Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR
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J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. · Nov 2019
ReviewNeurocognitive Recovery of Sentence Processing in Aphasia.
Purpose Reorganization of language networks in aphasia takes advantage of the facts that (a) the brain is an organ of plasticity, with neuronal changes occurring throughout the life span, including following brain damage; (b) plasticity is highly experience dependent; and (c) as with any learning system, language reorganization involves a synergistic interplay between organism-intrinsic (i.e., cognitive and brain) and organism-extrinsic (i.e., environmental) variables. A major goal for clinical treatment of aphasia is to be able to prescribe treatment and predict its outcome based on the neurocognitive deficit profiles of individual patients. This review article summarizes the results of research examining the neurocognitive effects of psycholinguistically based treatment (i.e., Treatment of Underlying Forms; Thompson & Shapiro, 2005) for sentence processing impairments in individuals with chronic agrammatic aphasia resulting from stroke and primary progressive aphasia and addresses both behavioral and brain variables related to successful treatment outcomes. ⋯ Patients also show treatment-induced shifts toward normal-like online sentence processing routines (based on eye movement data) and changes in neural recruitment patterns (based on functional neuroimaging), with posttreatment activation of regions overlapping with those within sentence processing and dorsal attention networks engaged by neurotypical adults performing the same task. These findings provide compelling evidence that treatment focused on principles of neuroplasticity promotes neurocognitive recovery in chronic agrammatic aphasia. Presentation Videohttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.10257587.
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J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. · Nov 2019
Comparative StudyEfficacy of Conversation Training Therapy for Patients With Benign Vocal Fold Lesions and Muscle Tension Dysphonia Compared to Historical Matched Control Patients.
Purpose Conversation training therapy (CTT) is the 1st voice therapy approach to eliminate the traditional therapeutic hierarchy and use patient-driven conversation as the sole therapeutic stimulus. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the efficacy of CTT compared to standard-of-care voice therapy approaches for the treatment of patients with voice disorders. Method A prospective study of CTT treatment outcomes in adults with dysphonia due to primary muscle tension dysphonia or benign vocal fold lesions compared to age, gender, and diagnosis historical matched control (HMC) patients was used. ⋯ Significant improvements in the CTT group were observed for cepstral peak prominence in a vowel, fundamental frequency, Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia in a vowel and connected speech, vocal intensity, average airflow in speech in a reading passage, number of breaths and duration of reading passage, and auditory-perceptual measurement of overall voice severity. Conclusions Results support the hypothesis that training voice techniques in the context of spontaneous conversational speech improves patient perception of voice handicap and acoustic, aerodynamic, and auditory-perceptual voice outcomes both immediately following treatment and at long-term follow-up. CTT participants also demonstrated significantly larger decreases in VHI-10 compared to HMC participants who received standard-of-care, nonconversational, hierarchical-based voice therapy.
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J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. · Aug 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialImproving Reading Comprehension in the Primary Grades: Mediated Effects of a Language-Focused Classroom Intervention.
Purpose This article includes results from a multistate randomized controlled trial designed to investigate the impacts of a language-focused classroom intervention on primary grade students' proximal language skills and distal reading comprehension skills. Method The sample included 938 children from 160 classrooms in 4 geographic regions in the United States; each classroom was randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditions (2 variations of a language-focused intervention) or business-as-usual control. For this study, the 2 experimental conditions were collapsed, as they represented minor differences in the language-focused intervention. ⋯ In all 3 grades, instruction impacted reading comprehension via the mediation of vocabulary, with sizable effects (1.89-2.26); no other indirect pathways were significant. Conclusions This study provides evidence that a language-focused intervention can positively impact students' performance on language measures that are closely aligned with the intervention, with indirect, large effects on distal reading comprehension measures. Theoretically, this study provides causally interpretable support for the language bases of reading comprehension.
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J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. · Jun 2019
Working Memory Profiles of Children With Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, or Both.
Purpose Compared to children with typical development, children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both often demonstrate working memory deficits. It is unclear how pervasive the deficits are or whether the deficits align with diagnostic category. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different working memory profiles would emerge on a comprehensive battery of central executive, phonological, visuospatial, and binding working memory tasks and whether these profiles were associated with group membership. ⋯ Children from each disability group and children from the typically developing group were present in each class. Discussion Findings highlight the importance of knowing an individual child's working memory profile because working memory profiles are not synonymous with learning disabilities diagnosis. Thus, working memory assessments could contribute important information about children's cognitive function over and above typical psychoeducational measures.
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J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. · Nov 2018
The Dimensionality of Oral Language in Kindergarten Spanish-English Dual Language Learners.
The purpose of this study was to examine the latent dimensionality of language in dual language learners (DLLs) who spoke Spanish as their native language and were learning English as their second language. ⋯ These results indicate that a general language ability may underlie development in both Spanish and English. In contrast to a unidimensional structure found for monolingual English-speaking kindergarteners, oral language appears to be multidimensional in Spanish-English DLL kindergarteners, but multidimensionality is reflected in Spanish, not English.