1/3. When instructions fail. The effects of stimulus control training on brain injury survivors' attending and reporting during hearing screenings.Bedside hearing screenings are routinely conducted by speech and language pathologists for brain injury survivors during rehabilitation. Cognitive deficits resulting from brain injury, however, may interfere with obtaining estimates of auditory thresholds. Poor comprehension or attention deficits often compromise patient abilities to follow procedural instructions. This article describes the effects of jointly applying behavioral methods and psychophysical methods to improve two severely brain-injured survivors' attending and reporting on auditory test stimuli presentation. Treatment consisted of stimulus control training that involved differentially reinforcing responding in the presence and absence of an auditory test tone. Subsequent hearing screenings were conducted with novel auditory test tones and a common titration procedure. Results showed that prior stimulus control training improved attending and reporting such that hearing screenings were conducted and estimates of auditory thresholds were obtained.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = speech (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. dementia of frontal lobe type.A significant proportion of patients with presenile dementia due to primary cerebral atrophy do not have Alzheimer's disease. One form of non-Alzheimer dementia may be designated as dementia of frontal lobe type (DFT), on the basis of a characteristic neuropsychological picture suggestive of frontal lobe disorder, confirmed by findings on single photon emission tomography. The case histories of seven patients exemplify the disorder: a presentation of social misconduct and personality change, unconcern and disinhibition, in the presence of physical well-being and few neurological signs. Assessment revealed economic and concrete speech with verbal stereotypes, variable memory impairment, and marked abnormalities on tasks sensitive to frontal lobe function. Visuo-spatial disorder was invariably absent. Comparisons of DFT and Alzheimer patients revealed qualitative differences in clinical presentation, neurological signs, profile of psychological disability, electroencephalography, single photon emission tomography and demography. DFT, which may represent forms of Pick's disease, may be more common than is often recognised.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = speech (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. Modification of breath patterning to increase naturalness of a mildly dysarthric speaker.The case of a 20-year-old, closed head injured male with mild dysarthria is presented. The decreased naturalness of speech was related to short, uniform breath groups, inhalation during every pause, and restricted fundamental frequency. Data related to patterns of breathing and pausing during samples of connected speech along with measures of respiratory control are presented in order to illustrate techniques for assessing and training speech naturalness.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3keywords = speech (Clic here for more details about this article) |