Change in nasal resonance over time: a clinical study.

Fifteen of the 20 patients who had been judged by a speech pathologist and two surgeons to have had poor resonance following surgical treatment were recalled in order to review factors that may have been related to this poor result. In the present study, the poor-resonance patients were reanalyzed for present status given that they had received no further surgical intervention. The results indicate that over one-half of those patients now have normal resonance; this gives the patients who were repaired by the Cronin technique an 89 percent probability of achieving normal resonance. The age of the patient at the time of evaluation appears to be an important factor. Patients judged as "poor-resonance results" were more likely to be less than 5 years of age, but as they matured, judgment of "resonance" indicated improvement.

Phonological proficiency of two cleft palate toddlers with school-age follow-up.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the speech-sound production of two children with repaired bilateral cleft lip and palate. Speech samples were obtained during videotaping of spontaneous interactions between the children and their parent(s) when the subjects were between 29 and 37 months of age. Re-evaluation of both language and phonological abilities was accomplished when the children were between 5 and 7 years of age. Based on phonemic transcription of these data, error matrices were prepared illustrating word-initial and word-final consonants produced. Place and manner of consonant production were analyzed and the individual phonological processes employed by each child were discussed. Results indicated individual differences between the subjects in that one subject's emerging phonological system was more characteristic of developmental delay while the other was more characteristic of structural inadequacy. These differences have implication for the management of preschool cleft palate children.

Use of the Leiter International Performance Scale with adult aphasics.

Considered whether the Leiter International Performances Scales (LIPS), a general intelligence test used successfully with Ss age 2-18, can be adapted for use with aphasic adults. Six aphasic adults and 6 matched controls were given the Reitan Indians Screening Test of Aphasia and the LIPS. Results showed that the aphasic sample had total test scores comparable with the control group; however, the aphasic group required approximately 66% more time than the controls to complete the test. It was concluded that further work is merited based on the following results: (1) the test provided a sufficient range of difficulty so that each S errored on at least one-fourth of the test items; (2) the test could be given to the adult aphasics within a feasible time frame; (3) the aphasic adults were able to work with the test materials despite visual defects and hemiparesis of the dominant side; (4) feasible modifications can be made in the test.