The preferred method of communication for most prelingual/culturally Deaf individuals is American Sign Language (ASL), and members of this linguistic/cultural minority community are often not recognized as being bilingual. Many prelingually/culturally Deaf individuals have limitations and deficits in English proficiency; which can lead to deficits in general knowledge of health-related terminology. Current projections are that older adults are expected to live longer, and will also experience the development of, increases in and more extended periods of living with senescence/age-related health disorders, also includes prelingual/culturally Deaf individuals. This quantitative research project, utilizing the theoretical framework of health literacy and a modified version of the REALM (Rapid Estimate of Health Literacy in Medicine), utilizing American Sign Language (ASL) graphics; analyzed the convergence of prelingual/cultural Deafness and health literacy related to senescence/age-related disorders. An evaluation of a sample population of 27 Deaf participants, on health-related items of medical words, medical conditions medical procedures, and medical/numeracy instructions revealed significant deficits in all areas of health literacy. These deficits are critical and impact one's ability to manage effectively, age-related disorders. The results of this study will inform the health care community of the unrecognized magnitude, implication, and the need for positive social change in health care policies and procedures related to the appropriate provision of medical, health care, and health-related information for prelingual/culturally Deaf individuals.

Cochlear implantation of prelingually deafened adults is a contentious issue and information about the outcomes of late-implanted prelingually deafened (LIPD) adults is still largely undocumented. The question this study set out to answer, is what impact a late cochlear implantation has on the communication-related outcomes, both self-reported and objectively measured, of prelingually deafened adults. Consequently, this investigation determined the auditory, language, speech-intelligibility and quality of life outcomes of a group of LIPD adults. A combined qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional research approach was utilized for this multiple case study investigation. A semi-structured interview, audiological test battery and communication assessments were conducted using seven LIPD adults of a well-established cochlear implant program in South Africa. The results of the study indicated that the LIPD adults’ objectively assessed auditory, language and speech intelligibility outcomes are poorer than would be expected from good cochlear implant users, but the self-reported outcomes indicated that they experienced the cochlear implant as worthwhile and positive. The findings of this study provide more in-depth information regarding the communication-related outcomes of this population, and this information may be used by audiologists and speech-language therapists during counselling of prelingually deafened candidates to ensure appropriate expectations. Copyright / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2929.pdf: 11352418 bytes, checksum: 28d64060a63b9aea98de01a8294ef436 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-01 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Acquisitions of verbal functions in prelingually deaf children have shown progress in the listener s behavior, but less significant gains in the speaker s behavior. The aim of this study was to develop and assess the effectiveness of teaching procedures designed to develop listening comprehension and speech intelligibility in this population. Three studies were conducted. In the first one, subjects were taught conditional auditory-visual relations between dictated words and pictures, and between dictated words and printed words, along three successive learning problems. Two teenage girls with extensive sensory deprivation periods and late cochlear implants learned the auditory-visual relations and showed the emergence of equivalence relations, progressing from the learning relations with conventional words to learning relations between pseudo-words and abstract pictures. Study 2 investigated the effects of a curriculum of conditional discriminations between dictated words and pictures and between dictated and printed words to preschoolers and children acquiring literacy, thus extending the amount of experience with successive sets of words, in relation to Study 1. A multiple baseline design among word sets assessed the curriculum effects. Five of the seven participants learned the conditional discrimination and presented the emergence of equivalence relations, echoic behavior and naming pictures and printed words. Speech production scores, however, lag behind scores in matching tasks. In Study 3 participants learned conditional discriminations between dictated sentences and videoclip scenes. Different sentences were dictated, warranting overlapping of sentence elements, seeking to engender recombinative repertoires (in identifying new scenes formed by recombination of subject, verb and object of previous sentences). Participants demonstrated recombinative generalization and produced intelligible sentences. Results indicate the potential of the teaching procedures for the (re)habilitation of implant users. The persistence of the imbalance between speech production and auditory comprehension suggests important issues concerning the ontogenesis of the listener and speaker s repertoire. / As aquisições de funções verbais em crianças com surdez pré-lingual usuárias de implante coclear têm mostrado progressos no comportamento de ouvinte e poucos ganhos no comportamento de falante. O presente estudo teve por objetivo desenvolver e avaliar procedimentos de ensino para ampliar a compreensão e a inteligibilidade nessa população. Foram conduzidos três estudos. No primeiro foram ensinadas relações condicionais auditivo-visuais entre palavras ditadas e figuras e entre palavras ditadas e palavras impressas, em três problemas sucessivos de aprendizagem. Duas adolescentes com longo período de privação sensorial e implante tardio aprenderam as relações auditivo-visuais e formaram classes de estímulos equivalentes, progredindo da aprendizagem de palavras convencionais até a de relações entre pseudo-palavras e figuras abstratas. O Estudo 2 investigou os efeitos do ensino de um currículo de discriminações condicionais entre palavras ditadas e figuras e entre palavras ditadas e impressas para pré-escolares e crianças em alfabetização. Foram empregados vários conjuntos de estímulos, cada um com três elementos; um delineamento de linha de base múltipla entre os conjuntos avaliou os efeitos do ensino. Cinco dos sete participantes aprenderam as relações condicionais e mostraram emergência de novas relações (formação de classes, comportamento ecóico e nomeação de figuras e de palavras impressas) em tarefas de seleção e na produção de fala (com escores mais baixos). No Estudo 3 foram ensinadas discriminações condicionais entre sentenças ditadas e vídeos. As sentenças apresentavam sujeito, verbo e objeto. O ensino de diferentes sentenças envolveu combinações entre elementos com sobreposição, buscando favorecer a generalização recombinativa. Os participantes aprenderam as relações condicionais, demonstraram generalização recombinativa e produziram fala compreensível com sentenças. Os resultados indicam o potencial dos procedimentos de ensino para a (re)habilitação de usuários de implante. A persistência da defasagem na produção de fala em relação à compreensão sugere questões importantes sobre a ontogenia dos repertórios de ouvinte e de falante.