Fifteen undergraduates were trained to identify abstract forms in response to manual sign, CVC (consonant vowel consonant) sense syllables, or combined manual sign plus CVC nonsense syllables. Results suggest that facilitative effects of manual sign labels upon comprehension may be due to the iconic relationship between signs and their referents.…

A review of the effects of chronic undue or low lead absorption on the speech and language behavior of children concludes that the evidence supports the presence of speech and language problems in some low-lead level children. The severity, duration, and specific nature of the problems, however, are not clear. (Author/CL)

The study examined the effects of forward time gating (in which incremented portions of a word are presented) and word length on monosyllabic isolated word-recognition performance with 20 female college undergraduates. Listeners recognized time-gated words less frequently and with less confidence, and word length significantly influenced…

This study examined keyword signing (KWS), a communication approach used with nonspeaking individuals. Acoustic measures and judgments of 20 adult listeners were used to evaluate KWS and Spoken-Only narratives. KWS narratives were produced with a slower articulation rate, because of increased pause and speech segment duration and increased pause…

This study investigated the effects of four different voice synthesizers on attitudes of nondisabled individuals (n=284) toward an augmented communicator. Attitudes were more favorable in terms of evaluation and potential interaction when the synthetic voice was "easier to listen to." Gender appropriateness of the synthetic voice was not…

Thirteen university students listened to synthesized vowels, presented 14 times randomly, and uttered each of the vowels as soon as they heard it. Serial analysis of successive auditory-vocal reaction times (AVRTs) revealed significant intrasession and intersession decreases in AVRTs in the majority of subjects. AVRT increases were also seen but…

This paper argues that inferential statistical analyses as part of group research designs do not provide the kinds of data that are useful in determining the efficacy of clinical intervention with individuals having communication disorders. Replication studies are seen as providing a more fruitful approach to ascertaining the efficacy of clinical…

This review of the literature on narrative discourse in children with language disorders describes theoretical perspectives on narrative use; surveys researchers' rationales for the investigation of narrative ability, including the pragmatic nature of narrative use and narrative ability as an index of language development; discusses methodological…

The comparative translucency within and across 5 aided augmentative and alternative symbol systems for symbols representing 3 parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and modifiers) was investigated with 50 college undergraduates. Results indicated that translucency varies among systems or sets and among parts of speech. (Author/DB)

This study examined the frequency and nature of augmented input that adult partners provided to 13 youth with moderate to severe mental retardation as they began to use the System for Augmenting Language. Analyses revealed differences in the frequency and in the manner and style with which home and school partners provided augmented input.…

The Speech-Language Pathologist Stress Inventory is a 48-item questionnaire adapted from the Teacher Stress Inventory. Factor analyses of the responses of 626 speech-language pathologists revealed 4 stress source factors: bureaucratic restrictions, time and workload management, lack of professional supports, and instructional limitations. (DB)

This longitudinal case study follows the development of a woman with autism from mutism at age 10 to acquisition of a range of spoken and written language skills by age 26. Results support hypotheses that both spoken and written language may become feasible forms of communication in such cases, although some skills may plateau or decline.…

This study, involving 40 preschool children with normal cognitive abilities, determined the effects of initial teaching of semantic elements on compound Blissymbol acquisition, retention, and generalization in a story-telling context. Results indicated that the initial teaching of elements did not contribute to compound acquisition and retention…

In the first of 2 studies, 7 subjects with severe mental retardation (ages 6-20) using augmentative communication produced untaught symbol combinations resembling those of young speaking language learners. The second study found that modeled combinations did not resemble the subjects' productions, suggesting the augmented communicators used…

Normally developing kindergarten children (n=45) were shown written words under 4 conditions representing various size and position relationships between line drawings and orthography. Results showed superior performance for word-only and enhanced-word conditions, over those conditions pairing small or large drawings with written words. Results…