<p>  </p> <p>Disfluencies are a commonly reported speech symptom associated with Parkinson disease (PD), though the cause remains unknown. Studies have consistently reported that people with PD experience more disfluencies, particularly atypical disfluencies compared to healthy controls. One proposed theory, known as the dualistic model of dopamine levels and stuttering, posits that abnormally high or low levels of dopamine may cause an increase in disfluencies. The aim of the current study is to examine how levodopa medication and deep-brain stimulation affect fluency in people with PD. Twenty-seven participants with PD underwent testing before (on and off medicine) and six months after deep-brain stimulator implant surgery (optimally medicated, on and off stimulation). Participants read a passage aloud and provided a 2-minute monologue. Speech samples were transcribed. The number of typical and atypical disfluencies were identified auditorily and using a wide-band spectrogram. After surgery, most participants reduced their levodopa equivalency dose from pre-implant levels. Results demonstrated no significant differences in frequency of disfluencies across time (pre-surgery, post-surgery) or condition (on/off medication/stimulation). Overall, participants produced more typical than atypical disfluencies and more disfluencies in the monologue task than the reading task. Results do not support the dualistic model of dopamine, but instead support a more nuanced and individualized role for dopamine in speech fluency. For example, patterns within individual subjects suggest changes in dopamine may play a role in speech fluency for individual patients with PD. Data support the effect of cognition and language formulation in the production of disfluencies, particularly typical disfluencies.</p>

The subject of this master thesis is to examine balbutism from a perspective of adult stutterers. The thesis is broken down into a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part is subsequently divided into five chapters. The introductory chapter defines motivation and a process of motivating another person. The following chapter deals with communication, an anxiety and panic resulting from communication, a motivation towards communication and additionally also the speech impairments under which stuttering is included. The third chapter specifically deals with stuttering, its origins, symptoms and classification. The fourth chapter describes diagnostic methods of stuttering employed in Czech Republic. The chapter about therapeutic methods concludes the theoretical part of the thesis. The practical part is centered on a research analysis and employs a qualitative method, namely a grounded theory method. Eight adult stutterers between the ages 31 and 50 were included in the study that took a form of questionnaire. Its primary aim was to examine the way in which adult stutterers view their own stuttering. The secondary aim was to determine what advice would the study group give to people suffering from a similar condition. The result of this thesis has been achieved by constructing three...

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Self-disclosure is a commonly used therapeutic technique with people who stutter to facilitate self-acceptance and reduce the effects that the stigmatizing views and stereotypes held by the public can have on their communicative interactions. Although there are data on the benefits of self-disclosure from the perspective of the listener, there are no data on the value of self-disclosure form the perspective of the person who stutters. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefit of self-disclosure from the perspective of the person who stutters in a conversational interaction using a Map task with a normally fluent speaker. The cognitive-affective variables under investigation were self-perception of stuttering severity, comfort, cognitive effort, anxiety, and benefit in a disclosed and non-disclosed condition. The speech variables under consideration in the disclosed and non-disclosed conditions were total syllables, percent syllables stuttered, and total word count. In order to measure level of stigma, the Self-Stigma of Stuttering Scale (4S) (Boyle, 2012) was used. Participants were 25 adults (18-73 years of age) recruited from the La Salle University Speech-Language-Hearing Clinics, National Stuttering Association support groups in Philadelphia and New Jersey, and through social media. The results of the investigation revealed that the participants were equivocal about the benefit of self-disclosure, and that there were non-significant differences for the cognitive-affective variables across conditions. Some positive effects on the speech variables were noted in the non-disclosed state only. All participants demonstrated overall self-stigma based on their 4S scores, but stigma was not acting as a moderating variable for the cognitive-affective or speech variables. It was concluded that from the perspective of the person who stutters, neither self-disclosure nor overall level of self-stigma are playing a decisive role during the communicative interaction with a normally fluent speaker. The implications of these findings are discussed. / Communication Sciences

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to better understand the lived experiences of a learner in a mainstream high school, who is experiencing a speech-flow difficulty, in order to gain insight into how best to support such a learner within an inclusive classroom. The theoretical framework on which this study was based is the bio-ecological model, inclusive education, positive psychology, resilience as well as developmental psychology, specifically the developmental phase of adolescence. The purpose of this was to view the learner holistically, taking into account all of the positive support structures in her life, especially, her levels of resilience, whilst taking cognisance of the fact that she is in the adolescent developmental phase, within a mainstream high school. Inclusive classrooms should ideally be structured in such a way that they accommodate a learner’s specific individual learning needs. The methodology employed in this study was based on a basic qualitative research approach, and viewed through an interpretive paradigmatic lens. Purposive sampling was used to select a learner who was experiencing a speech-flow difficulty. Various methods of data collection were employed, such as: a semi-structured interview with the learner and her mother, diary entries from the learner, a timeline of the learner’s life drawn by the learner herself, the researcher’s observations (both in the classroom and during a break time), as well as the researcher’s own reflective notes. Documents were also made available to the researcher, and these were the learner’s school reports, the learner’s speech therapy workbook, as well as a report on the learner from her speech therapist. This data was analysed through a qualitative coding process. The research findings indicated that the learner had various experiences, both positive and negative, within all spheres of her life. The majority of her experiences were positive, as the learner had strong support structures in her life, in the form of her mother, her friends, her sound academic capabilities, as well as her level of resilience. The learner is also currently receiving positive intervention in the form of speech therapy, where she is learning various strategies in order to assist her with her speech-flow difficulty. However, there are few factors that make the learner feel uncomfortable, especially in the classroom. The researcher has thus recommended ways in which educators can better support learners who are experiencing speech-flow difficulties within their classroom. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die geleefde ervaringe van ʼn leerder in ʼn hoofstroomskool, en wat ʼn spraakvloeiversteuring ervaar, te probeer verstaan. Die doel hiermee was om insig te verkry in hoe so ʼn leerder ondersteun kan word binne ʼn inklusiewe klaskamer. Die teoretiese raamwerk waarop hierdie studie berus is die bio-ekologiese model, inklusiewe onderwys, positiewe sielkunde, veerkragtigheid, sowel as ontwikkelingsielkunde, spesifiek die adolessente ontwikkelingsfase. Die mikpunt was om die leerder holisties te beskou, deur al die positiewe ondersteuningstrukture in haar lewe in ag te neem veral haar vlakke van veerkragtigheid, terwyl die feit dat sy haar in die adolessente ontwikkelingsfase bevind, en in ʼn hoofstroomskool is, verder lig op haar ervaringe kan werp. Inklusiewe klaskamers behoort dus in so ʼn mate gestruktureer te wees dat individuele behoeftes van leerders in ag geneem word. Die navorsingsmetodologie in hierdie studie het berus op ʼn basiese kwalitatiewe benadering, en beskou deur ʼn interpretatiewe paradigmatiese lens. ʼn Doelgerigte steekproef is gebruik om ʼn leerder te identifiseer wat ʼn spraakvloeiversteuring ervaar. Verskeie metodes van data-insameling is gebruik, byvoorbeeld semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met die leerder en haar moeder, dagboekinskrywings van die leerder, ʼn tydlynoefening wat die leerder van haarself geteken het, die navorser se waarnemings (binne die klaskamer sowel as op die speelgrond), asook die navorser se reflektiewe notas gedurende die proses afgeneem. Dokumente is beskikbaar gestel aan die navorser, naamlik die leerder se skoolrapporte, haar werkboek wat sy gedurende spraakterapie sessies gebruik, sowel as ʼn verslag deur die spraakterapeut wat die deelnemer tans konsulteer. Die data is geanaliseer met behulp van ʼn kwalitatiewe koderingsproses. Die navorsingsbevindinge dui ʼn verskeidenheid van ervarings (positief sowel as negatief) aan wat die leerder binne al die areas van haar lewe ondervind. Die meerderheid van haar ervaringe is positief, aangesien sy sterk ondersteuningsstrukture in haar lewe het, veral haar moeder, haar vriende, haar sterk akademiese vermoeëns sowel as haar veerkragtigheid. Die leerder ontvang ook tans ʼn baie positiewe intervensie van ʼn spraakterapeut, waar sy ʼn verskeidenheid strategieë aanleer, wat haar help om die spraakvloeiversteuring mee te hanteer. Daar is egter ʼn paar faktore wat haar ongemaklik maak, veral in die klaskamer. Die navorser kan dus ‘n verskeidenheid van riglyne aanbeveel waardeur leerders met spraakvloeiversteurings ondersteun kan word binne die klaskamer.