| 1. |
- Socher, Michaela, 1989-
(författare)
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Reasons for Language : Language and Analogical Reasoning Ability in Children with Cochlear Implants and Children with Typical Hearing
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The usage-based model of language acquisition assumes that language is learned by its usage. General cognitive processes, especially analogical reasoning ability, are assumed to lead to the understanding of words and grammatical structures. It has been argued that the time of language or auditory deprivation children with cochlear implants (CIs) often experience early in life, might affect both their language and their cognitive abilities. Children with CIs have disadvantages in terms of language acquisition as they start receiving language input later than peers with typical hearing (TH), and the perceptual quality of the input is reduced. However, they might have additional difficulties in language acquisition if their analogical reasoning ability is negatively influenced by the language or auditory deprivation early in life. The results found in this thesis show that the language delays often seen in children with CIs are not explained by differences in analogical reasoning ability. Results indicate that analogical reasoning ability has a limited influence on language acquisition for the tested age-group. However, language abilities affect the performance on analogical reasoning tasks which are either verbal or can be supported by verbal strategies. This needs to be taken into consideration when comparing analogical reasoning ability of children with CI sand children with TH. In addition, the results from this thesis indicate that the structure of the mental lexicon is associated with the communication skills of children with CIs. The structure of the mental lexicon is most likely influenced by the amount of language input a child receives. The main implication of the results is that emphasis should be put on reducing the duration of language deprivation and to improve the quality of the language input for children with CIs.
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| 2. |
- Strömbergsson, Sofia, 1977-
(författare)
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The /k/s, the /t/s, and the inbetweens : Novel approaches to examining the perceptual consequences of misarticulated speech
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis comprises investigations of the perceptual consequences of children’s misarticulated speech – as perceived by clinicians, by everyday listeners, and by the children themselves. By inviting methods from other areas to the study of speech disorders, this work demonstrates some successful cases of cross-fertilization. The population in focus is children with a phonological disorder (PD), who misarticulate /t/ and /k/. A theoretical assumption underlying this work is that errors in speech production are often paralleled in perception, e.g. that children base their decision on whether a speech sound is a /t/ or a /k/ on other acoustic-phonetic criteria than those employed by proficient language users. This assumption, together with an aim at stimulating self-monitoring in these children, motivated two of the included studies. Through these studies, new insights into children’s perception of their own speech were achieved – insights entailing both clinical and psycholinguistic implications. For example, the finding that children with PD generally recognize themselves as the speaker in recordings of their own utterances lends support to the use of recordings in therapy, to attract children’s attention to their own speech production. Furthermore, through the introduction of a novel method for automatic correction of children’s speech errors, these findings were extended with the observation that children with PD tend to evaluate misarticulated utterances as correct when just having produced them, and to perceive inaccuracies better when time has passed. Another theme in this thesis is the gradual nature of speech perception related to phonological categories, and a concern that perceptual sensitivity is obscured in descriptions based solely on discrete categorical labels. This concern is substantiated by the finding that listeners rate “substitutions” of [t] for /k/ as less /t/-like than correct productions of [t] for intended /t/. Finally, a novel method of registering listener reactions during the continuous playback of misarticulated speech is introduced, demonstrating a viable approach to exploring how different speech errors influence intelligibility and/or acceptability. By integrating such information in the prioritizing of therapeutic targets, intervention may be better directed at those patterns that cause the most problems for the child in his or her everyday life.
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| 3. |
- Ferreira, Janna, 1973-
(författare)
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Sounds of silence : Phonological awareness and written language in children with and without speech
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att undersöka fonologisk medvetenhet och skriftspråklig förmåga hos talande eller icke-talande barn, med lässvårigheter eller motoriska talsvårigheter. De huvudsakliga fynden i denna avhandling var: (1) För barn med lässvårigheter som befinner sig på en tidig nivå i sin läsutveckling bör intervention kring läs- och skrivförmågor fokusera på barnets svaghet snarare än styrkan vad gäller ordavkodning. (2) För barn med lässvårigheter hade såväl fonologisk som ortografisk intervention effekt på förmågan att läsa och skriva. Fonologisk intervention hade effekt även på barnen med lägst läsförmåga. (3) För barn med motoriska talsvårigheter var det signifikanta skillnader mellan de bästa och de sämsta läsarna vad gäller auditiv fonemdiskrimination och generella språkförmågor. (4) För barn med motoriska talsvårigheter hade fonologisk intervention effekt på förmågan att stava ord men inte på läsförmågan. (5) I en analys av nonsensord undersöktes stavfel hos en flicka med anartri. Fler stavfel återfanns i längre ord och en högre grad av fel återfanns i mitten av ord, vilket tyder på svårigheter med arbetsminne och med att segmentera ord.Fynden diskuteras i relation till fonologisk informationsbearbetning inom fyra delområden: fonologiska representationer, fonologisk produktion, fonologiskt minne och fonologisk medvetenhet. Talets betydelse för läs- och skrivförmågan är komplex. Även ett gravt avvikande tal kan ge fonologisk återkoppling och för barn med anartri tycks bristen på tal spela en viss roll.Denna avhandling har ett handikappvetenskapligt synsätt och bidrar till den övergripande förståelsen av fonologisk medvetenhet och skriftspråklig förmåga. Flera av fynden är direkt applicerbara i kliniska sammanhang.
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| 4. |
- Kraft, Sanna, 1984-
(författare)
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Tala fram texten : När barn med läs- och skrivsvårigheter skriver med tal-till-text
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Effective writing is a crucial skill that requires not only the mastery of various sub-processes but also deliberate orchestration of those sub-processes within the constraints of limited working- memory capacity. In practice, some of those sub-processes, such as transcription (spelling and handwriting), need to be automatised to free up capacity for other processes. Unfortunately, children who struggle with spelling rarely manage to fully automatise transcription. This often has a negative impact both on their writing process and on the final text. One solution to this problem could be to let them use speech-to-text (STT), because this would allow them to avoid spelling by using their voice to create text.This thesis consists of four articles where I investigate whether, and if so how, composing by means of STT can facilitate writing for children (aged 10–13) with reading and writing difficul- ties. I analyse both the composition processes and the final texts. I make comparisons both with text production by means of a keyboard and with a reference group of children without difficul- ties. In addition, I explore whether and how successful use of STT correlates with individual linguistic and cognitive skills. Overall, my results suggest that STT can indeed facilitate some aspects of writing for children with reading and writing difficulties, though not emphatically. In my studies, the use of STT does not yield any improvements at group level in processes such as meaning-related revisions or in assessed text quality. However, one important caveat is that the participants received only a very short introduction to STT. In general, the ability to use a new tool effectively is of course likely to improve with instruction and practice. Importantly, my results do suggest that instruction in STT use in conjunction with writing processes such as revising is crucial for successful usage of this tool.
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| 5. |
- Olsson, Camilla, 1971-
(författare)
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Functional communication and non-linguistic factors in severe aphasia : Associations and assessment
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Severe post-stroke aphasia implies impairment of the ability to speak and write, and impairments of language comprehension, severely restricting the communication of the individual. Intervention in severe aphasia often entails aiming for access to meaningful social interaction and participation, in spite of the linguistic impairments. This demands knowledge about the non-linguistic factors that influence the communication of people with severe aphasia (PWSA). Assessment in PWSA is a challenge due to the linguistic impairments, thus the issue of measurement is intertwined with the study of non-linguistic factors in PWSA.The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the relationship between functional communication, language and three non-linguistic factors; executive function, self-efficacy, and resilience, in PWSA. An additional aim was to investigate the assessment of these non-linguistic factors in PWSA.Studies I and IV were quantitative studies investigating the relations of functional communication and language to executive function (study I), and to self-efficacy and resilience (study IV). In study II, two methods for measuring executive functions were compared; standardised neuropsychological screening and informant reports. Study III was a qualitative study exploring the informants’ understanding of the questionnaire used for informant reports in study II.The results demonstrated that there is large variation in executive function and functional communication in PWSA, especially in the nonverbal subgroup. In this subgroup, there is an association between executive functions and functional communication. It is important that PWSA are given thorough evaluation of their abilities, and that the impact of executive dysfunction is considered in communication intervention.Focusing on assessment of executive functions in PWSA, results of study II and III demonstrated that informant reports of executive function do not measure the same construct as, and cannot be used as a substitute for, standardised neuropsychological tests. The quantitative results of informant reports should be interpreted with caution, since it is uncertain whether the responses represent executive functions. The use of informant reports does not solve the problem of aphasia being a confounding factor in assessment of executive function.Study IV indicated that assessment of self-efficacy and resilience is, with proper adaptation, possible in a majority of PWSA. PWSA seem to have decreased self-efficacy and self-rated resilience compared to general populations. No clear associations with severity of language impairment or functional communication were found, but this issue needs further exploration.
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