The study investigated the nature of the listener confusion which occurs when Black South African English (BSAE) speakers communicate a list of common English words to speakers of standard South African (StdSAE) English. BSAE and StdSAE subjects were grouped into 10 dyads. BSAE subjects read 120 monosyllabic English words to StdSAE subjects. Written data of StdSAE subjects were analysed to determine patterns of success and failure in the communication of single word items by BSAE subjects. Specific difficulties with vowels, dipthongs and consonants are discussed in terms of their effect on intelligibility. Findings are evaluated in the light of previous research, and in terms of Flege's Speech Learning Model (1987, 1991, 1995). It is suggested that all segmental features of BSAE relate to two distinct levels: a functional (meaning) level and an aesthetic level. This study focussed on the functional level, and aimed to describe the segmental features of BSAE speech which affect meaning. Such a distinction has particular relevance for speech and language therapists who need to have a clear rationale for their work with BSAE-speaking clients. Clinical implications specific to this emerging client group within South Africa are discussed.

The aim of the study was to assess the emergent literacy knowledge of a group of South African pre-schoolers from low and low-middle class families and to explore their home supports for literacy. The sample comprised 24 subjects, aged between 5 years 9 months and 6 years 5 months. Sixteen of the subjects were from low-middle class families, while the remaining eight were from low-class families. The emergent literacy knowledge of the children was assessed using the Emergent Literacy Assessment Profile (ELAP), which was developed for the purpose of this study. The profile included subtests derived and modified from existing batteries developed elsewhere in the world for assessment of emergent literacy. The children's home supports for literacy were ascertained by means of personal interviews conducted with the parents in their home environments. Although both groups exhibited poor emergent literacy knowledge in general, it was found that there were statistically significant differences in the performance of the two groups on several subtests of the ELAP. The group of children from low-middle class families displayed relatively better literacy knowledge than their counterparts from low-class families. This group (i.e. the low-middle class group) also had better access to home supports for literacy. Thus, differences in home supports for literacy were strongly linked to differences in socio-economic status. The findings of the study confirm the much documented finding that home environments impact greatly on children's emergent literacy development. The finding that even the children with relatively more favourable home environments displayed deficits in emergent literacy knowledge indicates the urgent need to promote the emergent literacy development of pre-schoolers in South Africa, particularly those from historically disadvantaged communities. This has implications for parents, teachers, educare workers, librarians and speech-language therapists, inter alia.

The utilization of interpreters in medical interviews has increasingly become a focus of research, both globally and in South Africa. Effective communication lies at the core of the delivery of a patient-focussed approach to health care and this has been a factor in the drive to improve service delivery, especially from a communication perspective. A number of studies in health care have focussed on the medical interaction between health professionals and their patients. In this study, the aim was to describe and analyse interpreted diagnostic consultations, specifically focussing on the interactions between the health professional, trained interpreter and caregiver. The research was conducted at a tertiary level children's hospital in Cape Town. A qualitative research design was employed in this study. The participants were three health professionals [medical doctors], and a trained interpreter, all employed at a tertiary level children's hospital in the Western Cape, and three caregivers of the children attending the outpatients department. Video recordings of initial assessment consultations were made and thereafter each participant in the consultation, was interviewed. Detailed analysis of the consultations was done using the methods of conversational analysis. Thematic analysis of the post-consultation interviews was done and the findings triangulated with the themes emerging out of the conversational analysis. The findings resulting from the conversational analysis, suggest that interactions taking place in this study could be described as institutional interactions. This was suggested on the basis of the patterns of interactional behaviour, which emerged in the communications of the participants, the interactional strategies used and the interpreter models employed. The need for training for health professionals in interactional strategies also became apparent and highlighted aspects, which may be included in future training of health professionals, which may serve to advance the quality of communication in medical interactions.

This study investigated the principles of quality management and their application to a private speech-language therapy practice. The history of quality management and the development of quality management in industry and health care services were reviewed. Quality was defined in terms of the context of the author's private speech-language therapy practice and a working definition of quality was developed. The principles in the development of a quality management programme were described. These principles were used to develop and implement a quality management programme in the author's private speech-language therapy practice. Financial management and client satisfaction were selected as strategic quality factors in the initial stages of the quality management programme. Practice policies were revised to establish success criteria and to measure the practice's conformance to these criteria. The quality management programme enabled the author to improve the quality and effectiveness of her practice's financial management system and to demonstrate the client-centered orientation of the practice by implementing client satisfaction as a quality indicator.

The aim of the present study was to objectively address the effects of nasogastric.tubes on normal swallowing physiology. In addition, the differential effects of fine and wide-bore nasogastric tubes on swallowing function, were targeted for investigation. Only young, normal subjects were studied, to eliminate age-related swallowing changes (Robbins et al., 1992). The method of videofluoroscopy was used to determine the relationship between different size nasogastric tubes on the temporal parameters of normal oropharyngeal swallowing movements and bolus transit motion. Each subject served as their own control, allowing comparison of the individual's normal swallowing patterns with their swallowing in the presence of a nasogastric tube.

O Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem é uma desordem de comunicação, que tem início na infância e caracteriza-se pelo atraso na aquisição e desenvolvimento da linguagem. O objetivo desta Tese é caracterizar o desempenho gramatical de crianças normais e com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem a partir de uma amostra de fala espontânea. Participaram desse estudo 70 crianças, com idade entre 3.1 e 6.11 anos, residentes no município de São Paulo. Os participantes foram divididos em dois grupos: GC (grupo controle) composto por 35 crianças com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem e GP (grupo pesquisa) composto por 35 crianças com diagnóstico de Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem. Esta Tese foi dividida em três estudos. Os resultados do Estudo 1 indicaram que os grupos se diferenciaram quanto aos morfemas gramaticais e quanto a extensão média do enunciado em morfemas e em palavras. No Estudo 2, os resultados indicaram que os grupos se diferenciaram em todas as faixas etárias quando analisamos os substantivos. Verificou-se diferença nas demais classes de palavras na faixa etária de 5-6 anos. No Estudo 3 verificamos que os grupos apresentam diferenças significativas quando analisamos a morfologia verbal. Concluímos que os sujeitos do GP apresentaram desempenho muito inferior aos sujeitos do GC, principalmente na faixa etária de 5-6 anos, caracterizando um déficit gramatical importante. / Specific Language Impairment is a communication disorder that begins in early childhood and is characterized by the delay in both language acquisition and development. The aim of this Thesis was to characterize the grammatical performance of children with and without Specific Language Impairment based on a spontaneous speech sample. Seventy children, with ages ranging from 3.1 to 6.11 years and residing in the city of São Paulo, participated in this study. The participants were split into two groups: CG (control group) comprised 35 children with normal language development and RG (research group) comprised 35 children with Specific Language Impairment. This Thesis was divided into three studies. The results of Study 1 showed differences between the two groups regarding grammatical morphemes and mean length of utterance in morphemes and words. In Study 2, the results showed that the groups differed, in all ages, when analyzed by the perspective of the noun. For the remaining word classes, results were different between the groups only at 5-6 years. In Study 3 significant differences between the two groups were observed when the verbal morphology was analyzed. The conclusion is that subjects of the RG had worse performance than subjects of the CG, especially at 5-6 years of age, characterizing an important grammatical deficit for children with Specific Language Impairment.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T20:01:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 14 / Nenhuma / Nesta dissertação, problematizo os discursos que constituem verdades sobre os sujeitos infantis escolarizados que são submetidos à práticas clínicas fonoaudiológicas, examinando conjuntos de enunciados que podem ser lidos em documentos produzidos na clínica sobre esses sujeitos infantis. Meu estudo insere-se em uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista, articulada com os estudos de Michel Foucault. Utilizo como ferramentas analíticas as noções de discurso, poder, normalização e, próxima desta, a de correção. O corpus desta pesquisa constitui-se de documentos clínicos: síntese das avaliações, síntese de anamnese e relatórios que tomo em uma externalidade monumental ao descrever o que está ali no contato com a sua superfície. Trago fragmentos dos materiais selecionados e distribuídos em duas amplas unidades de sentido que consegui perceber na dispersão dos enunciados. Na primeira, o desvio e o desviante, vejo os documentos como técnicas de poder e de saber clínico, produzindo diagnósticos do sujeito infantil esc / In this dissertation, I have problematized the discourses that constitute truths about school subjects submitted to clinical phonoaudiological practices. I have examined sets of utterances from documents produced in the clinic about these child subjects. My study takes a post-structuralist perspective, articulated with studies carried out by Michel Foucault. I have used the notions of discourse, power, normalization, and, close to the latter, correction, as analytical tools. The corpus of this research comprises clinical documents: summary of assessments, summary of anamnesis, and reports that I have taken as monuments because of the materiality that produces them. I have considered fragments of the materials selected, distributing them in two broad units of meaning that I have been able to perceive in the dispersion of the utterances. In the first unit, the deviation and the deviate, I have seen the documents as techniques of both power and clinical knowledge, which produce diagnoses of the school subjects b

O Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem é uma desordem de comunicação, que tem início na infância e caracteriza-se pelo atraso na aquisição e desenvolvimento da linguagem. O objetivo desta Tese é caracterizar o desempenho gramatical de crianças normais e com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem a partir de uma amostra de fala espontânea. Participaram desse estudo 70 crianças, com idade entre 3.1 e 6.11 anos, residentes no município de São Paulo. Os participantes foram divididos em dois grupos: GC (grupo controle) composto por 35 crianças com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem e GP (grupo pesquisa) composto por 35 crianças com diagnóstico de Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem. Esta Tese foi dividida em três estudos. Os resultados do Estudo 1 indicaram que os grupos se diferenciaram quanto aos morfemas gramaticais e quanto a extensão média do enunciado em morfemas e em palavras. No Estudo 2, os resultados indicaram que os grupos se diferenciaram em todas as faixas etárias quando analisamos os substantivos. Verificou-se diferença nas demais classes de palavras na faixa etária de 5-6 anos. No Estudo 3 verificamos que os grupos apresentam diferenças significativas quando analisamos a morfologia verbal. Concluímos que os sujeitos do GP apresentaram desempenho muito inferior aos sujeitos do GC, principalmente na faixa etária de 5-6 anos, caracterizando um déficit gramatical importante. / Specific Language Impairment is a communication disorder that begins in early childhood and is characterized by the delay in both language acquisition and development. The aim of this Thesis was to characterize the grammatical performance of children with and without Specific Language Impairment based on a spontaneous speech sample. Seventy children, with ages ranging from 3.1 to 6.11 years and residing in the city of São Paulo, participated in this study. The participants were split into two groups: CG (control group) comprised 35 children with normal language development and RG (research group) comprised 35 children with Specific Language Impairment. This Thesis was divided into three studies. The results of Study 1 showed differences between the two groups regarding grammatical morphemes and mean length of utterance in morphemes and words. In Study 2, the results showed that the groups differed, in all ages, when analyzed by the perspective of the noun. For the remaining word classes, results were different between the groups only at 5-6 years. In Study 3 significant differences between the two groups were observed when the verbal morphology was analyzed. The conclusion is that subjects of the RG had worse performance than subjects of the CG, especially at 5-6 years of age, characterizing an important grammatical deficit for children with Specific Language Impairment.

A historical study of intervention for aphasia may provide information on how speech and language pathologists work with people with aphasia. Aphasia is seen as an umbrella term for symptoms of language disorders caused by aquired brain injury. The overall aim of the present study was to describe and analyze the development of intervention for aphasia during the periods 1990-1999 and 2000-2010. The study was conducted by analysis of 83 medical records from two hospitals in Sweden during a period of 20 years. These decades were compared to each other and yo current litteraturein search for differences and trends in aphasia intervention. The Results of the present study revealed that intervention mainly focused on recovering the linguistic ability in both the 1990s and 2000s. Intervention and literature focusing on communication seem to increase during the 2000s. In the 2000s, speech and language pathologists begin to report on working with cognitive abilities. The results of the present study cannot be generalized but may give an insight in aphasia intervention from a historical perspective in Sweden. / En studie om afasiinterventionens historia kan bidra med information om hur logopeder arbetar med personer med afasi. Afasi ses som ett paraplybegrepp för symtom på språkstörning som uppkommit efter en förvärvad hjärnskada. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att beskriva och analysera hur utvecklingen av den logopediska afasiinterventionen har sett ut under åren 1990-1999 och 2000-2010. Studien genomfördes genom analys av 83 journaler från två sjukhus i Sverige under en 20-års period. Dessa årtionden jämfördes med varandra och relaterades till aktuell litteratur för att utröna skillnader och trender i den logopediska interventionen. Resultatet i föreliggande studie visade att intervention med inriktning mot att återfå den språkliga förmågan är vanligast under både 1990-talet och 2000-talet. Intervention och litteratur inriktad mot kommunikation förefaller öka under 2000-talet. Under 2000-talet dokumenterar logopeder att de ger intervention med inriktning mot kognition. Resultaten i föreliggande studie kan inte generaliseras utan får ses som en inblick i afasiintervention ur ett historiskt perspektiv i Sverige.

Millions of dollars are spent annually in Canada providing school health support services (SHSS) to children with developmental delays and disabilities (DD) as an important support for inclusive education. However, there is limited information about how allied health professionals (AHP) work together with educators to integrate therapy strategies into educational programming for children with DD. This study examines the strategies AHPs, in Ontario perceived to be successful and are implementing with educators to support participation outcomes for children with DD in the primary grades. This study also describes AHPs’ vision for the future in order to improve their work practices to support participation of children with DD at school. Recognizing that the literature on SHSS has emphasized challenges to providing services to children with DD and collaboration with educators; this study actively employed appreciative inquiry (Preskill, & Catsambas, 2006). Individual in-depth interviews with 15 AHPs (11 OTs, 1 PT, 3 SLPs) were conducted via face-to-face, telephone or video conference. Participants were asked to describe how they viewed participation at school for children with DD, their role in supporting it, the strategies they used to work with educators to support this participation and their vision for the future. AHPs in this study viewed participation of children with DD at school as (a) being in the classroom to provide the opportunity for meaningful engagement with peers and (b) working on similar activities as peers to promote membership and belonging at school. Participants implemented their role to support participation of children with DD by providing equipment, modifying or adapting activities, educating and providing resources to educators. Successful strategies AHPs used to work with educators to facilitate participation of children with DD at school included: finding a key person, developing trust and rapport with an educator, engaging in shared planning with an educator, seeking feedback from educators about their recommendations and listening to educators regarding information about the child with a DD. AHPs also identified their vision for the future in supporting participation of children with DD. Their vision included being a resource to teachers, by consulting to a whole class and being a member of the educational team. / Thesis (Master, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-11 00:13:12.132