Dissertation (Audiology, Ph. D.) --Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 2001. General note Includes bibliographical references. Typescript. "A Thesis Submitted to Nova Southeastern University's Clinical Vision Research Graduate Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science."

Professional Research Project Report Presented to the Au.D. and SLP.D. Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Audiology.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Audiology.

The purpose of this study was to determine what relationship (if any) exists between signalled expectancy to stutter and a significant increase in muscle action potential in adults as measured by electromyography (EMG).

The term "developmental apraxia of speech" (DAS) has been a confusing one since Morley, Court and Miller (1954) first applied it to articulatory patterns of a specific group of children. Until recently, the differentiation of diagnostic features of DAS in children as compared to other articulatory disorders has been difficult. One evaluation tool, developed by Blakeley (1980), to assist in differential diagnosis of DAS is the Screening Test for Developmental Apraxia of Speech (STDAS). This study examined the validity of this tool by comparing its results with the evaluations by three Speech-Language Pathologists knowledgeable in the area of developmental and/or acquired apraxia of speech. Twenty subjects, ranging in age from 4-5 to 7-7 years, participated in this study. The subjects were independently screened by four evaluators. The first evaluation was conducted by this researcher, administering the STDAS to each subject. The other three evaluators screened each subject using their own procedures, excluding the STDAS. The STDAS resulted in a probability rating for DAS. The three evaluators were instructed to rate each subject on probability of DAS based upon their individual methods of assessment. To determine the relationship between the three evaluator pairs (BC, BD, CD) the index of association used was the Pearson Product - Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson-r). The results indicated the evaluators only slightly agreed with one another. Although they were in general agreement as to what characteristics constitute DAS, their perceptions of each subject were quite varied. In correlating the STDAS (A) with each evaluator (B, C, D) using the Pearson-r, the results ranged from slight correlation of AB (.20) to high correlation of AD (.73). This outcome may indicate that the STDAS tapped more of the components of apraxia (in the sense of comprehensiveness) than any single evaluator measure. Two factors seemed to contribute to the varied results among evaluators: (1) lack of information about the subjects' history of development, including familial history and management history; and (2) varied amount of structure used among the evaluators. When comparing the STDAS results with an evaluator who used a highly structured method of assessment, the correlation was high. This evaluator had the advantage of objective data, as well as clinical judgment upon which to base the final rating for each subject. The inconsistency among the evaluators' assessment results is an excellent argument for a screening instrument that uses the current body of knowledge concerning DAS. The STDAS forces the examiner to assess the child more objectively. The resulting data of this study support Blakeley's intention for the STDAS to be used as part of a differential diagnosis of DAS. When combined with other measures, such as case history, clinical judgment and neurological assessment, the STDAS can play an important contributing role in differentiating DAS from other articulatory disorders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of semantic associational strength (SAS) upon adult aphasics' auditory comprehension abilities. Twenty-eight adult aphasics (25 males and 3 females) and 12 normal control subjects were presented three experimental tasks, each containing 45 items. Experimental task 1 contained single word picture sets of high SAS, moderate SAS, and low SAS words. Experimental task 2 contained two word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words, and experimental task 3 contained three word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words. Subjects heard one, two, and three word verbal sequences for experimental tasks 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and pointed to the appropriate picture sequence. Level of SAS was determined on the basis of the two most frequently occurring word associations of 50 normal individuals to 195 words selected from the most frequently occurring 3,000 English words. The findings in this study revealed that aphasics had substantially more difficulty auditorily selecting picture sequences of high SAS words than sequences of moderate and low SAS words, and more difficulty auditorily selecting picture sequences of moderate SAS words than sequences of low SAS words. Results further indicated that, irrespective of degree of SAS between words, aphasics' retentional ability was adversely influenced by an increase in verbal sequence length. The presence of a significant interaction between the SAS and length factors negated the support for an interaction hypothesis that degree of SAS would differentially affect aphasics' comprehension as message length increased. Aphasics' performance on the experimental task was highly related to their overall communicative ability as assessed by the Porch Index of Communicative Ability.

Concern regarding variables which influence the performance of aphasic adults has been demonstrated in the literature. Marshall et al. (1978) found that one such variable, scheduling of intervention, influenced significantly the test performance of their subjects. They determined that the aphasic subjects performed better in the morning than in the afternoon. The purpose of the present study was to determine if performance of severe aphasic adults on easy and difficult, single-word picture-identification tasks, presented in a clinically reinforcing manner, is differentially affected by morning and afternoon scheduling. The questions posed in this investigation were: 1) Does morning versus afternoon scheduling significantly affect the number of correct responses of severe aphasic adults on clinically presented tasks? and 2) Does morning versus afternoon scheduling have significantly more effect on the number of correct responses made by severe aphasic adults on easy or difficult clinically presented tasks?

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