Abstract There are a number of different interventions available to the speech-language specialist. All interventions have their benefits, but not to all students. Because of the many models available, however, the speech-language specialist should be able to find one that meshes with his or her working style and is beneficial to his or her clients. This speech-languagepathology paper discusses the the pull-out intervention model and offers support for its use.
From the Paper "At one time, speech-language specialists in a school setting worked in isolation from the rest of the teaching staff. This isolation was not merely physical; rather, the lesson plan used by the speech-language specialist existed in isolation as well. With legislation that requires integration of all subject programs--including those like speech therapy--this model of speech-language therapy delivery has changed. The number of speech-language specialists in the schools will increase, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook, due to the influx of specialists coming under contract to fill these requirements (par. 22). "
Abstract This essay examines possible career choices in the medical field, specifically recreational therapy, speech-languagepathology, and radiation therapy, the career choice of the author. In particular, the writer discusses the job duties that each profession entails, the educational requirements of each profession, the general advantages and disadvantages of those careers and the salary ranges of those occupations.
From the Paper "Since I plan on applying to OUHSC, I have researched their educational requirements a great deal and have found them to be in line with other institutions requirements. Therefore, I will base my educational information off of the University of Oklahoma Health and Science Center's requirements. "OUHSC requires that you complete or be in the process of completing the minimum of 64 prerequisite hours, prior to admittance into the programs. They also want you to be in good standing with the college or university that you last attended or are currently attending. OUHSC entails you to have a minimum GPA of 2.5 on all college work you have attempted. There are also tests that you need to take if English is not your first language." (College of Allied Health. Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences Radiation Therapy BSMIRS.)"
Abstract This paper examines how speech and language disorders may be defined as problems that result from various areas of communication and related areas such as oral motor function. It looks at how some causes of speech and language disorders include hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury, mental retardation, drug abuse, and physical impairments. It also discusses some of the educational implications that accompany speech and language disorders and how speech-language pathologists are the professionals trained to assist children who have various communication disorders.
From the Paper "Screening procedures for speech and hearing are administered throughout the public school systems on a yearly basis and occur at the beginning of each school year. Over the last few years, special education programs throughout the nation, have served over a million students who have been categorized as having a speech or language impairment. This estimate does not include children who have speech/language problems secondary to other conditions such as deafness. Many children may also have other disabilities such as mental retardation, autism, or cerebral palsy and experience language disorders as a secondary disability. Communication disorders have been identified to affect at least 10% of the population living in the United States."
Abstract The writer describes that children who need speech therapy obtain a better outcome from that therapy when a range of professionals offer their support to the therapy process. This paper presents an overview of the ways in which different types of professionals can come together in different contexts to provide the kinds of therapy from which a child with speech difficulties may benefit.
From the Paper "Children who need speech therapy almost always have a better outcome from that therapy when a range of professionals offer their support to the therapy process. This paper presents an overview of the ways in which different types of professionals can come together in different contexts to provide the kinds of therapy that a child with speech difficulties may benefit from. Although we may have in our heads the image of a child in a doctor's office or some other professional surrounding children in need of speech therapy may ... "
Abstract This paper takes a look at language and speech development in young children. According to this paper, this development is quite rapid, unless there are issues. Children with language development issues are recognised at an early age. This paper takes a look at specific examples of two children and their language and speech development.
From the Paper "Children rapidly begin learning different words beginning as early as six months. Looking at the examples of Adam and Mike show that normal language develops quickly unless the child develops language problems. There are expected language behaviors for children of different ages. These behaviors should be seen by observing different conversations with children. Parents and teachers can do some simple strategies to help children build their word knowledge. Adam is four years and seven months old. He should be able to carry on a normal conversation with an adult using extensive verbalization as he plays, yet Adam barely talks to the adult."
Abstract The paper shows that the mission of Toni Morrison is to see that black people have been able to restore the power of their speech on their tongue. She wants to see it restored through literature, which for centuries have represented emotions and experiences of the people who have suppressed the speech of black people. The paper shows that while other forms of art have lost their power, literature still holds promises of reversing the trend, enabling black people to revive their passion for language.
Abstract This paper examines the theories of Anna Wierzbicka and her use of a "metalanguage" in order to solve the ambiguities and culture-contextual problems inherent in language. The paper argues the absurdity of Wierzbicka's theory.
From the Paper "In her piece, "Speech Acts and Speech Genres Across Languages and Cultures", Anna Wierzbicka attempts to construct a 'metalanguage' for linguists to define foreign terms and concepts. (1992) This metalanguage, as it was proposed, would eliminate the ambiguity of using culturally loaded words when attempting to define speech acts, genres, and events in other languages. While her initial premise concerning culturally loaded text was intriguing; the attempted creation of a pseudo-scientific 'metalanguage' was not only absurd, but also defied her own initial discussion on the specific cultural context of speech acts."
Tags:language, linguistics, proto, speech, wierzbicka, anna, matalanguage, culture
Abstract This paper explains that Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered before 250,000 people, black and white, who came to Washington, D.C. to protest how black citizens were treated and to promote the passage of laws that would help black people get equal treatment. The author points out that King's strategies were (1) to justify and encourage his black followers, (2) to reassure moderate whites that blacks only wanted their rights as American citizens and did not intend to be violent and (3) to warn the opposition (southern white racists) that blacks would not give up until they were given equal rights and legal protections. The paper relates that the pathos of the speech was delivered in poetic terms, often using Biblical language, repetition and references to famous American phrases such as "... all men are created equal".
From the Paper "In the audience at the Lincoln Memorial were both black people (about 80%) who wanted equality, jobs, and freedom and white people (about 20%) who sympathized and wanted to help. King said black members of that audience had come "out of great trials and tribulations." They were people who had endured terrible persecutions, including lynching and police brutality. He called it "creative suffering." He implied that God would reward them because "unearned suffering is redemptive." Many of the people were from the South--Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and ..."
Abstract The paper examines Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and analyzes why it thrust him onto the national stage. The paper discusses Obama's message of pride, unity, change and hope through his use of ethos, kairos, pathos, beautiful language and rhetorical prowess. The paper therefore shows why "The Audacity of Hope" speech will always stand as a shining example of American rhetoric and patriotism.
From the Paper "Some people consider Barack Obama a messianic figure who will save our nation. Others consider him an intellectual elitist who basks in his achievements. Others consider him a radical liberal with terrorist connections. But most consider him a hard-working and charismatic statesman who will strengthen diplomatic relations with other countries. Despite these different views, everyone agrees that Barack Obama is perhaps the greatest orator of our times. It was his "Audacity of Hope" speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which thrust him onto the national stage. From California to Mississippi, his words captivated our minds and touched our hearts. His speech made us think, made us cry, and most importantly, made us dream of a brighter tomorrow by stirring our spirits and moving our soul."
Abstract The paper reveals the linguistic definition of politeness and shows how politeness is an integral part of speech. The paper discusses how the use of politeness is determined by three main sociological factors: distance, power and cultural rate of impositions. Finally, the paper demonstrates how language is transformed by politeness in practice.
From the Paper "Everyone knows what politeness is. From our very childhood, we are constantly told phrases such as "be polite" and we are faced with the issue of addressing people in a decent way, using either their nicknames, first names or their titles plus last names, etc. and in some foreign languages distinguishing between the formal second person personal pronoun and the familiar one (e.g. tu/vous in French). When our neighbour tells us "beautiful day, isn't it?" it would never occur to us to reply "no, in fact I totally disagree with you. Haven't you seen these clouds? It is undoubtedly going to rain". Why if it is true? It is simply because it is a basic matter of politeness that we are also used to calling good manners. In fact, politeness is really part of our everyday life and speech."
Abstract A paper which explores the process of infants' speech development, including understanding of words and the fragmentation process. The paper defines the term 'speech perception' and discusses various studies done in the field and their findings. It discusses research areas related to the topic and summarizes briefly each information source.
From the Paper "The experiment however brought to light the fact that when infants begin to produce speech they end to use variety of "labels" for same or similar things. Hence, any beautiful woman would be his/her mother and any man is the father. Any four-legged animal is doggy etc. Jusczyk's study also indicates that infants often try to confirm their identification through affirmation from parents. Hence, even if they label certain objects, they often turn around for confirmation. The outcome of the study confirmed that infants reserve the meaning of mommy and daddy specifically for their parents. There is no doubt about the fact that they learn to identify these two objects in their memory right from a young age."
Tags: perceptual, motor, e, Discovery, Spoken, Language
An in-depth discussion and analysis of the article ""Language Problems in Children with Learning Disabilities: Do They Interfere with Maternal Communication?" by Helena Rasku-Puttonen.
Abstract This research delves into the still open question of the influence of family interaction on communication impairments and learning disabilities. It shows how some have suggested that interactional or family environment factors combined with neurocognitive issues are relevant in the etiology, the manifestation, and the maintenance of learning disabilities, since guided participation through joint involvement with parents as well as with other social partners is essential for "learning to learn." The paper explains how this is where the child first learns to handle intellectual skills and tools such as language. Some parental behaviors are thought to hinder language development. Children with learning disabilities show the inability to employ effective communication strategies, and this lack seems to develop over time. It analyzes why children with language disorders show greater difficulty in selecting and using appropriate vocabulary than do children with language disorders, but why the evidence implicates underlying language deficits for children with LD as well.
From the Paper "This article reports on a study of parent-child interaction by observing two carefully matched subgroups: 1) school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities; and 2) boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the first group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the second group, and their mothers also showed lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the second group. The researcher also notes an interesting interaction effect for communication deviances. For mothers in the first group, the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the second group. This leads to a discussion of three possible models to explain the differences between the two groups."
Abstract The paper examines an article about the phonological and conceptual activation in speech comprehension and an article about the activation of offset-embedded words. The paper also examines an article about the role of prosodic boundaries in the resolution of lexical embedding in speech comprehension and an article about electro-physiological evidence for early contextual influences during spoken-word recognition. The last article is about the cascaded nature of lexical selection and integration in auditory sentence processing.
From the Paper "This article focuses on the process of understanding as it relates to separate lexical representations of sound and meaning. The phonological and conceptual representations in language have been separated, as comprehension are connected to these different concepts separately. In explaining these concepts, the article distinguishes between word representation in the mental lexicon and the lexical candidates for recognizing utterances. When the hearer is the presented with running speech with few clear cues to word boundaries, a mechanism is needed to determine the best sequence in terms of the input. In this way the correct utterance is determined by competition."
Abstract This paper discusses language as a verbal communication code. The paper describes language as a labyrinthine set of variables governing the communication process. It looks at some of the theories of language and the areas of language that they focus on. The paper also discusses the different uses of language in different cultures from an anthropological point of view.
From the Paper "As the primary means of social discourse, language is at once universal and parochial. Surviving without language would be akin to living off of berries and nuts; it is possible but not desirable. Human beings are social creatures and language is a staple of interpersonal relationships, the glue that holds friends, families, and societies together. Even individuals who cannot rely on verbal communication like the hearing impaired have languages. Their languages use gestures instead of words but they are still languages with components like vocabulary, structure, synonymy, and semantics. Taking language for granted is easy until we encounter those who cannot communicate. For instance, autistic individuals or persons with aphasia due to stroke become visibly frustrated from their inability to capitalize on language. Unable to feed off of the building block of human communication, being language impaired is like being malnourished. I seek, through a continual enrichment of my vocabulary and awareness of linguistic form and structure, to nourish myself with language."
Abstract The paper asserts that although language does show a sign of intelligence, the differences between animal and human language do not suffice for our views on intelligence. The paper challenges the way we attribute intelligence to the ability to speak and attempts to show how animal and human language are essentially very similar. The paper points out further that conditions such as strokes or retardation have the potential to effect language, but have no effect on test scores. The paper diasgrees with Descartes' belief that animals are machines and discusses John Searle's experiment known as "The Chinese Room". The paper concludes that our beliefs on language and its relevance to intelligence have many flaws and questions.
From the Paper "The complexity of our language and the basic acquisition of our ability to communicate is without a doubt a sign of intelligence. It is only with a human mind that we can understand the uniqueness of our grammar and the rules that govern the way we communicate with one another. Throughout research of our language and why it is that we began to speak in the first place, social hierarchy that places humans on the top has been constructed with all other species at the bottom. It is clear through our capabilities, whether they are evolved or innate, that there is a distinction between animal and human language. Since it is often thought that language itself is what defines us as humans (Pinker), it is our basis for the claim that we are most intelligent. However, are our abilities to speak and the structure of conventional rules enough to make this claim?"
