Emerson thesis -- Communication sciences and disorders

Overview "Typically-developing (TD) preschool-age children ask questions competently, but despite nearly identical maternal input, question-asking remains sparse for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Current literature fails to describe the pragmatic functions served by the questions of children with ASD and their mothers. This study investigated the similarities and differences between two groups (one TD and one with ASD) of preschool-age children in the frequency and function of...

Overview "Numerous studies have reported that "useful speech" at age 5 predicts outcomes in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but this skill has been vaguely defined. This study investigates which specific aspects of expressive language in 5-year-olds with ASD best predict adult language outcomes. Language samples from 5-year-olds enrolled in a longitudinal project (e.g., Lord et al., 2006) were transcribed and coded for spoken language features. Nonverbal IQ (NVIQ), noun diversity,...

Overview "This qualitative study explored the experiences and practices of caregivers for consumers with suspected traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a local medical respite center serving individuals experiencing houselessness who need a safe place to recuperate from medical interventions or illness. It also aimed to identify ways to improve these consumer's outcomes. To address these questions, five ethnographic interviews and one focus group were conducted with staff members at Boston Healthcare for...

Scope and Content Note From the Series: The series contains Master's theses from 1943 to present. The theses consist of either a production book and a media component or solely a production book. The production books were originally submitted as physical bound copies, but were later submitted digitally. The physical production books are stored offsite and the digital production books are stored in the College's preservation repository.The media components consist of U-matic tapes, VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays and...

Overview "The current study investigated the frequency, content, and development of question-asking in typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD through an online survey of 145 caregivers of children under 6 years old. Children with ASD were found to lag behind TD peers in both frequency and proportion of questions asked. Children with ASD were reported to ask more closed-ended (yes/no) questions as compared to more open-ended wh-questions. In exploring question function, differences...

Overview "This study employed a pretest-posttest design to investigate the effects on language, communication, communicative confidence, and quality of life for a person with aphasia following his participation in a 10-week recreational sailing program. BD, a person with longstanding severe aphasia, participated in this study. Following treatment, the participant demonstrated improvements in communication effectiveness and quality of life, as reflected by scores on the Boston Assessment of Severe...

Scope and Content Note From the Series: The series contains Master's theses from 1943 to present. The theses consist of either a production book and a media component or solely a production book. The production books were originally submitted as physical bound copies, but were later submitted digitally. The physical production books are stored offsite and the digital production books are stored in the College's preservation repository.The media components consist of U-matic tapes, VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays and...

Overview "Verbs representing mental states are syntactically complex because they may occur with sentential complements, which are phrases that are independently grammatical sentences. Considering evidence that children on the autism spectrum often demonstrate delays with mental state language but relative strengths in language form, the present study investigated the relationship between mental state verb and sentential complement production by 9-year-old children on the autism spectrum. Language...

Overview "The AAC-Aphasia Categorical Framework (AACF; Lasker & Garret, 2006) assists clinicians in identifying AAC capabilities demonstrated by people with aphasia (PWA) and the extent to which partner support is required. This study refines the AACF to reflect new everyday and AAC technologies and to reassess construct validity of the continuum. SLPs with aphasia and/or AAC expertise and graduate students classified PWA after viewing videos of AAC trials. Results revealed that both SLPs and...

Scope and Content Note The collection is comprised of two series: Publications and Master's Theses, Digital. The Publications series lists publications produced by the Office of Graduate Studies. Master's Theses, Digital, series lists digital master's theses created partially from 2015 to present. There are also a handful of older theses from 2010 and 2015 that were digitized. The remaining theses from 2015 and non-digital theses are searchable through the Iwasaki Library website: ...

Overview

"This single case study investigated speech and language outcomes for an adult with aphasia and apraxia of speech after she participated in treatment using modified Motor Learning Guided (mMLG) treatment delivered via telepractice...Overall findings suggest that a combined speech and language approach, as represented in mMLG, yielded improved outcomes in language and comprehensibility for [the] client." --Abstract.

Overview

"The purpose of this study is to determine whether parents of children with ASD offer a similar quality of linguistic complexity to their children as parents of typically developing children and if they coordinate structural aspects of their speech in relation to the expressive language abilities of their child." --Abstract.

Overview

Communication development may be best represented in terms of the parent-child dyad, reflecting the cyclical nature of parent-child communication. The construct of "parental mind-mindedness" examines the parent-child dyad to describe parent sensitivity to and verbalization about a child's mental state. This research sought to elucidate differences in parental mind-mindedness within family, between siblings, and according to the clarity of child communication. --Abstract.

Overview "The current study explored the role of overheard speech on first-and second-person pronoun mastery in children with ASD. Seventy-four caregivers of children with ASD (aged 2;2-5;11) participated in an online caregiver survey to measure overheard speech and pronoun mastery. Results suggested higher access to overheard speech was associated with greater mastery of the pronouns me, my, you, and your. Logistic regressions confirmed the role of overheard speech for the pronouns me, my, and you....

Scope and Content Note From the Series: The series contains Master's theses from 1943 to present. The theses consist of either a production book and a media component or solely a production book. The production books were originally submitted as physical bound copies, but were later submitted digitally. The physical production books are stored offsite and the digital production books are stored in the College's preservation repository.The media components consist of U-matic tapes, VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays and...

Overview "Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social communication. Features of this impairment, such as difficulties initiating peer interactions, perspective taking, and interpreting social nuance, can make it difficult for individuals with ASD to build and maintain meaningful interpersonal relationships. [This study proposes] that the foundational skill of interpreting the interpersonal relationships of others may also be impaired and contribute to this difficulty."...

Overview

"Visual scene displays (VSDs) incorporate personally relevant photographs arranged on a communication device to support conversation by people with chronic aphasia. This study employed a multiple baseline design to explore the effects of teaching a VSD on storytelling by a person with moderate aphasia (PWA) with concomitant impairments." --Abstract.

Overview "Children with a dual diagnosis of hearing loss and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may benefit from receiving a different receptive language modality than the modality they use for expressive language, though it is often challenging to determine and implement an optimal mode of communication.. This study was completed to better understand (1) the receptive and expressive communication modalities reported for children with a dual diagnosis, (2) the appropriateness of these communication...

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This research examined how foreground and background colors of visual symbols influenced how long children took to find a target. Thirty nondisabled preschoolers played a computer game in which they searched for target fruit/vegetable symbols presented in

Overview

This study investigated the social impressions formed by younger and older healthy adults when listening to discourse samples produced by speakers with and without [Parkinson's Disease.]--Abstract.