Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Mar. 10, 2009). PDF text: xvi, 170 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3331437. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Phonemic categorization is the ability to discriminate and organize speech sounds into categories. This ability begins soon after birth and continues to refine as an individual matures. An association between categorical labeling and phonological awareness has been reported. A strong link between perception and production has been established. The present study examined phonemic categorization of two groups of four listeners. Eight-to ten-year-old children with an articulation disorder were compared with typically speaking peers to determine if the two groups differed in their ability to categorize speech sounds. Behavioral and electrophysiological measures were used to ascertain if any differences existed. These measures were obtained in response to four stimulus pairs (/pɑ/-/tɑ/, /tɑ/-/kɑ/, /pɑ/-/kɑ/, /sɑ/-/ʃɑ/). Three of the pairs (/pɑ/-/tɑ/, /tɑ/-/kɑ/, /pɑ/-/kɑ/) differed by place of articulation only and the fourth pair (/sɑ/-/ʃɑ/) consisted of sounds that are more commonly found in error for the age group of the participants. Behavioral data showed differences in reaction time between the two groups as well as between correct and incorrect responses. Electrophysiological data including the mismatch negativity showed that both groups perceived a distinction between the stimuli presented, but the normal control group generally displayed a higher SD for peak latency and amplitude. The normal control group also generally displayed a higher mean amplitude. These results suggest a difference between the two groups in the underlying processes of phonemic categorization. Specifically, these results support that the normal control group's ability to distinguish and categorize speech sounds is better established than that of their peers with an articulation disorder.

A fala é definida como a representação motora da Linguagem, a partir da coordenação de três processos neurológicos: organização de conceitos, formulação e expressão simbólica; programação do ato motor envolvido na produção da fala e a sua própria produção motora. O controle motor da fala, que ordena a contração muscular para a sua execução de praxias, inclui o planejamento, a preparação de movimentos e a execução de planos, com vistas a contrações musculares e deslocamentos de estruturas que culminarão na articulação da fala. Os trabalhos científicos nacionais e internacionais vislumbram um novo campo de atuação fonoaudiológica para o trabalho com a fala alterada, com a estimulação da praxias não verbais. Os objetivos deste trabalho centram-se na elaboração de um Programa de Intervenção Práxico-produtivo e aplicação em crianças com transtorno fonológico, para verificar sua aplicabilidade na clínica fonoaudiológica. O trabalho foi dividido em 2 etapas. A 1ª etapa contou com a revisão, na bibliografia nacional e internacional, do tratamento dado às praxias orais e não verbais e suas aplicações clínicas no âmbito fonoaudiológico, por meio de busca nas bases de dados PubMed, Lilacs e Scielo. Os artigos mostraram que a praxia não verbal pode ser estimulada para o trabalho clínico com a fala, no entanto, não há descrição do trabalho fonoaudiológico, tampouco um detalhamento de exercícios em sequência que poderiam ser usados. Nenhum artigo referiu o modo pelo qual as praxias não verbais deveriam ser trabalhadas, nem mesmo como se deve estimular a programação motora para a fala. Baseados nessa revisão, este estudo propôs um programa de estimulação das praxias não verbais de lábios e língua e dos aspectos fonológicos em 12 sessões pré-determinadas. Após elaboração do programa, aplicouse o material em 12 crianças, com idades entre 6 e 8 anos, com transtorno fonológico, que se enquadravam nos critérios de inclusão do estudo, para mostrar sua aplicabilidade na clínica. Os resultados apontaram melhora da realização da fala em todos os sujeitos, no tempo estipulado pelo instrumento, com escores superiores nas provas avaliativas de fonologia e praxias orais pós-intervenção, quando comparadas aos scores da pré-intervenção. O Programa de Intervenção Práxico-produtivo mostrou-se útil, simples, de fácil aplicação pelo fonoaudiólogo e de bom entendimento pelos participantes, com respostas favoráveis à aquisição dos fonemas. / Speech is defined as the motor representation of language from the coordination of three neurological processes: organization of concepts, formulation and symbolic expression; programming of motor act involved in speech production and its own motor production. The speech motor control, which orders the muscle contraction for its execution, includes the planning, preparation of movements and execution of plans, with a view to muscle contractions and movements of structures that will culminate in speech. National and international scientific papers envision a new field of speech therapy to work with altered speech with the stimulation of non-verbal praxis. The objectives of the present study focuses on the development of a Program of Praxis- Productive Intervention and its application in children with phonological disorder in order to verify its usability in speech therapy. The study was defined in 2 parts. The 1st stage included a review of the national and international literature for the treatment of oral and non-verbal praxis and its clinical applications in the area of speech by searching in the PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo databases. The articles showed that nonverbal praxis can be stimulated for clinical work with speech, however, there is no description of speech therapy work, nor a breakdown of exercises in sequence that could be used. No article referred to the way in which non-verbal praxis should be worked, not even how to stimulate motor programming for speech. Based on this review, the present study proposed a stimulation program of non-verbal praxis of the lips and tongue and the phonological aspects in 12 predetermined sessions. After drawing up the program, the material was applied to 12 children, aged between 6 and 8 years with phonological disorder that met the inclusion criteria of the study in order to show their applicability in practice. The results showed improvement in the realization of Speech in all subjects at the time stipulated by the instrument, with higher scores on the evaluative evidence of Phonology and Oral Praxis post-intervention compared to the scores of pre-intervention. The Praxis-productive intervention program was useful, simple, easy to apply by the speech patologist and had a good understanding by the participants with favorable responses for the acquisition of phonemes.

A fala é definida como a representação motora da Linguagem, a partir da coordenação de três processos neurológicos: organização de conceitos, formulação e expressão simbólica; programação do ato motor envolvido na produção da fala e a sua própria produção motora. O controle motor da fala, que ordena a contração muscular para a sua execução de praxias, inclui o planejamento, a preparação de movimentos e a execução de planos, com vistas a contrações musculares e deslocamentos de estruturas que culminarão na articulação da fala. Os trabalhos científicos nacionais e internacionais vislumbram um novo campo de atuação fonoaudiológica para o trabalho com a fala alterada, com a estimulação da praxias não verbais. Os objetivos deste trabalho centram-se na elaboração de um Programa de Intervenção Práxico-produtivo e aplicação em crianças com transtorno fonológico, para verificar sua aplicabilidade na clínica fonoaudiológica. O trabalho foi dividido em 2 etapas. A 1ª etapa contou com a revisão, na bibliografia nacional e internacional, do tratamento dado às praxias orais e não verbais e suas aplicações clínicas no âmbito fonoaudiológico, por meio de busca nas bases de dados PubMed, Lilacs e Scielo. Os artigos mostraram que a praxia não verbal pode ser estimulada para o trabalho clínico com a fala, no entanto, não há descrição do trabalho fonoaudiológico, tampouco um detalhamento de exercícios em sequência que poderiam ser usados. Nenhum artigo referiu o modo pelo qual as praxias não verbais deveriam ser trabalhadas, nem mesmo como se deve estimular a programação motora para a fala. Baseados nessa revisão, este estudo propôs um programa de estimulação das praxias não verbais de lábios e língua e dos aspectos fonológicos em 12 sessões pré-determinadas. Após elaboração do programa, aplicouse o material em 12 crianças, com idades entre 6 e 8 anos, com transtorno fonológico, que se enquadravam nos critérios de inclusão do estudo, para mostrar sua aplicabilidade na clínica. Os resultados apontaram melhora da realização da fala em todos os sujeitos, no tempo estipulado pelo instrumento, com escores superiores nas provas avaliativas de fonologia e praxias orais pós-intervenção, quando comparadas aos scores da pré-intervenção. O Programa de Intervenção Práxico-produtivo mostrou-se útil, simples, de fácil aplicação pelo fonoaudiólogo e de bom entendimento pelos participantes, com respostas favoráveis à aquisição dos fonemas. / Speech is defined as the motor representation of language from the coordination of three neurological processes: organization of concepts, formulation and symbolic expression; programming of motor act involved in speech production and its own motor production. The speech motor control, which orders the muscle contraction for its execution, includes the planning, preparation of movements and execution of plans, with a view to muscle contractions and movements of structures that will culminate in speech. National and international scientific papers envision a new field of speech therapy to work with altered speech with the stimulation of non-verbal praxis. The objectives of the present study focuses on the development of a Program of Praxis- Productive Intervention and its application in children with phonological disorder in order to verify its usability in speech therapy. The study was defined in 2 parts. The 1st stage included a review of the national and international literature for the treatment of oral and non-verbal praxis and its clinical applications in the area of speech by searching in the PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo databases. The articles showed that nonverbal praxis can be stimulated for clinical work with speech, however, there is no description of speech therapy work, nor a breakdown of exercises in sequence that could be used. No article referred to the way in which non-verbal praxis should be worked, not even how to stimulate motor programming for speech. Based on this review, the present study proposed a stimulation program of non-verbal praxis of the lips and tongue and the phonological aspects in 12 predetermined sessions. After drawing up the program, the material was applied to 12 children, aged between 6 and 8 years with phonological disorder that met the inclusion criteria of the study in order to show their applicability in practice. The results showed improvement in the realization of Speech in all subjects at the time stipulated by the instrument, with higher scores on the evaluative evidence of Phonology and Oral Praxis post-intervention compared to the scores of pre-intervention. The Praxis-productive intervention program was useful, simple, easy to apply by the speech patologist and had a good understanding by the participants with favorable responses for the acquisition of phonemes.

The purpose of this final thesis is to find out about Speech Therapy and to design a device which would help with oscillation of human tongue when the sound r is pronounced. To better understand this subject first part of this thesis takes interest in evolution and physiology of human speech. Next the most common articulation disorder Dyslalia is named and methods for treating Dyslalia are described. In practical part the device for Speech Therapy is designed and created. It is based on frequency of human tongue oscillations and it helps to correct difficulties with sound r articulation. This prototype uses electric motor which is controlled by Arduino platform. Its rotational motion is converted to linear through mechanical construction simulating crank mechanism.

Syftet med denna studie var att utvärdera behandling med hjälp av elektropalatografi (EPG) och portabel träningsenhet (PTU) hos en person med kvarstående artikulationsproblem. Försökspersonen var en vuxen man med medfödd hemifacial mikrosomi och mikrognati som tidigare genomfört konventionell talträning. En kvasiexperimentell, prospektiv, kontrollerad single subjekt A-B-A design användes. Försökspersonen hade vid träningsstart en tillbakadragen artikulation av /t/ och /d/ till velart/uvulart artikulationsställe med kvarstående svårighet att göra sitt tal förståeligt för sina samtalspartners.  Behandlingseffekten utvärderades genom instrumentell EPG analys av /t/ i enstaka ord före och efter behandling. Analysen visade signifikanta behandlingsresultat där en fortgående förbättring av produktionen av /t/ i medial och final position skedde även fyra år efter avslutad behandling. Perceptuell lyssnarbedömning av tränade och otränade lyssnare uppvisade signifikant förbättrad skattning av t-likhet av målljudet /t/ i medial och final position över tid. Ett mycket svagt samband sågs mellan perceptuell skattning av t-likhet och de analyserade EPG-värdena. Lyssnarskattningen av spontantalet visade en förbättring av förståelighet vid kontroll 4 år efter avslutad träning. Utvärderingen bekräftar tidigare forskning och visar att talträning med EPG är ett effektivt sätt att ge visuell återkoppling i försök att etablera ett korrekt artikulationsmönster, förbättrat tal och ökad förståelighet. Detta provades i föreliggande studie och även om resultaten inte var entydiga, antyddes att metoden kan vara långsiktigt framgångsrik vid sedan lång tid väl etablerade talavvikelser utan tecken på förändring spontant eller efter tidigare träning utan visuell återkoppling. En viktig erfarenhet är således att planera långsiktigt och invänta automatisering av nya artikulationsrörelser som har lång etableringsfas. Träning med EPG föreslås kunna erbjudas vuxna personer med kvarstående artikulationsavvikelser där konventionell träning inte har kunnat ge önskvärda resultat. Nyckelord: Elektropalatografi, behandlingseffekt, hemifacial mikrosomi, artikulationsstörning, långtidsuppföljning, förståelighet / The aim of this study was to evaluate speech therapy using electropalatography (EPG) and portable training unit (PTU) in a subject with persistent articulation errors. The participant was a male adult with congenital hemifacial microsomia and micrognathia who previously had received conventional speech therapy. The subject had a retracted, velar/ uvular articulation of dental plosives with difficulty making speech understandable to listeners. A quasi-experimental prospective, controlled single-subject ABA design was used. Treatment efficacy was assessed by instrumental EPG analysis of  /t/ in single words before and after treatment and showed significant treatment results with a continuing improvement in the production of  /t/ in medial and final position even four years after completion of treatment. Perceptual listen assessment of trained and untrained listeners showed significantly improved estimation of the target /t/ in medial and final position over time. A very weak association was found between the perceptual estimation of t-likeness and the analyzed EPG values. Listener rating of spontaneous speech showed an improvement in intelligibility 4 years after completing training. The evaluation confirms previous research showing that speech therapy with EPG seems effective for providing visual feedback in the attempt to establish a correct articulation pattern, improved speech and enhanced intelligibility. This was investigated in the present study and although the results were not unambiguous, it was indicated that the method can be successful at long persisting well established articulation errors without signs of spontaneous change or after previous training without visual feedback. An important experience is to plan long term and wait for the automation of the new articulation movements that have a long establishment phase. Training with EPG is proposed to be offered to adults with persistent articulation disorders for which conventional therapy has been unable to provide desirable results. Keywords:  Electropalatography, treatment effect, hemifacial microsomia, articulation disorder, long- term follow- up, intelligibility