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

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, EDU Teaching and Learning

Chinese, as a world language, has gained popularity in the U.S., specifically within K-12 education. However, the inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners is rarely addressed in Chinese world language education research. This dissertation explores the experiences of a group of fourth-grade CLD learners in a Mandarin Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program situated in a Midwest urban magnet school. The school serves a minority population (majority Black and Hispanic) of about 83%. Specifically, the study explores the language ideologies of parents, teachers, and CLD students regarding their experiences and learning opportunities in the program from a raciolinguistic perspective. This study employed a case study method (Stake, 2005). Data collected included classroom observations, field notes, a collection of classroom artifacts, and recordings of two fourth-grade Mandarin classes for nine months, semi-structured interviews with five CLD parents, the Mandarin teacher, and 18 CLD students during the 2021-2022 school year. To further uncover how learners' linguistic and racial identities have influenced their language ideologies and learning experiences, three focal students were chosen. Drawing on discourse analysis perspectives (Martin & White, 2005; Wortham, 2006; Wortham & Reyes, 2015), key events across data sources were identified, transcribed, and coded to conceptualize CLD learners' diverse experiences in this program. The findings uncovered a diverse range of ideologies held by parents, teachers, and students towards the Mandarin program. Parents generally supported early language learning opportunities in elementary school. However, their conceptualization of Mandarin learning as a diversity-learning opportunity also varied. The Mandarin teacher's ideologies exhibited a mix of plurilingual and monolingual discourses. Her practices shaped the opportunities of her CLD students in various ways. While she demonstrated a c (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Peter Sayer (Advisor); Francis Troyan (Advisor); Leslie Moore (Committee Member); Zhongfeng Tian (Committee Member) Subjects: Bilingual Education; Education; Elementary Education; Foreign Language; Sociolinguistics

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Historically, information pertaining to children's functional communication abilities has been limited, resulting in an incomplete understanding about how children use their communication to participate in everyday life (i.e., communicative participation). This limited knowledge base is exacerbated in the multilingual context where even less in known about children who have communication impairments such as multilingual children with speech sound disorders (SSDs). In addition, the information that is presently available in this area is primarily centered on children who speak majority languages or language pairings, creating a narrow lens for understanding children's communicative participation and related aspects of functional communication in context. With this challenge in mind, the opportunity to explore the functional communication of children who represent an understudied linguistic population such as Jamaican Creole (JC)-English-speaking preschoolers, offers novel insights for understanding how children with and without communication impairments use their communication skills to be included across various settings. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social restrictions, children are now experiencing acute changing environmental circumstances that confound what is known about their functional communication and how they are using communication to participate with others. To address these challenges this dissertation describes the communicative participation and related functional communication abilities of bilingual Jamaican children prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in five related studies. Study 1 and Study 2 examined the construct validity of the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS) for use in the Jamaican context, offering psychometric evidence for using the FOCUS to measure communicative participation for a range of JC-English-speaking preschoolers. With the initial validity evidence available fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karla Washington Ph.D. (Committee Member); Shauna Acquavita Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Vannest Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rena Sorensen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Barbara Cunningham Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Without specific knowledge of multilingual language profiles, children speaking more than one language are at-risk for misdiagnosis of developmental language disorders by clinicians who do not share the same linguistic profile as the client. To combat such misdiagnosis, this dissertation presents three related studies. Study 1 was a scoping review completed to establish the current state of the field regarding practices amongst speech-language pathologists (SLPs) providing services to multilingual children. This review revealed the need for alternate scoring methods, appropriate for children who speak more than one language. SLPs should consider use of adult models to understand typical cross-linguistic interactions between languages to inform decisions of difference and disorder. In response to findings from Study 1, Study 2 described the creation and evaluation of an alternate method of scoring a standardized assessment to inform decisions about development of multilingual children's English. One-hundred and seventy-six children (4-to-5 years) and 33 adults (24-to-51 years), from the same linguistic community, speaking Jamaican Creole (JC) and English participated. Content analysis of adult responses was used to identify linguistic patterns and alternate scoring procedures were developed based on these patterns. Results showed JC-English speaking children differed significantly from the standardized sample when original and alternate scoring methods were used. Patterns of over-diagnosis using traditional scoring were demonstrated and adapted scoring procedures using adult models offered an ecologically-valid approach to establishing developmental status of JC-English speaking children. Study 3 examined cross-linguistic interactions of JC-English speaking children in a different context relevant to assessing multilingual children's language skills. In this study, cross-linguistic interactions in the spontaneous productions of JC-English speaking preschoolers were (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karla Washington Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Nancy Creaghead Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kathryn Crowe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Vannest Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Speech Language Pathology

Effortless verbal communication is not a possibility for all people (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013). In fact, nearly 1.3% of the population do not have the ability to use their natural speech to be effective in their daily communication (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013). Effective communication is a critical component of learning and development, social engagement, education, personal care, employment (Beukelman & Mirenda, 2013), and personal safety. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices are prescribed to enable these individuals to more effectively meet their communication needs. Multiple factors influence how frequently individuals use their device to communicate. One such factor is parental involvement. Parental involvement in AAC intervention is an important factor for facilitating successful inclusion (York & Tundidor, 1995). Parents need to be included in every stage of AAC intervention for people who use AAC (PWUAAC). Including parents in goal-setting, intervention strategies, device programming, etc. is especially important in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) households (Gona et al., 2014). However, parents have reported several frustrations with components of AAC devices. These feelings include the belief that device vocabulary is impractical at home, a lack of skills to program the device, and a lack of support in accommodating the device to the next step in their child's communication development (McCord & Soto, 2004). Studies demonstrate that in instances where CLD parents do not know how to use the device, they continue to spend a significant amount of time attempting to get the child to use the device (Stuart & Parette, 2002). Given these factors that influence parents' feelings about their child's device, and the subsequent impact they have on mitigating device abandonment, it is important to see firstly, if device manufacturers are considering dialect and multilingualism in their products, and secondly, how accessible these acco (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Allison Bean PhD (Advisor); Amy Miller Sonntag SLP-D (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 0, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies

This study focused on household funds of knowledge or "historically accumulated bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household functioning and well-being" (Gonzalez, Andrade, Civil, & Moll, 2001). A Funds of Knowledge approach provides both a methodological and theoretical lens for educators, and those who work to prepare them, to understand both themselves and their students in more complex ways. Participants included five culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse students and their families. The study setting was a middle- and working-class first-ring suburb in the Midwestern United States. Data collection included visits to home, church, and Sunday school settings; observations in Language Arts classroom settings; and informal conversations and ethnographic semi-structured interviews with students, parents, and teachers. Data sources included interview transcripts; fieldnotes and reflections on those fieldnotes; and data collected from each student's school cumulative folder. I coded parent and child interview and home visit data to create a multifaceted portrait of each household. Additionally, I analyzed the classroom observations, cumulative folder data, and teacher interviews to gain a sense of the child as a student; the type of language and literacy instruction taking place in the school; and the perspectives of the teacher toward working with a diverse population. Findings reveal that households possess a breadth and variety of resources, skills, bodies of knowledge, and strengths. This study explores ways of integrating these local resources with academic content. Further, these findings provide compelling counterevidence to deficit discourses by demonstrating that these households possess valuable knowledge and experiences.This study focused on household funds of knowledge or "historically accumulated bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household functioning and well-being" (Gonzalez, Andrade, Civil, & Moll, 2001). A Funds of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Susan Watts Taffe Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jory Brass Ph.D. (Committee Member); Connie Kendall Ph.D. (Committee Member); Chester Laine Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education