Jessica Lynch

Defense Date

7-10-2012

Graduation Date

2012

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

thesis

Degree Name

MS

Department

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)

School

Rangos School of Health Sciences

Committee Chair

Heather L. Rusiewicz

Committee Member

Diane L. Williams

Committee Member

Caterina F. Staltari

Keywords

Articulation, Gesture, R, Speech, Therapy, Treatment

Abstract

The functional speech sound disorder, American English /r/ articulation errors, presents a unique and confounding clinical challenge as "therapy resistant" residual errors persist into adolescence and adulthood in many cases. Finding paucity of empirical research for /r/ treatment, evidence-based practice (EBP) exploration in motor-related disorders informed clinical practice and research directions. This study investigated the efficacy of "manual mimicry" (a kinesthetic, gestural, and visual cue) in treating intractable /r/ errors in a young adult using a single subject ABAB design. Perceptual accuracy judgments of three types of listeners (experts, graduate clinician, and naïve listeners) indicated a positive treatment effect of manual mimicry cueing on vocalic /r/ sound productions. Electropalatograpy (EPG) outcome measures showed limited ability to accurately reflect perceptual changes quantitatively. These findings from an exploratory study provide initial evidence that perceptual saliency of /r/ productions may be potentially remediated using a kinesthetic, gestural, and visual cue during treatment.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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