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*Klein, Sally
THE RECOGNIZABILITY OF FREEHAND DRAWINGS MADE BY FLUENT AND NONFLUENT APHASIC ADULTS
The freehand drawings of fluent and nonfluent aphasic clients were compared in order to determine if one of these groups produces more representative pictures. Five fluent and five nonfluent aphasic adults each drew two pictures of objects and two pictures of actions. Ten men and women assessed the recognizability of each of these forty drawings using a seven-step interval scale. Results indicate that there is no overall difference between fluent and nonfluent aphasic adults in their ability to draw representative pictures. Mean raters' scores for both groups of aphasic individuals were higher for the objects than for actions. Within groups, the object drawings of the nonfluent aphasic group were judged to be more representative than those of the fluent group. However, the fluent group produced more representative pictures of actions than the nonfluent group. Pp. 1-7.
*Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, November, 1998, San Antonio, Texas
*Bowman, Sonya Ruth
A COMPARISON OF PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS BY LEARNING DISABLED AND NORMAL MIDDLE-SCHOOL STUDENTS
Phonological awareness of normal and learning disabled middle-school students was compared through the administration of eight sub-tests (Rhyming, Segmentation, Isolation, Deletion, Substitution, Blending, Graphemes, and Decoding) which comprise The Phonological Awareness Test (Robertson and Salter, 1997). A total of 20 subjects (10 learning disabled and 10 normal students) were tested and their responses recorded and analyzed according to the test instructions. Results indicated significant differences between groups, between sub-tests, and between sub-tests by groups. Post-hoc analysis indicated that learning disabled students exhibited significantly decreased phonological awareness in the areas of Isolation, Deletion, Substitution, and Blending than did their normal counterparts. These findings suggest that middle-school students with decreased phonological awareness in those areas may be learning disabled. Pp. 8-14.
*Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, November, 1998, San Antonio, Texas
Capinpin, Janelle
THE EFFECT OF VISUAL AND TACTILE CUEING ON INTONATION PATTERNS PRODUCED BY CHRONIC APHASIC ADULTS
Ten chronic aphasic adults were each presented with two intonation cueing methods. The visual cueing method utilized bold letters to indicate correct stress in syllables and then words. The visual and tactile cueing method utilized bold letters as well as tactile strips to indicate correct stress in syllables and then words. Both methods were presented at levels of graded difficulty. Levels included syllabic stress in disyllabic words, syllabic stress in polysyllabic words, word stress to convey new information, and word stress in contrasting sentences. The results indicated that the visual and tactile cueing method was significantly more effective than the visual cueing method alone in sentences that convey new information. It was also shown that although not statistically significant, a trend existed in improved accuracy of intonation patterns with visual and tactile cueing rather than visual cueing alone for all levels of stimuli with the exception of disyllabic words. These results provide a starting point for the use of a multi-modality approach to improve intonation patterns in chronic aphasic individuals. Pp. 15-22.
Lopez, Jennifer
A COMPARISON OF PARENTS OF COMMUNICATIVELY DISORDERD AND NORMALLY DEVELOPING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ABILITY TO EVALUATE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE MILESTONES
This study looked at parents' abilities to estimate appropriate developmental milestones for speech and language. Subjects were seven parents of normally developing preschool children and seven were parents of children in a preschool for communicative disorders. Parents were chosen according to age, education level, and number of children. All of the parents were given a "milestone checklist" to complete. The 24- item checklist contained milestones in the areas of comprehension, production, and phonology. A judgement at the correct standard yielded a 0 error score. All of the parents under study estimated the milestones at levels significantly lower that the standard. The greatest difference was found in the phonology area, where the mean scores for the "normal" parents and the "disordered" parents were -8.96 and -2.38, respectively. The means of estimates were all found to be negative numbers, which indicates that parents tend to estimate milestones at an earlier age than the standard. It was hypothesized that the parents of children attending a preschool for communicative disorders would have increased knowledge about expected developmental milestones. However, statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the two parent groups. Overall, parents of communicatively disordered children appeared to be more attuned to phonological development, but not comprehension and production of language. Pp. 23-27.
Saporito, Nicole
TURN TAKING AND TOPIC MAINTENANCE IN PRESCHOOLERS WHO ARE FIRST-BORN, SECOND-BORN, AND WITHOUT A SIBLING
Conversational turn taking and topic maintenance skills of preschoolers who were first-born, second-born, and without a sibling were compared. Fifteen children, 3 to 4 years of age, were videotaped for 10 minutes in a triad (one first-born, one second-born, and one without a sibling) interaction of free play. For each group the mean number of turns taken, mean response duration per turn, and the mean number of expansion elements were examined. Results indicated that turn-taking and topic maintenance skills of all three groups were similar. These results suggest that birth order may not have as significant an effect on the development of pragmatic and language skills in children as has been previously indicated in the literature. Pp. 28-32.
Keighran, Caroline
THE EFFECTS OF AGE ON A LISTENER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD STUTTERING SPEAKERS
Using semantic differential scales with nine trait pairs developed by Williams and Dietrich (1996), 24 subjects in three different age groups (adolescence, young adulthood, and late adulthood) rated a stuttering and a non-stuttering speaker on an audio only and audio-video presentation. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference across age groups on listener's attitudes toward the stuttering and non-stuttering speaker, and no significant difference between the attitudes of the listeners based on audio only and audio-video presentation. All age groups were found to rate the non-stutterer more favorably than the stutterer, particularly in the areas of intelligence, decisiveness, social adjustment, stress, and employability. These results confirm the findings of previous studies that show a persistent negative stereotype towards stuttering and stutterers. Pp. 33-40.
McIntyre, Lindall K.
EFFECTS OF USING TOYS TO STIMULATE MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION IN PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
Twelve patients with suspected Alzheimer's disease participated in two conversations to examine the effects of using toys to increase meaningful communication. In one of the conversations the examiner introduced three toys one at a time and asked five facilitative questions with each toy. The conversations were recorded, transcribed, and measured for total words and information units. Information units were defined as relevant, truthful, non-redundant facts. The results showed significant increases in the total number of words and information units produced during the conversation when the toys were present. Pp. 41-46.
Ordering information:
To order any of the above papers, send a request through regular inter-library loan to California State University, East Bay Libraries, Hayward, California 94542. Include author, title, volume, call number and page numbers.
