Master of Arts, Miami University, 2021, Speech Pathology and Audiology

Thousands of technological apps have emerged in the past decade. Little research has been done to examine how apps are used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), their effectiveness, and feelings regarding their use. SLPs must consider current research as a principle of evidenced-based practice when integrating technology into speech and language service delivery. The current study investigates SLPs pattern of app use and feelings towards their use in a school setting. This study aims to uncover correlations between app use and these feelings, as well as considerations made by SLPs prior to implementing apps in their sessions. A survey was distributed to school-based SLPs in Ohio, yielding 69 valid responses. Results showed 77% of SLPs reported using apps in their treatment sessions. SLPs reported generally positive feelings regarding the use of apps. SLPs considered factors such as age, cognitive ability, and disorder of the students with whom they are using apps. For the SLPs who reported not using apps, the most common reasons were personal preference and price. Results of this study carry clinical implications for evidence-based practice as the age of technology continues to develop. These results warrant future research on the efficacy and effectiveness of apps in school settings.

Committee: Arnold Olszewski Ph.D., CCC-SLP (Advisor); Amber Franklin Ph.D., CCC-SLP (Committee Member); Gerard Poll Ph.D., CCC-SLP (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, Communication Sciences

Purpose: The primary aims of this study were to examine narrative skills in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) compared to children with speech sound disorder with and without language impairment (SSD+LI, SSD-only). Method: Participants were preschool-aged children with diagnosed CAS, SSD-only, and SSD+LI. Diagnoses were confirmed by a certified speech-language pathologist with standardized speech and language testing. Participants completed narrative retell task with the Fox and Bear story. Performance in narrative microstructure, macrostructure and comprehension were compared with analysis of variance between the three groups. Results: Participants with CAS told narratives that contained fewer story sequence items, and limited vocabulary. Analysis revealed slight differences in expressive language skills between participants with CAS and SSD+LI. Conclusions: Children with CAS experience deficits in later literacy predictors. Intervention for children with CAS should focus expressive language skills, in addition to speech sound production.

Committee: Lewis Barbara PhD (Committee Chair); Mental Rebecca CCC-SLP, PhD. (Committee Member); Short Elizabeth PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Language; Literacy; Speech Therapy

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2023, Speech Pathology and Audiology

Joint attention provides children with important opportunities for language learning. To engage in JA children must be able to visually attend to their parents and an object. Children with autism tend to struggle with visual attention. Deaf parents of deaf children have been shown to be more adept at facilitating visual attention in their deaf children. Both autistic and deaf children have unique visual attention needs. To determine if Deaf parents are also more adept at facilitating visual attention in autistic children, we sought to identify the strategies used by Deaf parents of autistic children. We obtained videos of our participants playing with their children and identified 15 strategies which occurred in a single modality or bimodally. We found that most frequently deaf parents were using gaze shifts, linguistic utterances, touching their child's body, and object manipulation to gain and maintain their attention. Additionally, they use the same adaptations Deaf parents use in child directed sign, as well as the unique adaptation of shifting their eye gaze toward their own signs. Eventually, we hope to determine the efficacy of these strategies and if they carry over to hearing and heterogeneous dyads.

Committee: Aaron Shield (Advisor); Amy Lieberman (Committee Member); Donna Scarborough (Committee Member); Trace Poll (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Communication Sciences

The purpose of this study was to identify and assess a group of ambiguous language stimuli suitable for use in assessments and therapeutic interventions for students who with Language Disorder (LD). Existing standardized tests allow practitioners to assess whether students can identify when certain kinds of ambiguous language are being used. The current study seeks to create a new test, the Ambiguous Language Test (ALT), which will dive deeper into the study of ambiguous language, to investigate the degree to which students can interpret and understand ambiguity. In order to develop these materials, first a baseline understanding of how students who are typically developing (TD) can perform on the task of defining ambiguous words and phrases must be established. The study was therefore conducted in three phases. Phase One tested a large number of stimuli across the areas of multiple meaning words, metaphors, oxymorons, and paradoxes with students who are TD between the ages of 12 and 14 years. Stimuli were analyzed using the difficulty index, discrimination index, and Cronbach's alpha in order to develop a fuller understanding of words and phrases that would be suitable for more in-depth testing. In Phase Two, a narrower list of words and phrases, selected on the basis of results from Phase One, were presented to a different group of students who are TD, with a wider age range (9-15 years). These stimuli were analyzed using the difficulty index and discrimination index to verify results from Phase One and in order for the ALT to progress to the third and final development phase. Finally, Phase Three draws on the results of both earlier phases to present the test with a full range of difficulty levels, according to the difficulty index, to a group of students with LD, ages 9-15 and a group of students who are TD, ages 9-15. These test results were analyzed again using the difficulty index and discrimination index to verify previous test results. Finally, the Mann W (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Angela Ciccia Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Barbara Lewis Ph.D. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Short Ph.D. (Committee Member); Vera Tobin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, East Asian Languages and Literatures

In an exploration of bringing concepts from other disciplines to Chinese as a foreign language, a comparison between individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and foreign language learners help us analyze and better understand how foreign language learners can successfully be socialized into a target language and culture. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders V (2013), a diagnosis of ASD includes persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts; furthermore, individuals with ASD are often described as visual leaners and are claimed to exhibit relative strength in visual processing. ASD is both a linguistic and social disorder. Ochs et al. (2004) declare that the struggles and successes of those individuals who are diagnosed with autism make apparent what is most essential to participation in human society. Exploring the struggles of individuals diagnosed with ASD can shed light on the parallels of learning to comprehend social signals in a foreign culture. Through this comparison, foreign language pedagogues can better understand what foreign language learners struggle with to communicate in Chinese culture. This in turn better informs all Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) curriculum. Vision is the strongest sense in the human body and plays a key role in all mental manipulations, yet visualization strategies for gaining language and behavior learning in students of CFL are rare in the CFL field. This dissertation takes initial steps toward quantitative statistic analyses in data collection in order to better understand the effectiveness of different pedagogical CFL videos. The study investigated pedagogical language learning videos from two different textbook series by surveying the self-reported language and behavior learning and tested language learning of first-year CFL students at a large midwestern university. Data was collected online via surveys. The fi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Galal Walker (Advisor); Allison Ellawadi (Committee Member); Charles Quinn (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Curriculum Development; Education; Foreign Language; Language; Modern Language; Neurosciences; Pedagogy

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2007, Speech Pathology and Audiology

The purpose of this study was to obtain information on parent perspectives on the speech and language services their children with autism receive in schools. Fifty-five parents of children with autism spectrum disorder completed a survey containing items concerning parental feelings regarding therapy options, IEP meetings, and speech-language pathologist (SLP) behaviors. Results suggested parents are satisfied with the speech and language services provided to their children with autism in five public school districts in southeastern Ohio. Results indicated significant correlation between parent feelings toward therapy and attitudes toward SLP attributes as well as between parent feelings toward IEP meetings and attitudes toward SLP attributes. Limitations of the study, future research, and clinical implications are discussed.

Committee: Laura Kelly (Advisor) Subjects: Health Sciences, Speech Pathology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Communication Disorders/Speech-Language Pathology

The purpose of this case study was to explore the conversational repair responses of 3 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to communication breakdowns that occurred naturally in conversations. Adolescents with ASD are at the threshold of entry into independent living in society where their ability to manage communication breakdowns is essential. Of equal interest to the purposes of this study was describing how individuals with ASD were similar or different from each other in their sources of communication breakdowns, types of clarification requests, and repair responses used. The study used an embedded multiple-case study design to identify the sources of breakdowns, types of clarification requests made by the listener, and the types of repair responses used. Language samples were elicited across two conversational contexts (an Adult-Client context and a Peer with ASD context). A compiled coding system based on coding systems in the existing literature, pilot study findings, and those that emerged from the data was used to analyze the language samples. Results showed that all 3 participants exhibited and repaired breakdowns. Although similarities existed between the 3 participants in the types of repair responses used, they differed from each other in the variety of repair strategies used to resolve the breakdowns. Furthermore, the use of a compiled coding system enabled the identification of a pattern of strengths and weaknesses for each participant when faced with a communication breakdown. Investigations of linguistic pragmatics in autism are needed because they will generate information essential in designing effective assessments, interventions and support. The findings of this study are discussed with respect to prior theory and research, and its implications for the clinical and research fields.

Committee: Lynne Hewitt Ph.D. (Advisor); Elizabeth Burroughs Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lauren Katz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark Earley Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mary Hare Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

The purpose of the current investigation is to analyze extant research examining the impact of play therapy on the development of language skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As rates of ASD diagnoses continue to increase, families and educators are faced with making critical decisions regarding the selection and implementation of evidence-based practices or therapies, including play-based interventions, to support the developing child as early as 18 months of age. Research on rare diseases and low incidence disabilities are difficult and lack available evidence as the conditions and responses to interventions vary by person. The following study investigates whether play-based interventions should be considered as effective means of increasing language development in young children with ASD. In addition, this study was conducted to identify specific moderators or variables associated with the effectiveness of play-based interventions. In order to conduct the present investigation, a meta-analysis was conducted, based on a collection of available research. Using data extraction software, the researcher conducted statistical analyses, Tau-U and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), to measure effect sizes across the available data and further assess whether specific moderators play a role in the usefulness or success of play therapy to promote language development in young children with ASD. The results revealed that play-based interventions are considered an effective intervention to support language development in young children with ASD and identified frequency, duration, and type of play-based intervention as significant predictors of language development for young children with ASD who participate in play-based interventions. Such findings offer insights for educators, families, clinicians, and others who are make decisions regarding the recommendation, selection, and implementation of play-based therapy as an intervention to increase lan (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Committee Chair); Patrick Spearman PhD (Committee Member); Carrie Jackson EdD (Committee Member); Matthew Erickson EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Special Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2021, Speech Pathology and Audiology

To better understand the language development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who use American Sign Language (ASL), this study seeks to 1) determine the cognitive and linguistic profile of native signing children with ASD who produce palm reversal (PR) errors, and 2) compare the cognitive and linguistic profile of children who produce PR errors to that of children who produce pronoun reversal errors. Seventeen children with ASD (ages 5-14) and a control group of 24 Deaf children who are typically-developing (ages 6-13) participated in an assessment battery to gather information regarding nonverbal intelligence, linguistic abilities, and social skills. The participants then participated in a fingerspelling task, which was analyzed for accuracy of palm orientation. Five of the 17 participants with ASD consistently produced PR errors on fingerspelled letters; however, this high frequency of PR errors did not extend to lexical or numeric signs and was not reflected in the more naturalistic communication of the participants. The participants with ASD who produced PR errors had statistically significantly lower receptive language abilities compared to the participants with ASD who did not produce palm reversal errors. More research is needed to determine if PR errors are analogous to pronoun reversal errors.

Committee: Aaron Shield (Advisor); Jennifer Green (Committee Member); Megan Gross (Committee Member) Subjects: Language; Speech Therapy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Most research related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been conducted on males, and less is known regarding the female presentation. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore symptoms of autism symptomatology in girls with high-functioning ASD (HF-ASD) when compared to girls who are typically developing (TD) when matched on chronological age, nonverbal, verbal, and overall IQ. In the first study, Mann-Whitney U tests and logistic regression analyses were used to examine differences and predictors of ASD across subdomain scores and individual items in the area of socialization, communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors, as well as overall total scores on gold standard measures of symptoms of ASD. Significant differences were found on subdomain and overall total scores on the SCQ and ADOS-2. When individual items were examined, several items were significant for predicting a clinical diagnosis of ASD, however several were not. Subdomain and overall total scores on the SCQ and ADOS-2 were significant for predicting a clinical diagnosis of ASD. However, only subdomain and overall total scores on the ADOS-2 were significant predictor variables. When individual items were examined, several items were significant for predicting a clinical diagnosis of ASD, however several were not. Results indicate that when assessing girls for ASD, clinicians should interpret scores earned on frequently used assessment measures with caution. In the second study, Mann Whitney U tests were used to examine differences in girls with HF-ASD to girls who are TD on gold standard measures related to structural language and social communication. Girls with HF-ASD demonstrated no significant differences on CELF-5 Index scores. However, significant differences were found on the Understanding Spoken Paragraphs subtest. No significant differences were found when examining performance between the Receptive or Expressive Indexes within each group. Girls with HF-ASD when co (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nancy Creaghead Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Allison Breit Smith Ph.D. (Committee Member); Amie Duncan (Committee Member); Sandra Grether Ph.D. (Committee Member); Noah Silbert Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Communication Sciences

Purpose: Although most children with speech sound disorders are able to remediate their errors, some individuals have errors that persist into late childhood and even adulthood. These individuals are considered to have residual speech sound errors (RSSEs), and they are at risk for social, academic, and employment difficulties. Most individuals with RSSEs have participated in years of traditional speech therapy with little success. Visual biofeedback provides an alternative method of treatment that may be what finally allows these individuals to remediate their errors. This study utilized Opti-Speech, a visual biofeedback software that uses electromagnetic articulography to create a threedimensional rendering of the tongue that moves in real time with the participant's own tongue, for the remediation of RSSEs. Method: This single subject multiple baseline design included 18 participants (11 males and 7 females) who ranged from 8 -22 years of age. Speech sounds addressed in treatment included "r", "s", "sh", "ch", and "l". Participants attended an average of three baseline sessions and ten treatment sessions that utilized Opti-Speech visual biofeedback, and returned for a two-month follow-up. Results: Perceptual measures were based on generalization to untreated words. Eleven of the 18 participants were able to make clinically significant improvements for their target sound by their final treatment session, and 11 of 16 participants who returned for follow19 up measures had made clinically significant improvement on their target sound. When final session perceptual ratings were compared to follow-up, eight of the nine participants who presented with clinically significant improvement for their target sound were able to maintain their progress or presented with significantly improved speech sound skills. However, generalization was not seen at the sentence level. When considered as a group, clinically significant improvements were seen overal (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennell Vick Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Barbara Lewis Ph.D. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Short Ph.D. (Committee Member); Gregory Lee Ph.D. (Committee Member); Parrill Fey Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Speech-Language Science (Health Sciences and Professions)

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine whether memory limitations in children with developing language disorder (DLD) were specific to verbal memory or whether impairment extends into the nonverbal memory domain. We hypothesized that these children would exhibit verbal memory deficits (as established in the literature), while their nonverbal memory abilities would be spared. Method: Sixteen children with DLD and 16 typically developing (TD) children who were matched on age, gender and nonverbal IQ (9-11 years), completed two simple memory and two complex memory span tasks that were structurally and functionally similar in the verbal and nonverbal domains, with the only difference between the domains being the nature of the representations that the children were asked to handle. The nonverbal memory tasks were carefully designed to be as nonverbal as possible, discouraging verbal labels and minimizing verbal mediation. Results: Results revealed that children in the DLD group attained significantly poorer performance on both verbal simple and complex memory tasks, however, performed comparably to the matched TD group on both nonverbal simple and complex memory tasks. Within group performance revealed significantly better performance on simple memory compared to complex memory tasks across presentation domains, and better performance on verbal memory compared to nonverbal memory across memory domains. Conclusions: Results were interpreted to suggest that children with DLD have a specific verbal memory deficit, regardless whether they were asked to only store information (simple memory), or engage in concurrent information storage and processing (complex memory). Unlike verbal memory, both groups found it challenging to coordinate storing and processing nonverbal information when verbal labelling and verbal mediation was minimized, and novelty of the stimuli/items used were preserved throughout the task.

Committee: James Montgomery PhD, ccc-slp (Advisor) Subjects: Neurosciences; Speech Therapy

BS, Kent State University, 2017, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

Assistive technology devices are being utilized more frequently in classrooms for accommodations and modifications, especially for students with disabilities. These devices can be high technology devices containing batteries, or low technology devices which may be inexpensive and do not require batteries to be used. Throughout the thesis, the use of high technology devices and low technology devices is specified to introduce the idea of integrating devices into general education and special education classrooms. Furthermore, resources are provided regarding learning more about specific devices, how to further implement technology in the classroom, and catalogs to buy devices.

Committee: Robert Cimera Dr. (Advisor); Sloane Burgess Dr. (Committee Member); Annette Kratcoski Dr. (Committee Member); Natasha Levinson Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Psychology

Executive function (EF) plays a crucial role in cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional development. Children with atypical development may show signs of EF impairment as these foundational components first emerge. Although reliable measurement of preschool EF is critical to understanding a child's development, it can be challenging to assess EF due to the complicated directions and task structure of some of the traditional EF measures. Child-friendly executive function measures tend to assess a limited array of EF skills (i.e., inhibit, initiate, & shift). The development of a measure that assesses a broader array of EF skills (i.e., emotional control, working memory, or planning/organizing) appears critical for better understanding of individual and group differences in EF in the preschool period. Individual differences in EF skills were examined in 25 children with typical development and 50 children with developmental disabilities (Specific Language Impairment (SLI): n=15; Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): n=18; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): n=17). Results from the Shape School (Espy, 1997) scored in a traditional, narrow manner (i.e. inhibit, initiate, & shift) were compared to an independently developed, broad-based supplemental scoring system (i.e., impulsivity, joint attention, engagement, compliance, working memory, emotional control, and plan/organize). While both the traditional and the supplemental scoring methods were able to differentiate between typically and atypically developing preschoolers, only the broader scoring method was able to identify unique patterns among children with SLI, ADHD, and ASD. EF differences changed as a function of severity of disability, with minor impairment found in children with SLI, moderate impairment found in children with ADHD, and major impairment found in children with ASD. Clinical and educational implications will be discussed.

Committee: Elizabeth Short Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2016, Speech Pathology and Audiology

Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (SCD) is a new communication disorder introduced in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). In light of this disorder, clinicians need to differentiate children whose social interaction difficulties are due to pragmatic language or to social skill deficits. One tool for differentiating these deficits is norm-referenced parent rating scales. This exploratory study examined agreement among pragmatic language and social skill/problem behavior rating scales. Participants included 17 parents of children with clinical diagnoses and 34 parents of typical children. As expected, the clinical group performed below the typical group. Two typical children had social skill/problem behavior deficits. Ratings on similar items across the two scales were examined. Significant differences were found for 9/19 item-pairs. Parents were sensitive to slight differences in item wording and context specificity. Rating scales may assist in delineating underlying cause(s) of interaction deficits. This project was funded by a Miami University Graduate School Thesis Award.

Committee: Geralyn Timler (Advisor); Sarah Watt (Committee Member); Emily Hasselbeck (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2016, Speech Language Pathology

Word learning requires the ability to integrate auditory information (e.g., an object's name—the label) and visual information (e.g., an object itself—the referent). Previous research has shown that children with typical development preferentially weight auditory information when auditory-visual stimuli is placed into conflict and that this weighting is advantageous for word learning. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are described as visual learners; however, no comparable test has been administered to children with ASD. The purpose of this study is to determine whether children with ASD follow the same pattern of information processing as children who are typically developing. In the present study, four children with ASD and four typically-developing (TD) children matched to the children with ASD on the basis of receptive language abilities were tested on a computerized preferential looking task. During the computerized task, the children were presented with auditory-visual stimuli on a television screen and trained to look for an auditory-visual “prize” that appeared in specific locations corresponding with the stimulus presented. The children's eye gazes were recorded and coded frame-by-frame. Given the evidence of children with ASD's relative strength in visual processing, it was predicted that the children with ASD would differ from their receptive-vocabulary mates and give greater weight to the visual component of auditory-visual stimuli. Study findings did not support this prediction; the majority of participants with typical development weighted visual information, while participants with ASD demonstrated no stimulus preference as a group. These findings call into question the commonly held assumption that all children with ASD are “visual learners.” Additionally, the cognitive and linguistic profiles of the participants with ASD (determined via scores on standardized assessments of cognition and language) revealed that stronger cognitive (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Allison F. Bean Ellawadi PhD, CCC-SLP (Advisor); Rebecca J. McCauley PhD, CCC-SLP (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Psychology; Speech Therapy

Master of Arts in Speech Pathology and Audiology, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Sciences and Health Professions

The purpose of this study was to document the communicative behaviors exhibited by sibling dyads comprised of one typically developing child (TDC) and their sibling diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (SibA). Six families (five families were Caucasian and one family was African American) participated in one 45-minute home observation, one semi-structured interview with the TDCs, and one semi-structured interview with the parents. Sibling dyads varied across birth order, ages, and genders. Observations revealed that the sibling dyads produced a variety of communicative behaviors. Observational data were coded to provide information on the types of communicative behaviors produced and their frequency of occurrence. Data were analyzed to reveal the types of communicative behaviors that both the TDCs and the SibAs produced, as well as the types of communicative behaviors produced only by the TDCs and only by the SibAs. The TDCs provided relevant answers to semi-structured interview questions about their interactions with their SibAs, and the parents provided relevant answers to semi-structured interview questions about their children's relationships. Four out of the six families provided strong evidence that suggested the possibility of sibling-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. Two out of the six families provided some evidence that suggested the possibility of sibling-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Committee: Monica Gordon Pershey Ed.D. (Advisor); Myrita Wilhite Au.D., CCC-A (Committee Member); Colleen Walsh Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Educational Studies

This study investigated the use of a matrix training approach to program for the occurrence of generative receptive language in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other language delays. Matrix training is a teaching procedure that can establish recombinative generalization, thus leading to generative language. A matrix of action/object instructions were designed for each of the four participants. They were systematically taught specific action/object instructions, as outlined in the matrix, and probes were conducted to determine if the other action/object instructions were occurring without any teaching. Although recombinative generalization was partial, approximately 30–50% of the learned action/object instructions occurred through direct teaching while the other 50–70% occurred without direct teaching. Matrix training provided a systematic teaching layout that programmed for the occurrence of generative language.

Committee: Diane Sainato PhD (Advisor); Ralph Gardner PhD (Committee Member); Sheila Alber-Morgan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2015, Cognitive Linguistics

Schizophrenia is a widely-studied, yet still fairly mysterious and debilitating mental disorder. The complexity and variety of symptoms, behaviors, and etiological hypotheses of schizophrenia make it tough to study formally, because it can often appear to have no form at all. Between patients and even within patients, schizophrenia can manifest in a range of different ways. Schizophrenia study lies at the center of both cognition and language, for as a formal thought disorder, schizophrenia often affects the way sufferers speak in distinct ways. The current study looks to resolve and connect various disparate theories of schizophrenia on three levels: neurophysiological, behavioral, and linguistic. Ideally, a connection (or at least a series of connections) can be made that will offer an explanation of linguistic behaviors of schizophrenia that incorporates evidence and theories at the levels of neural architecture and chemistry, behavior and cognition, and ultimately speech. Finally, we will move into a specific application of what we have learned by proposing a hypothetical experiment that could potentially advance the field of cognitive linguistics, specifically focusing on the process of salience attribution.

Committee: Mark Turner PhD (Committee Chair); Todd Oakley PhD (Committee Member); Fey Parrill PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Linguistics

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2015, Psychology

This study was designed to examine the role that education and experience play in diagnostic accuracy. Four groups of raters, differing in education (low or high) and experience (low or high), were asked to categorize 93 children with typical development, specific language impairment (SLI), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) based on their performance during a standardized five-minute free play assessment. After reviewing the child's play, raters categorized the child into general developmental category (typical or atypical) and specific diagnostic category (typical, SLI, ADHD, ASD) and then ranked their confidence in each categorization. Education and experience did not contribute to accuracy generally or specifically. However, raters classified children with typical development more accurately than children with ASD, ADHD, or SLI, and they also had more success identifying ASD than ADHD or SLI. Overall, raters were more confident when the classification was correct than when it was incorrect.

Committee: Elizabeth Short (Advisor); Robert Greene (Committee Member); Brooke Macnamara (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology