Validating the Influences of Methodological Decisions on Assessing the Spatiotemporal Stability of Speech Movement Sequences Using Children's Speech Data.

Purpose: Prior research introduced quantifiable effects of three methodological parameters (number of repetitions, stimulus length, and parsing error) on the spatiotemporal index (STI) using simulated data. Critically, these parameters often vary across studies. In this study, we validate these effects, which were previously only demonstrated via simulation, using children's speech data.

The Impact of Stimulus Length in Tongue and Lip Movement Pattern Stability in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of stimulus signal length on tongue and lip motion pattern stability in speakers diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared to healthy controls.

Method: Electromagnetic articulography was used to derive articulatory motion patterns from individuals with mild ( = 27) and severe ( = 16) ALS and healthy controls ( = 25). The spatiotemporal index (STI) was used as a measure of articulatory stability.

A developmental account of the role of sequential dependencies in typical and atypical language learners.

The Gerken lab has shown that infants are able to learn sound patterns that obligate local sequential dependencies that are no longer readily accessible to adults. The Goffman lab has shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) exhibit deficits in learning sequential dependencies that influence the acquisition of words and grammar, as well as other types of domain general sequences. Thus, DLD appears to be an impaired ability to detect and deploy sequential dependencies over multiple domains.

Neuromuscular adaptations of swallowing and speech in unilateral cerebral palsy: shared and distinctive traits.

Our aims were to ) examine the neuromuscular control of swallowing and speech in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) compared with typically developing children (TDC), ) determine shared and separate neuromuscular underpinnings of the two functions, and ) explore the relationship between this control and behavioral outcomes in UCP. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to record muscle activity from the submental and superior and inferior orbicularis oris muscles during standardized swallowing and speech tasks. The variables examined were normalized mean amplitude, time to peak amplitude, and bilateral synchrony.

Children With Developmental Language Disorder Show Deficits in the Production of Musical Rhythmic Groupings.

Purpose: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show evidence of domain-general deficits in sequentially patterned motor skills. This study focuses on the production of rhythmically grouped sequences drawn from a music task, with the hypothesis that children with DLD will show a sequential pattern learning deficit that crosses language and action domains.

Method: Fifty-seven 4- to 5-year-old children (36 with DLD) drummed and clapped a developmentally appropriate musical rhythmic sequence 24 times (clapped 12 times, drummed 12 times).