The purposes of this investigation were to identify, via the Pragmatic Protocol, the incidence of pragmatic disorders within public school articulation and language caseloads and a control group of normal students and to specify the pragmatic areas, i.e., utterance propositional, and/or illocutionary/perlocutionary act categories in which deficits occur.

Dichotic tests evaluate binaural integration through simultaneous presentation of different stimuli to each ear of a listener who has normal hearing sensitivity in both ears. Dichotic listening deficits may lead to problems with language, communication, reading, or academic performance. If accurately identified, dichotic deficits may be treatable with listening training or managed with accommodation. However, it is not clear which of several commercially-available dichotic test recordings are best for audiologists to use when assessing binaural integration in children. Literature review revealed limited evidence of reliability, accuracy, usefulness, or value for dichotic tests applied to children. Of 11 dichotic tests identified, five reported some evidence of test-retest reliability. Correlation between results on repeated administration was moderate to good (r=0.59 to 0.92). Evidence of accuracy was identified for 5 tests but was not generalizable due to significant limitations in study design. No evidence was found to either support or dispute claims of usefulness or value. Since reliability is a necessary prerequisite for good test performance, we sought to directly compare test-retest reliability for three dichotic measures: SCAN-3 Competing Words (CW), Musiek's Double Dichotic Digits (DD-M), and Bergen Dichotic Listening Test with Consonant-Vowel Syllables (CV-B). Sixty English-speaking children, 7-14 years old with normal hearing, had a single study-visit during which each test was administered twice. Changes on retest were compared to binomial model predictions, summarized by within-subject standard deviation (Sw), and compared among tests. Correlates of variance were explored. All 3 tests had reliability within bounds predicted by binomial model. Forty-item scores were more reliable (Sw=5%) than those based on 20-30 items (Sw=6-8%). No associations between participant characteristics and reliability were found. CW and DD-M were evaluated for evidence of agreement and decision consistency. Although participants were rank ordered similarly by right ear (ρ = 0.58), left ear (ρ = 0.51) and total (ρ = 0.73) scores, the tests did not agree on ranking by inter-aural asymmetry (ρ =0.18). CW and DD-M did not agree on direction of ear advantage (κ = 0.01, p = 0.93) and had poor agreement on which children displayed dichotic deficits (κ = 0.22, p < 0.01). DD identified significantly more participants with deficits (n=18) than CW (n=3) (p < 0.001). Although dichotic procedures show moderate reliability, their precision is limited. Assessment of their accuracy is limited by the absence of a widely-accepted gold standard reference test, but two commonly used tests failed to agree on which children had deficits. The data do not yet support routine clinical use of dichotic tests of binaural integration with children. Additional research is needed to determine if there are any conditions under which dichotic procedures demonstrate usefulness or value.

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Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics, assessment, and treatment of infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) as perceived by Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) and whether it differed from those of other Neonatal Intensive Care Unit populations. Methods: A secure web-based questionnaire with 62 questions collected information on NAS, caseloads, treatment environment, and demographics. Twenty-six respondents initiated the survey; 42% completed most or all questions. Response analyses included descriptive and nonparametric inferential statistics. Results: Infants with NAS were on the caseloads of 73% of respondents. The majority (79%) only saw infants with NAS and feeding problems. Primary problems included incomplete or increased time to complete feeds, increased/excessive/irregular sucking rates, and reflux. Working on teams, respondents provided assessment, treatment, and education of infant feeding and state. Conclusion: Growing demand for SLP intervention with infants with NAS is likely to persist if opioid use continues to increase as projected.

Hyperacusis and Disorders of Sound Intolerance: Clinical and Research Perspectives is a professional resource for audiology practitioners involved in the clinical management of patients who suffer from sound tolerance concerns. The text covers emerging assessment and intervention strategies associated with hyperacusis, disorders of pitch perception, and other unusual processing deficits of the auditory system. In order to illustrate the patients perspectives and experiences with disorders of auditory processing, cases are included throughout. This collection of diagnostic strategies and tools, evidence-based clinical research, and case reports provides practitioners with avenues for supporting patient management and coping. It combines new developments in the understanding of auditory mechanisms with the clinical tools developed to manage the effects such disorders exert in daily life. Topics addressed include unusual clinical findings and features that influence a patient s auditory processing such as their perceptual accuracy, recognition abilities, and satisfaction with the perception of sound. Hyperacusis is covered with respect to its effects, its relation to psychological disorders, and its management. Hyperacusis is often linked to trauma or closed head injury and the text also considers the management of patients with traumatic brain injury as an opportunity to illustrate the effectiveness of interprofessional care in such cases. Interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy, self-efficacy training, and hearing aid use are reported in a way that enhances clinicians' ability to weave such strategies into their own work, or into their referral system. Hyperacusis and Disorders of Sound Intolerance illuminates increasingly observed auditory-related disorders that challenge students, clinicians, physicians, and patients. The text elucidates and reinforces audiologists contributions to polytrauma and interprofessional care teams and provides clear definitions, delineation of mechanisms, and intervention options for auditory disorders. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1210/thumbnail.jpg

This study seeks to: (1) determine if differences exist between children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) compared to age-matched (AM) and language- matched (LM) children with typical language development (TL) in rates and proportions of five types of metalinguistic productions and (2) test theories of metalinguistic production. Forty-five children, 24 with TL and 21 with SLI, paired for age or language level, formed two groups. Previously collected data from two studies of verb learning (Proctor-Williams & Fey, 2007; Proctor- Williams, unpublished) were analyzed for rates and types of metalinguistic productions. Results yielded no within or between group significant differences in the rates types. There were differences in proportional use of types of metalinguistic utterances in the LM group. This study showed that children as young as 3;0 produce metalinguistic utterances. Further, it disproved the Piagetian-Based Metalinguistic Development Theory. Interesting trends suggest direction for future research.

Preterm infants have multiple health complications due to their underdeveloped neurological systems. Bottle-feeding difficulties are one complication that leads to pulmonary illness secondary to aspiration. Preterm infants exhibit clinical markers when experiencing distress during bottle-feeding. Training caregivers to identify clinical markers reduces the risk for aspiration. Simulation training provides a safe learning environment without harming patients. Twenty-two speech-language pathology and pre-requisite students divided into two simulation groups, video-simulation (N=12) and in-vivo simulation (N=10), were trained to document clinical markers of distress exhibited by preterm infants and make clinical judgments about bottle-feeding. Students rated their levels of anxiety during simulation training. Results revealed that students trained using video-simulation performed with higher clinical judgment scores and lower anxiety levels than students who received in-vivo training. Students’ knowledge of and ability to identify distress markers in preterm infants during bottle-feeding significantly improved after training in both groups without group differences.

Restoring speech in persons who are tracheostomy and ventilator dependent, through the use of a Passy-Muir Speaking Valve (PMSV), requires specific training. Methods of training interprofessional team members to assess in-line PMSVs are unclear. This study used a pretest/ post-test design to compare effects of online training and online training plus simulation training on knowledge acquisition, skills performance, and comfort levels when working with persons who are tracheostomy and ventilator dependent. Twenty-six students studying either respiratory therapy (N=13) or speech-language pathology (N=13) were assigned to the control group or experimental group. Results revealed that online training proved beneficial for increasing tracheostomy and ventilator knowledge. Participants who underwent simulation training reported greater levels of comfort and demonstrated more efficient skills performance during simulation post-testing. Simulation training is efficacious to train interprofessional teams how to properly assess this population for use of in-line PMSVs.

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Book Summary: With detailed discussion and invaluable video footage of 23 treatment interventions for speech sound disorders (SSDs) in children, this textbook and DVD set should be part of every speech-language pathologist's professional preparation. Focusing on children with functional or motor-based speech disorders from early childhood through the early elementary period, this textbook gives preservice SLPs critical analyses of a complete spectrum of evidence-based phonological and articulatory interventions. This textbook fully prepares SLPs for practice with a vivid inside look at intervention techniques in action through high-quality DVD clips large and varied collection of intervention approaches with widespread use across ages, severity levels, and populations proven interventions in three categories: direct speech production, broader contexts such as perceptual intervention, and speech movements clear explanations of the evidence behind the approaches so SLPs can evaluate them accurately contributions by well-known experts in SSDs from across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK An essential core text for pre-service SLPs—and an important professional resource for practicing SLPs, early interventionists, and special educators—this book will help readers make the best intervention decisions for children with speech sound disorders. Evidence-based intervention approaches—demonstrated in DVD clips—such as: minimal pairs perceptual intervention core vocabulary stimulability treatment intervention for developmental dysarthria the psycholinguistic approach