Birth talk in second stage labor.

In this secondary analysis of videotape data, we describe birth talk demonstrated by caregivers to women during the second stage of labor. Birth talk is a distinctive verbal register or a set of linguistic features that are used with particular behaviors during specific situations, has a particular communication purpose, and is characterized by distinctive language features. Birth talk is found cross-culturally among speakers of diverse languages.

Performance of three racial/ethnic groups on two tests of executive function: clinical implications for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The purpose of this study was to determine if race/ethnicity may influence performance of college students on the Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), two different tests of executive function (EF). A total of 149 participants who self-identified as African American (AA), European American (EA), and Latina/o American (LA) constituted the three different racial/ethnic groups. Participants ranged in age range from 18 to 24 years old (SD = 1.

Prevalence of stuttering in African American preschoolers.

Purpose: In this study, the authors sought to determine the prevalence of stuttering in African American (AA) 2- to 5-year-olds as compared with same-age European Americans (EAs).

Method: A total of 3,164 children participated: 2,223 AAs and 941 EAs. Data were collected using a 3-pronged approach that included investigators' individual interactions with each child, teacher identification, and parent identification of stuttering.

Preventing multiple-choice tests from impeding educational advancement after acquired brain injury.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present management strategies that can be used to breach barriers created for students with acquired brain injuries by testing the students in the multiple-choice format.

Method: This article presents a case study of a high school student with severe hydrocephalus and difficulties with state-mandated reading comprehension tests who was denied exceptional student education services because her grades were "so good." Result Although an honor student who received academic awards, she was never taught how to pass the state reading test and was denied her diploma at graduation.

Prevalence of voice disorders in African American and European American preschoolers.

Several studies have reported prevalence rates for voice disorders in school-aged children. Less is known, however, about such prevalence in preschoolers, and whether racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity may influence it. The presence of voice disorders in a total of 2445 African-American and European-American preschool children, 1246 males and 1199 females, from 2 to 6 years of age is reported here.

Analysis of normal discourse patterns.

Twenty-five normal young adult college students provided speaking and writing samples using two elicitation procedures: picture description and personal narrative. Patterns of productivity, efficiency, and coherence were investigated while considering the demands imposed by mode of expression, task elicitation, cognitive distance, and verbal working memory. Samples were divided into top (S1) and bottom (S2) halves.

Written discourse of adolescents with closed head injury.

Written discourse of adolescents with closed head injury (CHI) was compared to that of normal controls. It was expected that the writing of adolescents with CHI would be disordered on one or more of the eight measurements used (productivity, efficiency, lexical, incomplete, or elliptic cohesion, global or local coherence, and maze use). Eight adolescents with closed head injury and matched controls provided written descriptions of a pictured activity.

Digit speech recognition thresholds (SRT) for non-native speakers of English.

Although Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) W-1 stimuli are routinely used for speech recognition threshold (SRT) testing, they are not always familiar to new learners of English and often lead to erroneous assessments. To improve test accuracy, alternative stimuli were constructed by pairing familiar English digits. These digit pairs were used to measure SRT for 12 non-native speakers of English and 12 native speakers of English.

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI): assessment and treatment procedures used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs).

The purposes of this study were to identify how individuals with MTBI are assessed, to determine the referral process to and from speech-language pathologists (SLPs), to describe the frequency, structure, and nature of treatment, to identify how individuals with MTBI and their families are educated about the injury and counselled, and to assess current follow-up procedures. One-hundred and forty-three hospital and rehabilitation centre based SLPs from North Carolina and Illinois responded to a survey developed to address these areas of interest. Findings indicated current diagnostic tools used by SLPs lack the sensitivity to detect the subtle cognitive communication deficits associated with MTBI, referral and follow-up procedures are not sufficiently implemented in facilities to meet the growing needs of individuals with MTBI, and SLPs would benefit from increased training regarding the management of individuals with MTBI including educating and counselling patients and their families.