Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/135
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Browsing Graduate Theses and Dissertations by Department "Communication Disorders"
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Item Auditory Comprehension Deficits in Aphasia: A Hierarchy of Difficulty in Yes/No Questions(1999-05) Carter, Jason; Slansky, Barry L.; Mallard, A.R.; Harris, Marsha R.The purpose of this study was to determine if a hierarchy of difficulty exists for yes/no questions. Participants in this study were 8 aphasic subjects (6 men and 2 women) and 8 control subjects (3 men and 5 women), ranging in age from 55 to 72 years. Five categories of yes/no questions were established, digitally recorded into the computer, and then presented randomly via loudspeaker. Data on accuracy of response and response time were recorded by the computer. Statistically significant differences were found between the question types and across experimental groups for accuracy rate and response times. Clinical implications of this study include providing speech-language pathologists a systematic approach to treating auditory comprehension deficits in aphasia.Item Classification Accuracy of a Self-Report Proficiency Assessment for Spanish-English Bilingual Speakers(2019-05) Herrera, Laura Catarina; Resendiz, Maria; Schwarz, Amy Louise; Gonzales, Maria D.No abstract prepared.Item Effect of alphabet board supplementation and stimulus presentation mode on intelligibility of dysarthric speech(2000-05) Montez, Natasha D.; Slansky, BarryReduced intelligibility is a frequent and universal consequence of dysarthria. Intelligibility scores reflect the cumulative effects of all levels of speech production on the output produced by a speaker and provide an overall index of the severity. Several investigators have reported that the use of aided devices, such as an alphabet board may I increase intelligibility for dysarthric speakers. Improvements may result from decreased speaking rate, increased prosodic characteristics, or improved articulatory precision. It is not known if stimulus presentation mode influences these results. This study provided a means for examining the differences in single word intelligibility scores during aided and unaided conditions and the differences between stimulus presentation modes for single word production. Data were collected from selected individuals with dysarthria. Intelligibility scores were obtained from a group of 16 listeners. Results for these subjects indicated improved intelligibility across one subject during the aided task. No differences in intelligibility scores were found across the three stimulus presentation modes.Item Lexical Aspect and the Use of Third-Person Singular /S/ in African American English-Speaking Children(2009-05) Marks, Rachel L.; Burns, FrancesThe purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the lexical aspect of the verb plays a role in 3rd/s/ marking and whether differences can be observed in rates of 3rd/s/ production between typically developing (TD) AAE-speaking children and their peers with specific language impairment (SLI). Proportions of 3rd/s/ marked-verbs were compared across and within groups. Differences were found in the type of verb that was marked for 3rd/s/ and between the TD and SLI groups of AAE-speaking children’s rate of 3rd/s/ production. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role lexical aspect plays in grammatical morphology and that children with SLI may not be sensitive to this role across dialects of English.Item Non-Word Repetition and Vocabulary in Adolescents who are Blind(2018-05) Ekstrom, Carol; Domsch, Celeste; Chakraborty, Rahul; Gonzales, Maria DianaWhen compared with their sighted peers, prior research on individuals who are blind has indicated strong working memory, as measured by digit span tests, and phonological memory, as measured by non-word repetition tasks. However, research related to vocabulary skills is limited and often contradictory. Some indicates that those who are blind have poor vocabulary skills, perhaps due to missing visual information, while others demonstrate the potential for individuals to use vocabulary correctly despite a lack of visual input. What is known is that sighted individuals who perform well on digit span and non-word repetition tests have strong vocabulary skills. This would imply that individuals who are blind should have at least comparable vocabulary abilities but this has not yet been considered. This study compared the working memory, phonological memory, and vocabulary skills of adolescents who are blind with those who are sighted. Prior research focused on elementary-aged students, so this study expands results to a new age-group. Results indicate that there are no group difference between working and phonological memory skills and no group difference between vocabulary skills of those who are blind and sighted, with the exception of spoken analogy skills.Item Parent-Child Interactions: A Description of Book-Reading Strategies(2003-05) Potts, Meredith; Gonzales, Maria DianaThe purpose of this pilot study was to research the book-reading strategies used by parents of typically developing children and children diagnosed with language disorders. Four dyads were used to complete this study. Results indicated that the parents used a variety of directive and less directive book-reading strategies. However, there were no clear differences between the strategies used by parents of typically developing children and parents of children with language disorders.Item Parent-reported Predictors of Success in Family-centered Stuttering Therapy(2003-05) Atkinson, Allison J.; Gonzales, Maria; Johnson, Charles; Mallard, A. R.No abstract prepared.Item Predictors of success in family-intervention stuttering therapy(2000-05) Ehrig, Christi J.; Mallard, A. R.; Johnson, Charles; Harris, MarshaNo abstract prepared.Item Survey of the Assessment Methods Used in Texas Public Schools for the Diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Children(2008-05) Felderhoff, Jeffery Wayne; Gonzales, Maria Diana; Burns, Frances; Webber, JoThe purpose of this study was to determine what assessment instruments and methods were being implemented within public elementary schools across the state of Texas to assist in the diagnosis of children suspected of having pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). Results indicated that assessment professionals across Texas were using similar assessment approaches and were relying on both standardized and non-standardized measures. However, the overall use of effective standardized assessments, as indicated in the current literature, was mixed. Also, the results suggested that many professionals across Texas were not applying least-biased assessment approaches appropriately to culturally and linguistically diverse populations with PDDs.Item The Predictors of Emergent Literacy Skills in Typically Developing and Language Disordered Latino/a Preschoolers(2007-05) Palacios, Cecilia A.No abstract prepared.Item The speech disfluencies of normal-talking six-year-old children(2000-05) Horkman, Cheri L.; Mallard, A. R.This study presents the fluency characteristics of 12 male and 13 female normal-talking 6-year old children. All subjects were disfluent. The disfluency categories that the subjects displayed most frequently included fillers, revisions/sentence changes, word repetitions, and interjections. The categories that occurred with least frequency were partword repetitions, incoherent sounds, and dysrhythmic phonations, and only one of the subjects produced prolongations. The methodology of the interview had little to no impact on the amount of disfluency that the subjects produced. The results provided information about the disfluencies of the 6-year-old population in an interview situation. The results also concurred with pre-existing data spanning various age groups.Item The validity of multiple reading passages as documentation of speech disfluency(1999-05) Layman, Heidi L.; Mallard, A. R.; Slansky, Barry; Harris, MarshaNo abstract prepared.Item Week-to-Week Stuttering Variability(2022-05) Hendrick, Raylynn S.; Irani, Farzan; Schwarz, Amy L.; Azios, MichaelNo abstract prepared.