Analysis of topic as illustrated in a head-injured and a normal adult.

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable multidimensional topic analysis that would be sensitive to patterns and problems in topic management. Six conversation and four monologue language samples of a closed-head-injured adult and a matched normal adult were compared. High interjudge reliability was found for all frequently occurring parameters of the analysis.

A young meningitically deaf child with a cochlear implant: a case study.

This study describes the development of the auditory, cognitive, linguistic, and social domains of a child deafened by meningitis at 20 months of age. He received a 3M/House cochlear implant at 27 months and is believed to be the youngest child to receive a cochlear implant. He was seen for intervention emphasizing audiometric conditioning and testing and language (speech and sign) stimulation for a period of 2:9 years (6 months pre-implant to 2:3 years post-implant).

Degeneration of speech, language, and hearing in a patient with mucopolysaccharidosis VII.

Mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPS-VII) is probably the rarest of the mucopolysaccharidoses; literature reveals only 20 cases. We have had the opportunity to study and treat such a child in our clinic, and this paper documents his speech, language, and hearing. Results demonstrated a delay with respect to his chronological age in all cognitive, linguistic, and social domains.

A clinical appraisal of the pragmatic aspects of language.

A descriptive taxonomy, the pragmatic protocol, was developed for this study. The protocol consists of 30 pragmatic parameters of language. The purpose of the study was to test the utility of the tool to evaluate a range of pragmatic aspects of language in a sample of conversational speech from subjects in six groups.