Factors Affecting Performance on a Screening Tool in Persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (PALS) are at risk of developing cognitive impairments and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). This study examined the relationship between performance of the ALS-Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBS) and the demographic parameters of sex, education, time post-ALS diagnosis, and severity of symptoms. Data were collected retrospectively from 69 participants seen at the Mayo Clinic.

Effectiveness of Intense Accent Modification Training With Refugees From Burma.

Purpose: This pilot research project sought to determine if an intensive accent modification training program that included See the Sound-Visual Phonics and prosodic gestures improved articulation, prosody, and intelligibility measures in refugees from Burma.

Participants: Four individuals (two men, two women) aged 20-67 participated in this study, and they were recruited from a state organization supporting refugees who have resettled in the United States.

Method: All participants completed the Proficiency in Oral English Communication (POEC) and Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech (AIDS) to measure pre- and posttraining changes.

South Asian Adults' Performance on Executive Function Tests.

Purpose: This study compared the performance of South Asian and White adults on the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS; Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie, & Evans, 1996) and the Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES; MacDonald, 2005), tests that can be used by speech-language pathologists to assess executive function (EF).

Method: Twenty South Asian and 20 White participants were administered the BADS and FAVRES. Raw scores were converted to profile scores on the BADS and to standard scores on the FAVRES.

A pilot study of performance in young and middle-aged adults on verbal recall.

The objective was to explore whether middle-aged adults (M age = 48.9 yr.; n = 26) differed on verbal recall from young adults (M age = 26.

Influence of age and native language on immediate verbal repetition.

Objectives of this quasi-experimental study were to assess whether age of listeners and native language of the speaker affected the accurate repetition of words, sentences, and utterances, including medical vocabulary. Two experiments were conducted. In Exp.

Aphasia and accent in identifying medical sentences.

The objective of this quasi-experimental pilot study was to assess the effect that the presence of aphasia in participants and the presence of an accent in speakers had on the accurate identification of 30 medical sentences. 20 participants, 10 with aphasia and 10 age- and sex-matched adults without aphasia, pointed to printed medical sentences matching utterances produced in English by native and nonnative English speakers. Analysis showed participants with aphasia had significantly lower identification scores than participants without aphasia.

Familiarity and older adults' transcriptions of native and nonnative speech.

24 adults ages 60+ yr. transcribed 60 words and 30 sentences spoken by native speakers of English, Taiwanese, and Spanish to assess whether familiarity with the nonnative English speakers' accents improved transcription scores. The accuracy of listeners' transcription scores on the first half of the stimulus items was compared with accuracy of listeners' scores on the second half.

Dementia and identification of words and sentences produced by native and nonnative English speakers.

The accurate identification of 30 words and 15 sentences spoken by native English, Taiwanese, and Spanish speakers was compared for 16 persons with and 16 persons without dementia. Statistically significant differences for words and sentences occurred between groups of listeners.

Age and understanding speakers with Spanish or Taiwanese accents.

This pilot study concerned the intelligibility of accented speech for listeners of different ages. 72 native speakers of English, representing three age groups (20-39, 40-59, 60 and older) listened to words and sentences produced by native speakers of English, Taiwanese, and Spanish. Listeners transcribed words and sentences.