Research Grant for New Investigators Recipients 1998–2009

2009

Awarded $5,000 each

Crystal Engineer
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The University of Texas at Dallas
"Animal Model of  Speech Sound Processing Autism"

John Heilmann
Assistant Professor, East Carolina University
"Identification of Potential General Outcome Measures for Children’s Oral Language"

Soren Lowell
Assistant Professor. Syracuse University
"Hyoid and Laryngeal Position in Individuals With and Without Muscle Tension Dysphonia"

2008

Awarded $5,000 each

Nina C. Capone
Associate Professor, Seton Hall University
"The Effects of Gesture Cues on Object Word Learning by Children with Language Impairments"

 

Gayle L. DeDe
Assistant Professor, University of Arizona
"On-Line Sentence Comprehension in Aphasia: Is Reading Different than Listening?"

 

Ciara Leydon
Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College
"Construction and Characterization of a Novel Model of Vocal Fold Mucosa"
ASHA Special Interest Division 3 Grant Supplement

 

Rita R. Patel
Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky
"High Speed Digital Analysis of Vocal Fold Vibration in Children"
ASHA Special Interest Division 3 Grant Supplement

 

Yasmeen Faroqi Shah
Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park
"Retreival of Action Names in Aphasia: An Investigation of the Embodied Cognition Framework"
ASHA Special Interest Division 2 Grant Supplement

 

Yana Yunosova
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
"Visual Feedback Systems in Speech Rehabilitation: Defining Vocal Tract Targets"

 

2007

Awarded $5,000 each

Lauren Calandruccio
Syracruse University
"Spectral-Weighting Strategies for Nonsense Syllables Using a Correlational Method"

 

 

Jeffrey J. DiGiovanni
Ohio University
"The Relevant Contribution of Low and High Frequency Decrements in Increment Detection Related to Spectral Enhancement"

 

 

Tanya Eadie
University of Washington
"The Effect of Training on the Reliability of Naive Listeners' Auditory-Perceptual Judgements of Dysphonia"
ASHA Special Interest Division 3 Grant Supplement

 

 

Seunghee Ha
University of Tennessee
"Determining Treatment Benefit for Patients with Cleft Palate Who Use Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) for Velopharyngeal Impairment"

 

 

Tiffany P. Hogan
University of Arizona
"An Experimental Evaluation of Competing Phonological Awareness Treatments"

 

 

Torrey M. J. Loucks
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
"Identifying Cerebral Biomarkers for Persistency or Recovery from Stuttering in Children Using Structural and Functional Neuroimaging"

 

 

Kimberly McDowell
Wichita State University
"Lexical Properties, Speech Sound Accuracy, and Vocabulary: Potential Impact on Phonological Awareness"

 

 

Valeriy Shafiro
Rush University Medical Center
"Perception of Environmental Sounds and Speech in Patients with Cochlear Implants"

 

 

2006

Awarded $5,000 each

Yael Arbel
University of South Florida
"Evaluating the Impaired Error Processing of Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)"

 

 

Susan G. Butler
Wake Forest University
"Effects of Age, Gender, Bolus Condition, Viscosity, and Volume on Pharyngeal and Upper Esophageal Sphincter Pressure and Temporal Manometric Measurements During Swallowing"
ASHA Special Interest Division 13 Grant Supplement

 

Lisa A. Edmonds
The University of Florida
"The Effect of Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) on Crosslinguistic Generalization of Sentence Production Abilities in Spanish/English Bilingual Aphasia"

 

 

Jennifer Kleinow
La Salle University
"Linguistic and Autonomic Effects on Speech Motor Control in Adults Who Stutter"
ASHA Special Interest Division 4 Grant Supplement

 

 

Carolyn Richie
Butler University
"The Contribution of Visual Cues of Vowels and Consonants to Speech Recognition by Listeners with Hearing Loss"

 

 

Jayanthi Sasisekaran
Purdue University
"Rhyme and Segment Encoding Skills in Children who Stutter"

Mahalakshmi Sivasankar
Purdue University
"Voice Response to Dehydration Challenge in Individuals at Risk for Voice Disorders"
ASHA Special Interest Division 3 Grant Supplement

 

 

2005

Awarded $5,000 each

Cathy Binger
University of New Mexico
"The Effects of a Caregiver Instructional Program on the Multi-Symbol Utterances of Latino Children Who Require Augmentative and Alternative Communication"

 

Ellen M. Hickey
Dalhousie University
"Effects of Training Caregivers to Communicate with Nursing Home Residents with Aphasia"
ASHA Special Interest Division 2 Grant Supplement

 

Cathy A. Pelletier
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
"The Role of Chemesthesis on Peak Lingual Swallowing Pressure in Healthy Female Adults"

 

 

Dennis T. Ries
Ohio University
"Stochastic Resonance in the Presence of Narrowband Noise"

 

 

Helen M. Sharp
Western Michigan University
"Practice Patterns of Speech-Language Pathologists and Physicians Related to Treatment of Dysphagia Among Patients with Advanced Dementia"
ASHA Special Interest Division 13 Grant Supplement

 

Kristie A. Spencer
University of Washington
"Disruptions to Response Maintenance and Switching in Adults with Parkinson's Disease"

 

 

2004

Awarded $5,000 each

Tim Brackenbury
Bowling Green State University
"Linguistic and Social Pragmatic Influences on the Onset of Fast Mapping"

 

 

Laura DeThorne
Pennsylvania State University
"Examining the Influence of Child Language Ability on Adult-Child Interactions within a Twin Study"

 

 

Rachael Frush Holt
Indiana University
"A Test of Audiovisual Integration for Children with Sensory Aids"

 

 

 

Linda Jarmulowicz
The University of Memphis
"Factors Related to Third Grader's Stress Production in Derived English Words"

 

 

2003

Awarded $5,000 each

Angela Hein Ciccia,
Case Western Reserve University
"An fMRI Study of Social Cognition in Typically-Developing Adolescents"

Angela Ciccia is a clinical research associate at Case Western Reserve University and is affiliated with the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center. Her long-term objective is to use a multidisciplinary approach that includes speech-language pathology, neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, physics, engineering, and computer science to create a model of social cognition that would ultimately improve service delivery to individuals living with social cognitive impairments, including traumatic brain injury and autism.

Dr. Ciccia's specific aim in this study is to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to further identify the neural network that supports social cognition in typically developing adolescents. Dynamic video social stimuli that represent social events in adolescent daily life will be used to investigate the ability to make judgments about the social communication skills of others. Neural structures activated for this task will be compared to the neural network activated for other language-based judgments, such as grammar judgments.

Mark DeRuiter,
Wayne State University
"Discrimination Sensitivity to Formant Transition Lengthening in Full- and Silent-Center Vowel Syllables: Language-Impaired Children"

Mark DeRuiter is an assistant professor at Wayne State University. To gain a clearer understanding of the effects of temporal masking on the speech perception of children with language impairment, this study will evaluate discrimination performance across two different vowel conditions (full vs. silent center), three vowel identities, and two different consonants.

Results will be compared with data from typically developing children. Dr. DeRuiter notes that this research is important because it provides information about temporal processing and temporal masking in children with language impairment within the context of speech itself.

Jean K. Gordon
University of Iowa
"Associations and Dissociations: An Investigation of Lexical Access Deficits in the Spontaneous Speech of Agrammatic and Anomic Aphasia"
ASHA Special Interest Division 2 Grant Supplement

Jean Gordon is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa. Her main research interest is investigation of lexical access deficits in aphasia, both in comprehension and expression. Dr. Gordon's present study investigates agrammatic/anomic dissociations in samples of spontaneous speech gathered from a large group of aphasic subjects, to provide additional behavioral support for the division of labor model and to generate hypotheses about strategies for intervention. Characteristic patterns are thought to arise, at least in part, from impaired access to syntactically loaded words in agrammatism, and impaired access to semantically loaded words in anomia. In a correctionist model of sentence production, the syntax/semantic dissociation is derived not from a modular organization of the lexicon into such categories as content and function words, but from a differential and continuous weighting of syntactic and semantic cues for different words.

This has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of underlying deficits in agrammatic and anomic patients. In the event of impaired access to one source of information, it may be possible to stimulate a greater reliance on other cues. Alternatively, identifying the disrupted source of information can guide deficit-oriented therapy approaches in strengthening weakened connections.

Allison M. Haskill
Augustana College
"Phonological and Morphosyntactic Production Skills in Subgroups of Children With Language Impairments"

Allison Haskill, an assistant professor at Augustana College, is interested in several aspects of language development and disorders, including the interaction of morphosyntax and phonology in preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). This study explores in detail the impact of phonology on morphosyntactic production for preschool children in three different subgroups of SLI. It examines the role of final consonant cluster production on the production of finite, nonfinite, phonologically simple, and phonologically complex morphemes, using spontaneous language sample data in conjunction with final consonant production data.

Information gained through this study may improve goal selection for both phonology and language, and lead to improved intervention strategies for children with language impairments.

Jennifer Kent-Walsh
University of Central Florida
"The Effects of a Caregiver Instructional Program on the Communicative Turns of Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication During Book Reading Activities"

Jennifer Kent-Walsh is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. Her primary research interests concern the education of children who use augmentative and alternative communication ( AAC) and interventions to enhance communicative competence, language acquisition, and literacy acquisition for children with complex communication needs.

Her study will address critical voids in the speech-language pathology literature on preliteracy interventions that are designed to improve language and literacy foundations and outcomes for children who use AAC, involve caregivers as key intervention agents, and be sensitive to culturally mediated communication style differences. In two caregiver instructional programs (one for Caucasian and one for African-American caregivers), caregivers will be taught to implement culturally appropriate and evidence-based interaction strategies to increase children's communicative participation in book-reading activities.

Xiao-Ming Sun
University of South Alabama
"Compensation of Negative Middle-Ear Pressure in Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions"

Xiao-Ming Sun is an assistant professor at the University of South Alabama. Measurement of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), low-intensity acoustic signals generated in the cochlea in response to two stimulus tones and recordable in the ear canal, has become a tool for evaluating the functional status of the cochlea, but does not provide accurate estimates in patients with naturally occurring negative middle ear pressure (MEP).

This study will systematically investigate DPOAE measurements in human ears with normal MEP, simulated negative MEP, naturally occurring negative MEP, and compensated normal MEP. The long-term goal of the study is application of the compensation technique in clinical otoacoustic emissions measurements on patients with negative MEP.

2002

Awarded $5,000 each

Mikyong Kim, University of Rhode Island
"Verb Production in Fluent Aphasia: A Study of Lexical Organization"
ASHA Special Interest Division 2 Grant Supplement

Mikyong Kim is an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island. Her primary research interests are to test hypotheses related to the lexical representation of predicate class words, such as verbs, in normal and disordered language systems, and to design a model-based verb production treatment study.

This study will compare fluent aphasic patients' verb production in single-word naming and sentence-level (narrative) tasks to determine if there is a verb deficit and if verb production differs in the two contexts. Then Dr. Kim will examine the effect of a verb's syntactic and semantic type (based on its number of arguments and semantic complexity) on verb retrieval. This can lead to more accurate assessment of the language impairments of fluent aphasic patients, and development of an effective, theory-driven treatment approach for such a verb production deficit.

Wayne M. King, Ohio State University
"Signal Detection and Estimation in Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions: A Comparison of Multitaper and Single Taper Direct Spectral Estimates"

Wayne M. King is an assistant professor at Ohio State University, where the main focus of his research is statistical signal processing in nonbehavioral audiologic measures (otoacoustic emissions and evoked potentials). The specific aim of this study is to compare multitaper regression and power spectrum estimates against traditional direct spectral estimates (current clinical practice) analytically, in simulated data, and in DPOAE data collected from human subjects. Dr. King anticipates that this study will lead to improved algorithms for detection and estimation of DPOAEs, and help raise awareness of the importance of signal processing in DPOAE detection and estimation.

Swathi Kiran, University of Texas at Austin
"Effect of a Semantic Based Naming Treatment on Cross Linguistic Generalization in Bilingual Patients With Aphasia"

Swathi Kiran is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. This experiment investigates the effects of a semantic-based naming treatment on cross-linguistic generalization in four English/Spanish-speaking individuals with aphasia. Dr. Kiran predicts that strengthening access to semantic representations will facilitate access to their phonological representations in both languages, irrespective of the language trained, and that strengthening access to semantic representations will improve naming of semantically related items within trained and untrained languages. On a theoretical level, results of this study may affect existing models of bilingual representation in terms of the influence of treatment on representation and access of words; on a clinical level, these results may have implications for best practices for treatment of bilingual aphasia.

Shelley Lund, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
"The Effect of Recasting and Augmented Input on the Development of Grammar in Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication"

Shelley Lund is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Many individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) have difficulty acquiring syntax and morphology, perhaps because they receive input predominantly through the spoken/auditory channel, but generate output via their AAC systems. This study examines the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to facilitate grammar development of children who use AAC systems. The intervention program adapts two approaches that have been effective in facilitating grammar development in children with language impairments (modeling and recasting) to include augmented input, a method of using AAC to provide language models. Dr. Lund notes that improved understanding of the language acquisition process for AAC users will lead to better intervention for individuals with severe communication disabilities.

Susan Thibeault, University of Utah
"Gene Expression Profile Analysis of Reinke's Edema"

Susan Thibeault is an assistant professor at the University of Utah. Her current research interests include studying the genetic and molecular mechanisms of vocal fold vibration, investigation of gene expression profiles in benign laryngeal disease, and examination of vocal fold repair mechanisms through the use of molecular biological techniques. This study examines the genotypic and phenotypic expression of a benign laryngeal disease, Reinke's edema, by using cDNA microarray technology profile data (genotype) combined with videostroboscopy of mucosal wave stiffness (phenotype). A genotype/phenotype association correlated to altered mucosal wave may help explain the wide range of stiffness or pliability among lesions seen clinically and may aid in determining enhanced diagnostic and management strategies. Elucidation of potential candidate genes for future research in genetically altering tissue stiffness will contribute significantly to vocal fold biology, speech-language pathology, and laryngology.

2001

Awarded $5,000 each

Michael Blomgren, University of Utah
"A Neuromagnetic Assessment of Speech Motor Planning in Stutterers and Nonstutterers"
ASHA Special Interest Division 2 Grant Supplement

As an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, Dr. Blomgren will investigate the underlying neorological speech planning processes in stutterers. In this study, he will use magnetic source imaging (MSI) to examine cerebral laterality for language and cortical activation during the pre-motor planning phase of speech production in people who stutter. Recently, the primary imaging device used to assess the activation of speech related brain areas in stutterers has been positon emission tomography (PET), the relatively slow temporal resolution of which makes it difficult to determine which specific areas of the brain are involved in the "pure" speech production task. The advantage of MSI, a combination of magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive functional brain imaging technique, and anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is that it provides a detailed picture of the relationship between behavior, brain structure, and brain function. Dr. Blomgren will examine cerebral laterality using a word-matching task presented auditorily. Motor planning for speech production will be tested by subtracting underlying speech movements from other ongoing processes.

Previous experiments using an electroencephalogram (EEG) have suggested that stutterers and non-stutterers process language tasks in different hemispheres of the brain, and further that there is a significant left hemisphere advantage for language, an observation borne out by later experiments using an MEG.

Sandra P. Laing, University of Alabama
"The Relationship Between Inhibition and Verbal Working Memory in Children With Specific Language Impairment"

Sandra P. Laing is Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama's Department of Communicative Disorders. In this study, she will be examining inhibition processes and the relationship between verbal working memory and inhibition in school-age children with language impairment. Inhibition is said to be responsible for the suppression of inaccurate responses so that the working memory (WM) system, which simultaneously stores and processes information, may select a correct response from competing responses available. Previous studies have demonstrated the presence of working memory capacity limitations in children with language impairments, but to date no study has examined inhibition processes in this population. Dr. Laing intends to determine whether language impaired children demonstrate poorer performance on measures of inhibition than their non-language impaired peers. She will use a nonsense word repetition task (Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998) to measure working memory and two measures of inhibition, including a Go-no go task and a lexical decision task. In the Go-no go task, children are asked to respond to a single tap produced by the examiner, and to do nothing when presented with two taps. Children with ADD, for example, perform better at this task under medication. Previous findings of the lexical decision task show that less skilled comprehenders are less able to suppress contextually irrelevant information-for instance, a word that doesn't match the meaning of the sentence in which it is used-than more skilled comprehenders. Dr. Laing suspects that an inability to inhibit competing stimuli may adversely affect the functioning of working memory independent of storage limitations in children with language impairments.

Margaret T. Lehman-Blake, Syracuse University
"Inferencing in Adults With and Without Right Hemisphere Brain Damage Examined Through Thinking Out Loud Protocols"

As an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, Dr. Lehman-Blake will investigate the effect that right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) has on inferencing and comprehension in adults. Inferencing is a critical part of normal comprehension and is defined as the pieces of information gleaned from a text that are not explicitly stated. They are needed to link sentences, to determine events that were not specified, and to embellish ideas. Inferencing by young adults has has been studied in some depth, but less is known about inferencing in older adults. Early work suggests that adults with RHD appear to comprehend explicitly stated information well, with striking difficulties in interpreting implicit ideas. A recent study by Dr. Lehman-Blake indicates, however, that adults with RHD are capable of making inferences that are strongly supported within the text. Dr. Lehman-Blake will use thinking out loud protocols (TOL), in which the comprehender reports what he or she is thinking while reading a story, to gain insight into a comprehender's thought processes during reading. TOL protocols can be used to determine if comprehenders select the most appropriate inference for a given context and whether an inference is maintained throughout a text or altered based on new information. The results of the study will be used to expand the current understanding of deficits and preserved abilities in adults with right hemisphere brain damage. They will also be used to assess thinking-out-loud tasks for the identification of RHD inferencing deficits in a clinical setting.

Michele L. Morrisette, Indiana University
"Cyclicity in Lexical Diffusion"

Dr. Morrisette is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences at Indiana University. In this project she will be investigating the role of cyclicity in lexically diffuse sound change for children with functional phonological delays. Two studies will be used. The first will provide a descriptive characterization of the course of lexical diffusion for children with a typical substitution pattern of coronal for velar stops. The second will be an experimental investigation of cyclicity, with the purpose of determining whether treatment in-phase versus out-of-phase results in differential generalization learning for children with phonological delays. Lexically diffuse sound change means that some words are produced accurately for a given target sound, yet other words remain inaccurate. In Dr. Morrisete's pilot study, lexical diffusion was observed to occur in a cyclic fashion. Change first occurred in high frequency then low frequency words, over the course of two complete cycles. The findings of the current investigation will have important implications for theories of lexical diffusion and for clinical diagnosis of typical and atypical sound systems and subsequent treatment programs.

Benjamin R. Munson, University of Minnesota
"Lexical Access and Motor Planning by Children With Phonological Impairments"

Benjamin R. Munson is Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota where he is investigating the possible psycholinguistic bases of phonological impairments (PI) in children. Children with phonological impairments produce speech sounds less accurately than their same-age peers in the absence of any organic pathology, such as hearing impairment, neuromotor disorders or psychopathology. If children with severe PI do not receive appropriate assessment and treatment, they have problems developing age-appropriate spoken language and often have difficulty learning to read and write. Recent research suggests that phonological development is closely related to vocabulary (lexical) development and that children make phonological distinctions based on patterns they encounter in the words they learn. As children acquire more vocabulary, and access these words more efficiently (lexical access), they begin to develop robust abstract representations for sublexical units, such as phonemes. Dr. Munson will use two word task experiments for the study. In the first, children with phonological impairments will repeat real words following a varying delay interval. In the second, same age children will repeat real words and nonsense words. The data from these experiments will be used to determine the extent to which children with PI have impairments in lexical access and motor planning, and the extent to which these difficulties relate to impairments in speech motor control. The investigation aims to increase current understanding of the way in which phonological development is related to the development of the lexicon and lexical access. Additionally, results will provide a basis for the preliminary assessment of clinical services for children with PI that would incorporate treatment activities focused on facilitating lexical access.

Geralyn R. Timler, University of Rhode Island
"Profiling Social Communication Skills During Conflict Tasks in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment"

Geralyn R. Timler, Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island, will examine the social communication skills of children with specific language impairment (SLI) during peer conflict tasks. School-age children with SLI tend to have difficulty entering peer groups, collaborating effectively with others and successfully negotiating to obtain desired goals. Dr. Timler will administer two different experiments designed to evaluate the goals and strategies that children use to resolve peer conflict vignettes adapted from the literature of child psychology. The participants will be divided into two groups, one group composed of children with SLI, the other composed of children without language impairment who are at the same stage of linguistic development, or verbal mental age, as the SLI group. Data from the language-age matched peers will be compared with the data from the children with SLI to examine the effects of reduced linguistic skills on the ability to handle peer conflict resolution. Similar performance across the two groups would suggest that linguistic skills rather than social cognitive skills play the most important role in how children use language to resolve peer conflicts. Alternatively, differences in performance between the two groups may suggest that children with SLI have underlying social knowledge deficits that also contribute to the social skills deficits often observed in this population of children. The results of this study will add to the understanding of the relationship between language and social skills and will contribute to a more complete description of the effect that specific language impairment has on behavior. Ultimately, the results will be used to provide a basis for the diagnosis and treatment of social skills deficits in school-age children with SLI.

2000

Awarded $5,000 each

Kirrie J. Ballard, Indiana University
"Interarticulator Coordination During Speech and Its Amenability to Treatment in Acquired Apraxia of Speech"

As Assistant Professor at Indiana University, Dr. Ballard will investigate the spatiotemporal articulatory coordination impairment in apraxia of speech (AOS) and the effect treatment has upon on it. Treatment will be focused on improving coordination of voice onset (VOT) with labial and lingual gestures in production of voiced and voiceless consonants at the syllable level. The relationships between movements of multiple articulators during speech in younger and older adults will be analyzed and apraxic performance pre and post treatment will be compared.

Katherine C. Hustad, Pennsylvania State University
"Implementing Speech Supplementation Strategies in Speakers With Dysarthria: Effect on Intelligibility"

Katherine Hustad is Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University's Department of Communication Disorders. There she will be exploring the effectiveness of speech supplementation strategies for enhancing the intelligibility of speakers with chronic dysarthria. She will examine the extent to which alphabet cues, topic cues, and the simultaneous use of both improve intelligibility for this population. Should clinical implementation of these strategies prove effective, they can be used in any clinical setting free from use of special assistive technology or augmentative communication techniques.

Bonnie W. Johnson, University of Illinois
"Verb Learning: Effects of Input Frequency and Morphology Manipulation"

Dr. Bonnie Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow in the departments of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Special Education at the University of Illinois. Her research there aims to evaluate two verb intervention approaches for children with specific language impairment (SLI). These contrasting approaches include introducing the verb with only one verb ending versus introducing it with a variety of endings. Dr. Johnson's long-term goal is to increase the knowledge base regarding vocabulary development in children with SLI, thus impacting future speech/language therapy models for these children.

Laura M. Justice, University of Virginia
"Efficacy of Book Reading Intervention for Influencing Phonological Sensitivity in Children With Specific Language Impairment"

Laura Justice is Assistant Professor in the Communication Disorders program at the University of Virginia where she is exploring the efficacy of home-based parent-implemented book reading intervention for stimulating phonological sensitivity in young children with specific language impairment (SLI). One rhyming task and one phoneme identification task will be incorporated into each reading session conducted by the participant's parents. Due to the well known causal link between phonological sensitivity and reading development, Dr. Justice hopes to pinpoint a successful means for enhancing phonological sensitivity in children with SLI through means of the parent, not solely the educator and/or speech-language pathologist.

Holly L. Storkel, Indiana University
"Word Learning in Children With Functional Phonological Delays"

Holly Storkel is a NIH Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Speech Research Laboratory at Indiana University. There, she is researching the processes underlying learning of the phonological forms of new words in preschool children with functional phonological delays. It is proposed that two levels of representation, lexical and sublexical, are used in acquiring language. Dr. Storkel's intent is to determine which level of representation is utilized by children with phonological delays, as they learn new words. She hopes to identify differences in lexical development as compared to children with normal language acquisition. Research findings will lead to new treatment options to facilitate sound change and foster language development in areas related to phonological development.

Kris Tjaden, University of Buffalo
"The Relationship Between Speaking Rate, Measures of Speech Production, and Perception of Speech Severity in Parkinson's Disease"

As Assistant Professor at the University of Buffalo, Kris Tjaden will investigate the relationship between voluntary modifications of speaking rate, acoustic measures of production, and the perceptual impressions of severity for those with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Speech samples embedded in a carrier phrase will be obtained in order to analyze rate, production, and perception. Dr. Tjaden hopes to provide insight for using rate manipulation as a therapy technique in patients with Dysarthria, commonly associated with PD. In addition, Tjaden's results will provide further information about speech production deficit in dysarthria and its effect on speech severity.

Teresa Ukrainetz, University of Wyoming, "The Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist in the Schools: Asking Practitioners"

Teresa Ukrainetz, Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming, will examine the role of the school speech-language pathologist (SLP), specifically how the SLP provides educational services "uniquely and satisfyingly." This includes the perception of the current SLP role in the schools and factors that influence this role. Data will be collected through interviews, observation, and document examination. As recurrent events, common perceptions, and key issues are identified, categories will be developed. Upon analysis of the collected data, themes will emerge and will be utilized to develop a theory of how an SLP fits into school structure and dynamics. Dr. Ukrainetz hopes to use her research to develop recommendations that can be utilized for service delivery by school SLPs.

1999

Awarded $5,000 Each

Jodi A. Cook, Arizona State University
"Speech Recognition in Hearing Impaired Listeners Using Objective and Subjective Measures"

Jodi A. Cook is Clinical Assistant Professor at Arizona State University in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. Her professional interests lie in clinical audiology, specifically applications of hearing aid technology. Her previous research experience is related to individuals with hearing impairment, as well as aspects of hearing aid signal processing. Other research interests include prescribing and fitting hearing aids, as well as verifying various outcome measures.

Dr. Cook intends to identify which objective test measures will be predictive of subjective response to hearing aids. Several speech tests will be administered in fluctuating background noise to experienced binaurally fitted hearing aids users, all of whom are adults with sensorineural hearing impairment. Results will be correlated with subjective benefit and reported on two different questionnaires. It is hypothesized that speech-in-modulated noise test results will be correlated with the subjective outcomes due to the incorporation of the listener's temporal processing ability. At this time no test batteries exist that are able to predict hearing aid outcomes prior to a hearing aid fitting because they do not challenge the listener's temporal processing. This study will utilize background steady state as well as modulated speech noise. Results have the potential of facilitating the rehabilitative process, by making it more time efficient and more precise for the hearing-impaired population.

Ruby L. Drew, Western Carolina University
"An Alternating Treatments Comparison of Two Semantic Treatments for Picture-Naming Deficits"

Ruby L. Drew is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Services at Western Carolina University. Her primary research interest focuses on utilizing cognitive neuropsychological models to guide treatment in aphasia using single-subject experimental design.

Dr. Drew's study will examine the differences in applying treatment for naming deficits in individuals with aphasia and picture-naming deficits. Past literature concerning naming deficits has consisted of case studies which are limited in experimental control. The theoretical basis for the naming deficit in treated subjects has frequently not been considered. Dr. Drew's study uses two alternate combinations of treatment approaches at the structural and semantic levels of processing. It is hypothesized that strengthening the connections at the structural and semantic level of processing will improve activation of the correct phonological targets. Error patterns will be analyzed to assess the effects of the training on the lexical system. Results will contribute to a more efficacious approach to effective planning of intervention and remediation for those with naming deficits due to aphasia.

Penny L. Mirrett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Speech and Oral/Craniofacial Characteristics of Young Males With Fragile X Syndrome"

Penny L. Mirrett is a speech-language pathologist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among her many research interests are speech and language characteristics in children with craniofacial disorders, as well as communication difficulties in young boys with Fragile X syndrome.

Dr. Mirrett's research intends to quantify and describe speech intelligibility, rate, prosody, and oral/craniofacial structure in young males with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Palatal height, palatal length versus pharyngeal depth, cranial base angle, facial height and mandibular plane will be measured for comparison to normative data on typically developing peers. This data will contribute to the "distinctive" nature of the speech profile described in males displaying FXS and will help clarify the presence or absence of a unique phenotype. Research to date has not explored these characteristics in young males. With FXS being the most common inherited cause of mental retardation, results would be beneficial in guiding future research, as well as intervention strategies for children diagnosed with this syndrome.

C. Melanie Schuele, Case Western Reserve University
"Relative Clauses: Production of Complex Syntax by Children With Specific Language Impairment"

Melanie C. Schuele is an instructor at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Communication Sciences. Her research interests include language acquisition in children with specific language impairment including grammatical skills, verbal-social skills, emergent literacy, phonological awareness, and early reading.

Dr. Schuele's study will explore the production of subject relative clauses, a type of embedded clause, in children with specific language impairment (SLI). To date there has been little documentation of the acquisition of embedded clauses, which are essential for understanding the course of language acquisition in children with SLI. Dr. Schuele's study aims to determine whether the grammatical error seen in the production of subject relative clauses in children with SLI is unique to the SLI population. Language data will be compared to a language-matched group and a chronological age-matched group. This research will also contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between subject relative clause production and other aspects of grammatical development.

Patricia G. Trautwein, House Ear Institute CARE Center
"Modification of the HINT-C for the Assessment of Children With Cochlear Implants"

Patricia Trautwein is a pediatric audiologist at the House Ear Institute CARE Center in Los Angeles. Her many research interests encompass the diagnosis and treatment of auditory neuropathy, cochlear implant design and performance measures, early identification of hearing loss, central auditory processing, and electrophysiology.

Dr. Trautwein's study will investigate the modification of the Hearing in Noise Test for Children (HINT-C) for the assessment of children with cochlear implants. Other current speech perception measures produce reliable estimates of performance, however, they are limited by floor and ceiling effects. The HINT-C test allows for direct comparison with normal hearing children and children with hearing loss. Currently, the test is an adaptive procedure, which requires that the test taker obtain perfect intelligibility. Dr. Trautwein will apply certain adaptive rules, which will allow children to miss a certain number of words and still be given credit for the sentence. By modifying the test to allow for those who typically cannot achieve perfect intelligibility, the comparison among adult and child implant users and among implant users and normal hearing children can be made. In addition, implementation of the HINT-C would aid researchers in implant design and development. It may also help clinicians in determining candidacy issues and fitting processing strategies as well as provide important information to teachers and therapists looking to enhance educational placement.

Richard I. Zraick, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
"The Use of Standardized Patients to Teach and Assess Clinical Skills of Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students Working With Geriatric Patients"

Richard I. Zraick is Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His research interests address vocal quality, including nasal voice quality, habitual pitch, and phonational frequency range.

Dr. Zraick will examine the use of standardized patients (SPs) to teach the clinical evaluation of communication impairment in geriatric patients. The communication impairment chosen for this study is aphasia. First, actors will be trained to portray aphasic patients. Second, SPs will be used to help teach clinical evaluation of aphasia. Finally, the effectiveness of this teaching methodology will be assessed. Two groups of first year graduate students enrolled in an aphasia course will receive instruction via a combination of didactic lecture and SP interaction or through didactic lecture only. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which is designed to assess clinical evaluation skills for aphasia, will be administered twice during the semester. Group performance results on the OSCE will be compared, and OSCE performance for each group will be compared to traditional pen and paper testing. Results obtained from this study will serve as a basis for systematic study of the evaluation of other acquired speech and language disorders in the geriatric population. In addition, if SPs are found to be an effective instructional methodology, then their use may be expanded to teach clinical evaluation of other speech, language, and hearing disorders of the geriatric population.

1998

Awarded $5,000 Each

Alice Eriks-Brophy, University of Ottawa
"Inclusion of Children with Hearing Impairment: Perceptions of Elementary and Secondary Classroom Teachers"

Alice Eriks-Brophy is Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech-language Pathology and Audiology at the University of Ottawa where she teaches courses on child language disorders and rehabilitation of children with hearing impairments. Some of her research interests include issues related to the integration of students with language disabilities into the regular classrooms as well as issues in bilingual and minority assessment, intervention, and education.

Dr. Eriks-Brophy's study will examine elementary and secondary classroom teachers' perceptions of the inclusive educational model for students with hearing impairment. It will also investigate their background and training in working with this population of children. In the past, emphasis in intervention has been focused on the individual student with hearing impairment. However, new research has documented that teacher expectations of student performance have a direct impact on the quantity and quality of teacher-student interaction in the classroom. In this study, teacher concerns, attitudes, and reactions, as well as roles of resource personnel within the collaborative model, and administrative support provided will be documented. Results of this study will be utilized to enrich the preservice training of teachers and language professionals. Recommendations will be distributed to classroom teachers, teachers of the hearing-impaired, and speech-language pathologists in order to enhance the quality of schooling and educational outcomes of children with hearing loss integrated into regular classroom settings.

Kathryn Garrett, Duquesne University
"The Impact of Graphic Contextual Information and Instruction on the Conversational Interactions of Persons with Severe Aphasia"

Kathryn Garrett is Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Duquesne University. She has more than 12 years of experience evaluating and treating persons with neurogenic communication disorders and/or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs. In addition, she has co-authored several articles and chapters concerning AAC and aphasia.

Dr. Garrett intends to investigate the impact of external communication strategies on the participation of communicators with aphasia in social interactions. Due to the difficulties aphasic individuals face with language expression, it is reported that tangible or graphic representations of conversation topics can facilitate nonspeakers ability to convey information. This study's purpose is to explore the ability, impact and generalization across partners and settings of persons with aphasia to use graphic context in conversations. Conversational behaviors of individuals with severe aphasia will be assessed across four conditions, two conversational tasks and two partners. Participants will also rate their own performance after each session. Outcomes of this study will provide clinical intervention strategies for improving conversation skills in aphasic communicators. In addition, it should indicate whether instructional treatment can effectively teach aphasic communicators to use graphic context to converse with familiar and novel partners.

Diane K. Ohala, University of Arizona
"Sonority and Medical Cluster Reduction in Speech-Language Impaired Children"

Diane K. Ohala is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders at the University of Arizona. Her primary research interest includes the phonological characteristics of speech-language impaired children.

Dr. Ohala's research will explore the consonant cluster reductions in word-medial positions and across word boundaries. Speech-language impaired children between ages 3 and 5 who exhibit articulation errors will be examined. Articulation inventories and hearing screenings will be administered, as well as two-word and phrase elicitation tasks. The purpose of this study is to expand current knowledge of cluster reduction patterns to include word-medial and word-boundary reduction data and to test the hypothesis that syllables resulting from cluster reductions comply to preferred syllable shapes. In addition, it may implicate word-stress as a possible factor affecting cluster reduction. Results of this study will provide more information on children's cluster reductions in positions other than word-initial and will supply a greater understanding of the phenomenon for treatment of persistent cluster reduction.

Kathleen Treole, East Carolina University
"Treatment Outcomes Measures in the Rehabilitation of Muscle Tension Dysphonia"

Kathleen Treole is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at East Carolina University. Her research interests include the study of voice and voice disorders. An additional research focus is on the developing singing voice, researching untrained, training, and trained classical singers.

Dr. Treole will examine the voices of 20 patients with Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) enrolled in voice therapy. Acoustic and aerodynamic parameters of their voices will be obtained before and after treatment. It is thought that aerodynamic measures, such as vital capacity, maximum phonation time of sustained phonation, and mean airflow rate during reading, counting, and monologue will be more sensitive to voice therapy. Results of this study will help establish exactly what changes occur in the voice or larynx of individuals with MTD during and as a result of intervention. In addition, it will document the parameter most sensitive to change. Finally, the study will determine whether a standard treatment program will have a measurable effect on remediating certain voice qualities of MTD.