Building Research Initiatives by Developing Group Effort (BRIDGE): Patient-Partners in Aphasia Research.

Researcher-initiated research often has little or no input from the groups who will be affected by the results of the research. The aim of this project was to describe practices of embracing patient-partners (i.e., individuals with aphasia and spouses/family members) in research. Six webinars were developed for both researchers and patient-partners that were required prior to participating in a joint conference that focused on collaborative research teams. The conference was designed based on an appreciative inquiry approach. Including patient-partners into research priorities and planning has been accomplished across various health domains in the United States, but this was the first organized national effort, in the United States, to support the inclusion of people with aphasia and their families as active partners in the research process. Consequently, it is hoped that future aphasia researchers also include patient-partner teams into their research process for more ecologically valid outcomes.

Recognition of code-mixed gated words: Phonotactic features of Spanish and English / Reconocimiento de palabras cerradas de código mixto: características fonotácticas

Introduction: This study examined word identification among Spanish-English bilingual and English monolingual individuals, i.e., speech perception using a gated word task examining phonetic category formation. Methods: Participants included 25 English-speaking monolingual and 10 fluent Spanish-English speaking bilingual adults. The experiment included a gating task incorporating Spanish sentences, English sentences, code-mixed Spanish-English sentences, and code-mixed English-Spanish sentences. The gated words at the end of the sentences consisted of voiceless initial consonants, voiced initial consonants, CV-tense words, or CV-lax words. Results: There was a significant main effect for consonant voicing features and for language group. In addition, there was a significant interaction between consonant voicing features and language group. A significant main effect for vowel tenseness was also found along with a significant interaction between vowel tenseness and language group. Discussion: Results suggest that bilinguals are capable of ultimate attainment, with phonotactic capabilities similar to that of monolingual speakers when identifying English words. Bilingual speakers may also be more sensitive to voicing features for both Spanish and English words.(AU)

Introducción: Este estudio examinó la identificación de las palabras entre los individuos bilingües español-inglés y monolingües de habla inglesa, es decir, la percepción del lenguaje utilizando un sistema de palabras cerradas que examina la formación de la categoría fonética. Métodos: Los participantes incluyeron 25 adultos monolingües de habla inglesa y 10 adultos bilingües español-inglés. El experimento incluyó un sistema cerrado que incorporaba frases en español, frases en inglés, frases español-inglés de código mixto y frases inglés-español de código mixto. Las palabras cerradas al final de las frases consistían en consonantes iniciales sordas, consonantes iniciales sonoras, palabras tensas con CV o palabras laxas con CV. Resultados: Se produjo un efecto principal significativo para las características de entonación de las consonantes y para el grupo de lenguaje. Además, se produjo una interacción entre las características de entonación de las consonantes y el grupo de lenguaje. También se encontró un efecto principal significativo de la tensión de las vocales, y una interacción significativa entre la tensión de las vocales y el grupo de lenguaje. Discusión: Los resultados sugieren que las personas bilingües son capaces de alcanzar un logro máximo, con capacidades fonotácticas similares a las de los hablantes monolingües, al identificar las palabras en inglés. Los hablantes bilingües pueden ser más sensibles también a las características de entonación de las palabras españolas e inglesas.(AU)

Spanish-English speech perception in children and adults: developmental trends.

This study explored the developmental trends and phonetic category formation in bilingual children and adults. Participants included 30 fluent Spanish-English bilingual children, aged 8-11, and bilingual adults, aged 18-40. All completed gating tasks that incorporated code-mixed Spanish-English stimuli. There were significant differences in performance according to phonotactic construction of the stimuli, with fastest word recognition on words with voiceless initial consonants. Analysis of developmental trends revealed significant differences in children's performance by grade level and fastest recognition on English voiceless initial consonants than Spanish voiceless initial consonants. Differences in voice onset time between English and Spanish may have contributed to quicker recognition of English voiceless consonants than Spanish voiceless consonants. It is also possible that increased exposure to both spoken and written English may account for faster recognition of English voiceless words than Spanish voiceless words. In conclusion, multiple factors may influence perception of a second language.

Language use in social interactions of school-age children with language impairments: an evidence-based systematic review of treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Pragmatic models were first applied to the treatment of children with language impairment in the late 1970s. Since that time, the study of language use has had considerable impact on language assessment and treatment. Despite the need to address pragmatic language skills clinically, there has been no systematic examination of the efficacy of treatments developed for this purpose. METHOD: In accordance with the evidence-based practice policy agenda, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) convened an ad hoc committee on language use in social interactions in school-age children. The committee's charge was to develop an evidence-based systematic review of treatment for disorders of language use in social interactions. This charge was conducted in collaboration with ASHA's National Center for Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders. RESULTS: This systematic review provided preliminary support for the feasibility of various treatment procedures addressing social communication behaviors. Gains were reported in topic management skills, narrative production, and repairs of inadequate or ambiguous comments. CONCLUSION: Because further investigation of these treatments is warranted, the committee is unable to make empirically supported recommendations for changes in standard clinical practice based solely on this review. More research is needed to examine the feasibility of interventions that focus on children's language use.

Voice onset time production in speakers with Alzheimer's disease.

In the present study, voice onset time (VOT) measurements were compared between a group of individuals with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a group of healthy age- and gender-matched peers. Participants read a list of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, which included the six stop consonants. The VOT measurements were made from oscillographic displays obtained from the Brown Laboratory Interactive Speech System (BLISS) implemented on an IBM-compatible computer. VOT measures for the participants' six stop consonant productions were subjected to statistical analysis. The results indicated that VOT values in speakers with Alzheimer's disease were not statistically different from those for the normal control speakers.

Serving English language learners in public school settings: a national survey.

PURPOSE: In 1990, 1,145 public school speech-language pathologists (SLPs) across the United States were surveyed regarding service delivery to English language learner (ELL) students (C. A. Roseberry-McKibbin & G. E. Eicholtz, 1994). In 2001, the survey was replicated with a larger national sample (N = 1,736). The first purpose of the current study was to conduct an in-depth analysis of the 2001 survey results in terms of relationships between variables in respondents' backgrounds (e.g., region of the United States and coursework in service delivery to ELL students) and perceived problems in providing service delivery to ELL students. The second purpose of the current study was to compare answers from the 1990 and 2001 surveys in terms of similarities and differences. METHOD: Six thousand surveys were mailed out to a randomly and independently selected sample of public school SLPs across the United States. One thousand seven hundred thirty-six surveys were returned and analyzed. RESULTS: Results indicated both similarities and differences between answers from the 1990 and 2001 surveys. Results from an in-depth analysis of the current survey found that respondents from the West had the most coursework in service delivery to ELL students. Respondents from the West and the Southwest regions of the United States perceived all service delivery problems with ELL students as occurring less frequently than did their counterparts from other regions. Respondents with more university coursework perceived "lack of appropriate less biased assessment instruments" as a more frequently occurring problem than did respondents with less university coursework. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Universities need to offer coursework regarding service delivery to ELL students. A particularly important area that courses should address is less biased assessment of ELL students. Other implications and directions for future research are discussed.