Children with language impairment (LI) have demonstrated several language problems, including receptive and expressive deficits. A growing body of research has further demonstrated emotion understanding and, more specifically, emotion inferencing deficits that negatively affect the ability of this population to use language successfully in social interactions. Consequently, the present study examines social communication intervention focused on improving emotion inferencing for children with a diagnosis of LI or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as similar social communication deficits are occasionally seen in children with these diagnoses. Study participants were identified from the caseload of a practicing certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) and qualified for intervention based upon Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) and Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) scores. Participant ability to perform an emotion inferencing task was then compared pre- and post-treatment with descriptive statistics and presented as 6 individual case studies to determine the effectiveness of social communication intervention. Results are presented pre- and post-intervention and indicated that emotion inferencing capacities for a given scenario increased for some participants, while others demonstrated either modest gains or slight declines in performance after intervention.

The current study examined the association between formant trajectories and tongue and lip movements in the American English diphthongs /aɪ/, /aʊ/, and /ɔɪ/. Seventeen native speakers of American English had electromagnetic sensors placed on their tongues and lips to record movement data along with corresponding acoustic data during productions of the diphthongs in isolation. F1 and F2 trajectories were extracted from the middle 50% of the diphthongs and compared with time-aligned kinematic data from tongue and lip movements. The movement and formant tracks were converted to z-scores and plotted together on a common time scale. Absolute difference scores between kinematic variables and acoustic variables were summed along each track to reflect the association between the movement and acoustic records. Results show that tongue movement has the closest association with changes in F1 and F2 for the diphthong /aɪ/. Lip movement has the closest association with changes in F1 and F2 for the diphthong /aʊ/. Results for the diphthong /ɔɪ/ suggest tongue advancement has the closest association with changes in F2, while neither lip movement nor tongue movement have a clearly defined association with changes in F1. These results suggest that for diphthongs with the lip rounding feature, lip movement may have a greater influence on F1 and F2 than previously considered. Researchers who use formant data to make inferences about tongue movement and vowel space may benefit from considering the possible influence of lip movements on vocal tract resonance.

Speech audiometry is the aspect of audiology that provides critical information on how individuals hear one of the most important sounds of daily life: speech. The speech recognition threshold (SRT) is a measure of speech audiometry that is widely used to provide information on an individual's capacity to hear speech. Over time, researchers and clinicians have worked to improve the SRT by developing and modifying a variety of word lists to be used during testing. Eventually, spondaic words were selected as the best stimuli for the SRT. The spondaic words had to meet four criteria: familiarity, phonetic dissimilarity, normal sampling of English sounds, and homogeneity with respect to audibility. This study examined the aspect of homogeneity with regard to slope of the psychometric function. Specifically, whether slope of the psychometric function had an effect on the number of words used to obtain the SRT, and thus reduce test time, as well as whether slope had an effect on the relationship between the SRT and the pure-tone average (PTA). It was hypothesized that words with a steep slope would significantly reduce test time and yield a close SRT-PTA agreement. Three word lists (steep, medium, and shallow sloping words), all recorded by a male talker, were used to obtain the SRT on 40 participants (ages 18-30 years). Statistical analysis showed significant differences in the number of words to obtain the SRT and the SRT-PTA agreement. However, when the differences were examined from a clinical perspective, the results were negligible. When compared with words with medium and steep slopes, words with shallow slope required an average of four extra words to obtain the SRT, which does not result in a meaningful reduction in test time. For clinical purposes, it appears that the slope of the psychometric function does not need to be taken into consideration for the SRT. Clinicians may use a variety of words as long as they meet the original four criteria for selection of spondees.

Speech audiometry has long been a component of a thorough audiological examination. The speech recognition threshold (SRT) measurement is perhaps the most widely used measurement in speech audiometry. For decades, researchers and clinicians have worked to create and fine-tune word lists that for use in SRT testing; their aim being to improve the accuracy for classifying a client's ability to hear and comprehend speech. Experts in the field have agreed to follow four tenets of speech audiometry when selecting word sets. This study examined whether improvement to stimulus lists for SRT measurement could be made in regards to the tenet of homogeneity with respect to audibility if the slope of the psychometric function were a selection consideration. The study was performed with the hypothesis that steeply sloping words would significantly reduce the number of words needed to obtain the SRT. Three word lists, all recorded by a female talker, comprising of steeply sloping words, medium sloping words, and shallow sloping words, were used in the study. Participants with normal hearing between the ages of 18 and 30 years provided data that was used to calculate SRT measurements for all three lists from each ear. The results showed a significant difference in the number of words needed to obtain the SRT when comparing the steep and shallow word sets and the shallow and medium word sets. Steeply sloping words required fewer words to obtain the SRT, M = 17.02. Shallow sloping words required the most words, M = 18.88, amounting to a difference of 1.86 words. While statistically different, a reduction by fewer than 2 words during the course of SRT testing will not equate to a substantial saving of time for the clinician. For clinical application, the slope of the psychometric function of the words used in SRT measurement need not be a primary consideration when developing stimulus lists.

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often face problems in areas of social communication including negotiating with peers, entering ongoing interactions, and engaging in conflict resolution. A potential cause of these social communication difficulties is the decreased ability to make emotional inferences. This thesis investigates the effects of a social communication intervention on the ability of school-aged children with DLD to make inferences about emotions. Five children with DLD between the ages of 6;10 and 12;4 participated in a social communication intervention that highlighted principles of emotion understanding (recognizing emotions in facial expressions, inferring emotions with contextual information, and discussing reasoning behind emotions) using story books to illustrate concepts. Data were gathered before and after intervention using a psychometrically balanced measure of emotional inferencing ability. Results revealed notable improvements in three of the participants and consistent performance in two of the participants baseline to follow-up. While performance on the emotional inferencing task varied due to multiple factors, the participants that showed improvement produced real growth which encourages future research to be conducted.

Research shows that children with language impairment (LI) often have deficits in social communication. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a social communication intervention targeting emotion understanding on teacher perceptions of withdrawal in six elementary-aged boys with LI. The intervention incorporated four elements into treatment sessions: a) Story sharing of children's literature that was rich in emotional content and prosocial behaviors; b) Story enactment of the same children's literature; c) identification and discussion of pictures of facial expressions; and d) journaling to help internalize and reflect on emotions and social behaviors targeted. Two withdrawal subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS), reticence and solitary-passive behavior, were used as variables with which to measure teacher perception. Pre and postintervention measures of teacher ratings were taken and compared for each participant. Results indicated that four of the six participants improved in ratings of withdrawn behaviors following treatment. Two of the boys improved 2 SD for ratings of reticence. Two additional participants did not show improvement, but remained stable in their pre and posttreatment scores for both reticence and solitary-passive withdrawal. These results indicate a generally favorable outcome of the social communication intervention with regard to social withdrawal in children with LI.

The purpose of this research effort was to examine whether the feature retention patterns and phonological knowledge of children with suspected apraxia of speech (AOSc) in comparison to those of children with phonological impairment (PI). A second purpose was to determine if a relationship exists between phonological knowledge and feature retention. The study consisted of three groups of children: PI, AOSc, and typically developing (TD), ages four to seven. A 245-item speech sample was collected from each group. Feature retention percentages and phonological knowledge, represented by percent correct underlying representations (PCUR) were calculated for each child. All groups retained place the least, followed by manner, with voicing being retained most. The null hypothesis was confirmed, with PI and AOSc groups exhibiting no significant differences across feature retention percentages or phonological knowledge. The positive correlation of voicing retention and PCUR of the AOSc group was the only significant relationship found.

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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

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