to maintain a low-level force endpoint decreases. Group data was analyzed using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests and identified significant differences between the 5 Hz test frequency probe and various 0.5 N skilled force assessments for group variables such as age, pure tone hearing assessments, sex, speech usage and smoking history. Future studies will begin the processing of modeling this complex multivariate relationship in healthy individuals before moving to a disordered population.

The purpose of this study was to determine if speech language pathologists could reliably identify different perceptual variants of adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) using a classification system proposed by Bastian (2009). Audio samples of sustained vowel phonation, sentence production, passage reading, and conversation were pre-recorded from 16 patients with a primary diagnosis of spasmodic dysphonia. Four speech language pathologists specializing in voice disorders listened to the audio samples and identified the ADSD variant, the presence of co-occurring tremor, and overall severity of the voice disorder. Re-rating of half of the audio samples was conducted two weeks later. Inter-judge reliability for the diagnosis of ADSD variants was fair (©§ = 0.25). All four judges agreed on variant 19% (3/16) of the time, three judges agreed 62% (10/16) of the time, and two judges 19% (3/16) of the time. Inter-judge reliability agreement for identifying co-occurring tremor was fair (©§ = 0.35). All four judges agreed on the presence of co-occurring tremor 44% (7/16) of the time. Three judges agreed 50% (8/16) of the time. Inter-judge reliability for assessing overall severity was moderate (©§ = 0.41). Four judges agreed on overall severity 38% (6/16) of the time. Three judges agreed 19% (3/16) of the time. Two judges agreed 38% (6/16) of the time. Judges disagreed on overall severity 6% of the time (1/16). Further analysis revealed three sources of diagnostic discrepancies: 1) the co-occurrence of multiple perceptual characteristics that correspond to multiple variants, 2) the ambiguity in identifying co-occurring tremor, 3) misidentification of perceptually similar characteristics. Relevant spectrographic evidence was presented. Clustering and categorizing perceptual characteristics were proposed as a more reasonable approach to capture perceptual variation of ADSD to optimize clinical diagnosis and acoustic research.

A learning disability (LD) is any disability resulting from a primary impairment in comprehending or expressing language. Many studies have looked at atypical language processes in children - particularly those with Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia - but few have considered to how language demands, and therefore the impact of LD, change as children or adolescents transition into the postsecondary setting where auditory language abilities are often a necessary component for success. In this study we posited that students with LD would have a more difficult time learning information from a typical lecture format, and that contributors such as extant vocabulary, short-term verbal memory, and attention would all predict outcomes for post-lecture test performance. Participants were 34 individuals with LD and 34 individuals who were typically developing (ND). Each participant watched a 30-minute lecture. Before the lecture, a baseline-test of general topic knowledge was given. Afterwards a post-test was given regarding specific information from the lecture. Additionally, multiple standardized tests and ratings were given to each participant to look at individual differences that contributed to outcomes on the post-test. We found that LD students learned less information from the lecture than did the ND students, as measured in both recall and recognition formats. Post-test performance for all students was predicted based on vocabulary and attention. Verbal memory was an additional predictor for LD participants.

Actors often receive training to develop effective strategies for using the voice on stage. Arthur Lessac developed a training approach that concentrated on three energies: structural action, tonal action, and consonant action. Together, these energies help to create a more resonant voice, which is characterized by a fuller sound that carries well over noise and distance. In Lessac-Based Resonant Voice Therapy, voice clinicians help clients achieve a resonant voice through structural posturing and awareness of tonal changes. However, LBRVT does not include the third component of Lessac's approach: consonant action. This study examines the effect that increased consonant energy has on the speaking voice--particularly regarding loudness. Audio samples were collected from eight actor participants who read a monologue using three distinct styles: normal articulation, poor articulation (elicited using a bite block), and over-articulation (elicited using a Lessac-based training intervention). Participants learned about the "consonant orchestra," practiced producing each sound in a consonant cluster word list, and practiced linking the consonants in short phrases. Twenty graduate students of speech-language pathology listened to speech samples from the different conditions, and made comparative judgments regarding articulation, loudness, and projection. Group results showed that the over-articulation condition was selected as having the greatest articulation, loudness, and projection in comparison to the other conditions, although vocal intensity (dB SPL) was not statistically different. These findings indicate that articulation treatment may be beneficial for increasing perceived vocal loudness.

No description available.