ABSTRACT
An intensive stuttering treatment program for military service members is described. Over a 10-year period, 117 stutters have been treated in a program in which graded airflow, tension/relaxation, electromyographic biofeedback, and a modified hierarchical desensitization procedure have been used to obtain and maintain normally fluent speech. All patients treated have met the criterion of less than 1% stuttered words. Of 57 patients followed for from 3-36 months after treatment, 42 (74%) have maintained normally fluent speech.
Subject(s)
Stuttering/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Biofeedback, Psychology , Colorado , Desensitization, Psychologic , Female , Hospitals, Military , Humans , Male , Treatment Outcome , United StatesABSTRACT
To adequately monitor progress in writing, a test must show stability and demonstrate a performance profile over time that parallels those of accepted criterion measures. This study investigated the technical adequacy of seven objective indexes of writing quality in monitoring the progress of 36 middle school (Grades 6-8) students with mild disabilities over a 6-month period. The stability of each index was assessed. Holistic ratings of the same writing samples and the Test of Written Language served as validation criteria. Three indexes were moderately correlated with holistic ratings, but were not sufficiently stable over time. Direct, objective writing assessment must be used with caution for progress monitoring, given our present lack of precision in measuring the complex task of writing.
Subject(s)
Learning Disabilities/rehabilitation , Writing , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
A series of 22 patients who presented with non-organic hearing disorder were examined for auditory perceptual problems. A test battery that examined eight areas of auditory perception revealed significant auditory perceptual problems in each of the 22 patients. The results indicate a view that differs from the traditional view of non-organic hearing disorder as either conscious feigning of a hearing disorder or an unconscious symptom of an unidentified emotional disorder. The information presented here indicates that specific auditory processing disorders could adversely affect patients' hearing and that auditory perceptual disorders could be diagnosed and treated.
Subject(s)
Auditory Perceptual Disorders/diagnosis , Hearing Disorders/diagnosis , Perceptual Disorders/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Hearing Disorders/psychology , Hearing Tests , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Somatoform Disorders/diagnosisABSTRACT
By simultaneous rapid-strip recordings of the electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, and carotid pulse wave, systolic time intervals (STI) can be calculated and used to assess cardiac activity during general anesthesia. The principal advantage of this methodology over more conventional technics of determining anesthetic effects on the heart is that it is noninvasive. One anesthetic agent, halothane, was chosen to illustrate the usefulness of the technic. Results obtained by using STI supported the well-documented effect of myocardial depression produced by halothane. Becuase the equipment and technic are relatively simple, this procedure has definite clinical applications.
Subject(s)
Halothane/pharmacology , Heart/drug effects , Carotid Arteries , Electrocardiography , Humans , Phonocardiography , PulseABSTRACT
Five adult male stutterers were subjected to electric shock under three conditions. After stuttering frequency was stable in base rate, three subjects were (1) presented electric shock continuously, but the shock was terminated for five seconds contingent on each stuttering (escape); (2) not presented electric shock continuously, but were given a burst of shock contingent on each stuttering (punish); and (3) allowed to choose the shock condition they preferred. Two other subjects followed the same procedure, except that the order of the escape and punish conditions was reversed. The five subjects behaved differently in the various experimental conditions. For three subjects, the percentage of words stuttered changed very little in the escape condition, whereas two subjects' stuttering increased in escape. In the punish condition, the percentage of words stuttered changed very little for one subject, increased for two subjects and decreased for two subjects. Little change in stuttering behavior occurred in the preferred choice condition.
