The purpose of this investigation was to examine the construct validity of a new test, which purports to measure morphology, entitled Test for Examining Expressive Morphology (TEEM) (Shipley, Stone and Sue, 1983). Additional tests of expressive morphology, the Bankson Language Screening Test (BLST) (Bankson, 1977) and the Test of Language Development-Primary (TOLD-P) (Newcomer and Hammill, 1982) were utilized to determine the association of the TEEM with two highly-researched instruments.

Most of the studies on language acquisition techniques provided by parents have been addressed to the training of parents for prevention of language disabilities and disorders (Latzke, 1975). Few investigations have involved language acquisition of the superior functioning child (Patterson, 1981). Hence, the purpose of this study was to survey language acquisition techniques provided by parents of talented and gifted children (TAG) who were enrolled in the Beaverton School District Number 48 TAG program. The first question dealt with what materials and/or equipment did the parents use in aiding their child's language development. The second question dealt with which particular methods did the parents use in aiding their child in language acquisition.

A labeling variable suggested by Wendell Johnson's “diagnosogenic" theory of the onset of stuttering was included in this study of the disfluencies of normal speaking college students in order to explore further the hypothetical relationship between normal disfluency and the onset of stuttering. A total of 60 Ss were randomly assigned to the following groups, each containing 10 Ss: I. Labeling Chastisement plus Contingent “wrong;" II. Labeling Chastisement plus Yoked (non-contingent) "wrong;" III. Labeling Chastisement -No “wrong;" IV. No Labeling Chastisement Contingent "wrong;" V. No Labeling Chastisement -Yoked “wrong;” VI. No Labeling Chastisement -No "wrong” (control). All Ss read aloud for 23 minutes, a three minute Baseline Period in which no experimental manipulations were introduced, followed by a 20 minute Experimental Period. Following the Baseline PerIod, Ss in the three Labeling Chastisement Groups were chastised for "stuttering” and asked to try not to. During the Experimental Period, -Ss in the two Contingent "wrong" Groups were presented “wrong” immediately following a repetition or prolongation. A yoked design was used, which enabled the Ss in the Yoked "wrong” Groups to hear this same "wrong," though non-contingently throughout their reading. The results showed that neither the Labeling Chastisement procedure nor non-contingent (Yoked) “wrong” caused an increase in disfluencies as predicted. The Ss in the Contingent "wrong” Groups decreased disfluencies during the Experimental Period, supporting the results of earlier studies which had reported that response-contingent stimuli reduce the disfluencies of normal speakers, while non-response-contingent stimuli have no effect upon disfluencies. Although this observation is in direct opposition to many onset of stuttering theories which posit that stuttering originates, in part, when the normal disfluencies of children are punished by overly-critical parents, it was noted that several theoretically-important differences exist between normal speaking college students and young children learning to talk. Normal speaking adults have had many years of speaking experience, during which time they have developed large verbal repertoires, enabling them to replace an undesirable response (disfluency) with a more rewarding one (fluency); Young children, on the other hand, have not yet mastered the complex skills required to speak correctly, and are likely to have an extremely narrow range of verbal response alternatives. Consequently, these young children, because of their lack of a correct response, may be more likely than normal adult speakers to respond to the disapproval of their disfluencies by altering their behavior in a maladaptive manner. Some of the normal speakers in this study showed an extreme vulnerability to the experimental manipulations as well as anticipation of disapproval from the E. Anticipation of speech difficulty and vulnerability to environmental influences are two factors which some theorists feel play an important role in the onset of stuttering. However, the Ss in this study who showed these behaviors were able to speak fluently when under pressure from the E to do so. Because of the vast differences between normal speaking adults and young children learning to talk, it was suggested that further experimentation with normal speaking adults engaged in verbal tasks in hopes of gaining insight into the hypothetical relationship between normal disfluency and the onset of stuttering might prove fruitless. Two alternative approaches were suggested. First, detailed observations of the interactions between adults and children in natural settings would undoubtedly prove enlightening. The second suggested approach calls for the laboratory study of adults engaged in a non-verbal task which involves interactions and requires behaviors comparable to those involved in the learning of speech by young children. Nine variables were suggested which would provide an ideal paradigm for this type of study.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine and estimate the effectiveness of a group speech and language improvement program on the speech and language skills of children at the kindergarten level.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of voice disorders among kindergarten and first-grade students in some schools in Portland, Oregon, during the Fall of 1974. The study was designed to determine the following information: 1) the percentage of voice disorders, 2) the percentage of each type of voice disorder, 3) the severity of each voice disorder, and 4) the percentage of males and of females exhibiting voice disorders. The essential questions to be answered by the present study were: What is the incidence of voice disorders in a kindergarten and first-grade (approximately five to seven years of age) sample? What are the types of voice deviations? What is the severity of each voice problem? Was the incidence similar for males and females?

The present investigation was undertaken to collect normative data on a teenage population and a young adult population in order to assess tongue sensitivity regarding the identification of various geometric shapes. The research, was conducted to answer the following questions: 1. Is there a significant difference between a teenage group and a young adult group regarding lingual discrimination? 2. What is the range and variability between and within the two groups? 3. Is the teenage group significantly better than the elementary school age group previously tested by Weiss (1973b)? There were 50 normal-speaking subjects in the teenage group ranging in age from 13 through 15 years, and 50 normal-speaking young adults ranging in age from 22 through 26 years. The subjects in the teenage group were volunteers from the public schools of Portland, Oregon, and Camas, Washington. The adults were from the same areas and were either employed in responsible jobs or were enrolled in graduate study programs. All subjects were administered a passive and an active test of lingual discrimination. Each test included 24 identifications of plexiglass geometric shapes. Selection of the shapes were made by the subject pointing to his choice on a response sheet, after the geometric shape had been removed from his mouth. The results were analyzed statistically to assess mean, range, and variability within and between the groups. A t-test was used to determine a significance of differences. The questions posed by this investigator were answered in the following manner: There was no significant difference in performance between a teenage group and a young adult group regarding lingual discrimination. This would appear to contraindicate the belief by some authorities (McDonald and Aungst, 1967) that lingual discrimination abilities continue to improve until the mid-teens. In discussing the results between the groups, the means of the active scores for both age groups were significantly greater than those achieved on the passive test. The variability on the passive test was significantly greater (p > .05) for the teenage group than for the adult group. The adults tended to be more variable on the active test. This would tend to indicate that both age groups were receiving more discriminative cues on the active test than on the passive test. 2. In comparing the teenage group to a group of 8 year-oIds previously tested by Weiss (1973b), it was found that the older group performed significantly better. These findings held true for both passive and active tests. This finding is not surprising in that one would expect maturation in this discrimination task over time as a result of human development.

Because communication involves both a sender of messages, each person could influence the other’s feelings about speaking and listening. The reactions of each member of this communication network will determine how communication will flow in the future. With an understanding of the feedback system between speakers and listeners, researchers have designed management programs which allow the speaker who stutters to develop a new pattern of speech which does not hinder his communication efforts. Fluency is the primary consideration, and normalcy of speech is second. One such program has been devised by Casteel (1974). In Casteel’s stuttering management program a person moves through four stages of speaking to be fluent. The client learns to sacrifice specific components of speech and these components are systematically reinstated while fluency in reading, monologue, and dialogue are maintained. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to determine if breathy and imprecisely articulated speech (Stage III) interferes with the speaker’s ability to communicate.

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of three modes of stress on error productions of children with developmental apraxia of speech during a sentence repetition task. The study was designed to answer the question: Will there be a significant difference in the number of errors for each mode when: a) training to distinguish among the stress modes is not provided? b) training to distinguish among the stress modes is provided?

The general purpose of this investigation was to specify further the activity of the pulmonary tract in esophageal speech. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether pulmonary airflow (PAF) rate varied in continuous speech as a function of manner of production, voicing, syllabic position, and perceived level of stoma noise. PAF rate variation was defined as the frequency and magnitude of changes occurring in association with the variables of this study. Six esophageal speakers utilizing the inhalation method of air intake were classified as high or low stoma (pulmonary) noise speakers on the basis of ratings by three speech pathologists. The /p, b, s, z/ phonemes were placed in arresting and releasing syllabic positions of single syllable words which were combined with other words to comprise two word phrases. The resulting eight phrases were uttered three times in random order by each speaker, while PAF rate was monitored at the tracheastoma, and recorded simultaneously with the phrases on the graphic printout. The graphic printout of the PAF rate curves revealed that air flowed from the stoma continuously throughout the phrase for each phrase and each speaker, but showed no fluctuations in rate within phrases for any of the variables of the study. Additionally, it was noted that PAF rate was not associated with perceived level of stoma noise.

The output characteristics of five compression hearing aids in response to a transient signal were examined to determine if, the input-output function (i.e. output levels of the hearing aid as a function of input level) for a transient signal could be made to approximate that of a continuous signal, by activating the compression circuit with a second signal (activator). Input-output functions for three input compression and two output compression hearing aids were obtained in order to determine if: 1. the automatic gain control (AGC) was activated by the second signal and the transient signal output approximates that of a continuous tone, and 2. if the second tone was evident in the output of the hearing aid and thereby potentially being an interfering factor in aided auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurement.