- A Perspective on Stuttering
- Issues for Students to Consider in Evaluating the Benefits of Pursuing Doctoral Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders
- A Case Study: The Effects of Teaching Story Grammar Through Visual Symbols to Two Students With Language and Learning Disabilities
- "You Know, I just Don't Know What Else You'd Do": Five Speech-Language Pathologists' Perspectives on Children's Literature in Language Intervention
- A Clinical Tutorial: Tinnitus and its Remediation
- Performance of Preschool Children on Two Hearing Screening Protocols
- Helping Parents Address Attitudinal and Emotional Factors With Young Children Who Stutter
- Address Forms and Their Implications in Communications Sciences and Disorders University Programs
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1. Perspective on Stuttering
Martin R. Adams
Abstract: This invited article begins with a perspective on Stuttering: its nature, causes, and clinical management. In a concluding section, suggestions are offered for directions that speech-language pathologists might take in the future as they theorize about, study, and treat the disorder.
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2. Issues for Students to Consider in Evaluating the Benefits of Pursuing Doctoral Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Debra Busacco
Abstract: There is a projected shortage of both doctoral student and teachers-research scholars in the professions of speech-language pathology, audiology, and speech, language, or hearing sciences for the next decade. This shortage has several implications for professions. One implication is that there are not enough teachers-scholars to fill faculty positions in universities. Faculty shortages will reach critical levels over the next 5 to 10 years. The shortage of faculty will impact on the number of students that can be accepted into graduate preparation programs and possibly may also affect the quality of education. The shortage of doctoral students and teachers-researchers may limit the amount of basic and clinical research that is conducted in the professions. The recruitment and retention of doctoral students into the professions must be a priority over the next decade (Mendel. 1997).
This article will address several concerns that students have expressed abut pursuing doctoral education. Some of the academic, financial, and social challenges associated with doctoral education will be presented. Strategies to help prospective doctoral students meet these challenges will be provided. Moreover, the diversity within our discipline and the various career tracks that speech-language pathologist, audiologists, and speech, language, or hearing scientists with doctorates can pursue are discussed. Finally, some financial academic resources available for prospective doctoral students are included to help students locate academic programs and funding sources for doctoral studies.
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3. A Case Study: The Effects of Teaching Story Grammar Through Visual Symbols to Two Students With Language and Learning Disabilities
Julie Owen Shelton
Abstract: The purpose of this case study was to determine if a structured approach to teaching story grammar components, including the use of visual symbols, would be effective in improving the complexity and completeness of children's story production. Progress was determined by obtaining spontaneous story samples from each child and assigning each story a developmental story level. Two subjects, who had both previously been identified as having language and learning disabilities, participated in the study: a male aged 9:2 (years: months) and female aged 10:2. A single-subject design was used in the case study. Subjects displayed a change in their knowledge and spontaneous use of story grammar components by increasing their story complexity from developmental story level two to levels five and seven. Findings are discussed with regard to the importance of guiding children in their learning of more complex story structures, as well as to future directions for research.
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4. "You Know, I just Don't Know What Else You'd Do": Five Speech-Language Pathologists' Perspectives on Children's Literature in Language Intervention
Teresa A. Ukrainetz
Adair R. Trujillo
Abstract: School speech-language pathology has changed considerably from the early days of articulation and vocabulary intervention. This qualitative investigation examines the perceptions of five speech-language pathologists on the use of children's literature in speech and language intervention. Results suggest that these speech-language pathologists used children's literature extensively in language intervention. The speech-language pathologists considered literature a rich and meaningful context for targeting almost ay language goal. The use of children's literature was interwoven with collaborative, curriculum-based intervention and a focus on reading instruction rather than on oral language intervention. Reasons for and implications of such a focus are discussed.
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5. A Clinical Tutorial: Tinnitus and its Remediation
Melissa A. Midkiff
Laurel A. Christensen
Abstract: Tinnitus can be defined as a brad individualized symptom that is associated with a rather constantly perceived sound in the absence of actual auditory stimuli. Numerous treatments have emerged in an effort to relieve the discomfort that is associated with tinnitus. These treatments include electrical stimulation, masking devises, hearing aids, pharmacotherapy, behavioral therapies, biofeedback, hypnosis, acupuncture, and auditory habituation. This article reviews the available treatments for tinnitus and their demonstrated efficacy. Medical intervention, as described in this article, refers to the active consumption/injection of chemicals for the sole purpose of reducing tinnitus. Relief from tinnitus through decreased consumption of medications, such as aspirin, was not addressed. No treatment for tinnitus emerged as the most effective for the reduction of tinnitus in controlled research trials. For most patients, tinnitus should be considered treatable, but not curable. Most treatments guide the patient to acceptance of the tinnitus. Treatment considerations should be made on an individual basis.
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6. Performance of Preschool Children on Two Hearing Screening Protocols
Sridhar Krishnamurti
John W. Hawks
Irvin J. Gerling
Abstract: This article compares the performance of preschool children on a widely accepted pure-tone hearing screening protocol with that on a spondee/frequency-modulated (FM) hearing screening protocol. One-hundred preschool children, 36 to 60 months of age, were screened using: (a) pure tones and (b) spondee and high-frequency FM tones. Screening results and elapsed times for instruction and testing for both protocols were collected. Immittance screening was administered to those children failing the initial screening, with a follow-up rescreening 1week later. The results indicated a significantly greater percentage of failures with the pure-tone protocol, as well as a significantly greater percentage of passes on Immittance and rescreening, than with the spondee/FM protocol. Further, 45% of those failing the pure-tone protocol at 2 or 4 kHz were passed at these frequencies using the FM protocol. The spondee/FM testing, however, took approximately three times longer per child to administer than did the pure-tone testing. In light of recent changes in screening guidelines for this age group, however, the spondee/FM protocol may still be more efficacious than current recommendations. Overall, the results suggest that a spondee/FM screening protocol has the potential to overcome limitations that have often been noted with screening tests using speech stimuli, and deserves consideration and further evaluation as a hearing screening tool for preschool children.
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7. Helping Parents Address Attitudinal and Emotional Factors With Young Children Who Stutter
Kenneth J. Logan
J. Scott Yaruss
Abstract: Many treatment programs for adolescents and adults who stutter place considerable emphasis on the importance of addressing the speaker's attitudes or emotions regarding speaking; however, much less attention has been paid to the process of treating attitudinal or emotional factors in young children who stutter. This article outlines a training model for helping parents learn to support preschool and primary grade children's development of healthy attitudes toward speaking and stuttering within the context of a family-cantered approach to fluency intervention. The training process includes methods for helping parents to: (a) model appropriate responses to stuttering, (b) listen to children's concerns about speaking, and (c) talk with young children about their stuttering. This article also stresses the importance of thoroughly educating parents regarding the nature and development of stuttering, reaching agreement about why and when parents should discuss stuttering with their children, and assessing the outcomes of such intervention by carefully examining children's responses to their parents' intervention.
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8. Address Forms and Their Implications in Communications Sciences and Disorders University Programs
Holly Harris
Vicki McCready
David Herr
Abstract: This study investigated the effect of academic degree gender, age, and geographical region on the predicted use of address forms [first name (FN) vs. title plus last name (TLN)] in both formal and informal situations in communication sciences and disorders university programs. Because it has been the author' observation that clinical supervisors with master's degrees are addressed typically by FN by other faculty and students, and that academic faculty are addressed by TLN (most often "Dr."), the authors hypothesized that academic degree is a significant factor determining manner of address.
Five-hundred-ninety-two (592) faculty members from three geographic regions of the country read two scenarios that differed only in the degree and gender of the colleague depicted in the scenario and then responded to nine questions. Subjects, faculty in communication sciences and disorders programs, indicated in they would address the colleague with FN or TLN based on factors of formality of the situation, gender, academic degree, age, and rank. Results revealed that overall, subjects used FN more often with master's colleagues that with doctoral colleagues. When degree and gender of the subjects were taken into account, subjects with doctorates were more likely that subjects with master's degrees to address master's colleagues with FN and were less likely to address doctoral colleagues with FN; and male subjects were more likely than female subjects to use FN with master's colleagues and less likely to use FN with doctoral colleagues. Other significant influences on manner of address included subjects' responses to the formality of the scenario, the age of the colleague depicted in the scenario, and the region of the country where subjects worked (South, Midwest, and Northeast). Implications are discussed in terms of the effect of manner of address on university faculty and students.
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