9,090 research outputs found
Assessment and diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder: The experiences of speech and language therapists
© The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).Background: For many years research and practice have noted the impact of the heterogeneous nature of Developmental Language Disorder (also known as language impairment or specific language impairment) on diagnosis and assessment. Recent research suggests the disorder is not restricted to the language domain and against this background, the challenge for the practitioner is to provide accurate assessment and effective therapy. The language practitioner aims to support the child and their carers to achieve the best outcomes. However, little is known about the experiences of the language practitioner in the assessment process, in contrast to other childhood disorders, yet their expertise is central in the assessment and diagnosis of children with language disorder. Aims: This study aimed to provide a detailed qualitative description of the experiences of speech and language therapists involved in the assessment and diagnosis of children with Developmental Language Disorder. Methods & Procedures: The qualitative study included three focus groups to provide a credible and rich description of the experiences of speech and language therapists involved in the assessment of Developmental Language Disorder. The speech and language therapists who participated in the study were recruited from three NHS Trusts across the UK and all were directly involved in the assessment and diagnosis procedures. The lengths of practitioner experience ranged from 2 years to 38 years. The data was analysed using a thematic analysis in accordance with the principles set out by Braun & Clarke (2006). Outcomes & Results: The data showed a number of key themes concerning the experiences of speech and language therapists in assessing children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). These themes ranged from the participants’ experiences of the barriers to early referral, challenges for assessment and the concerns over continued future support. Conclusions & Implications: This study provides first-hand evidence from speech and language therapists in the assessment of children with Developmental Language Disorder, drawing together experiences from language practitioners from different regions. The findings provide insight to the barriers to referral, the potential variations in the assessment process, the role of practitioner expertise and the challenges faced them. The importance of early intervention, useful assessment tools and future support were expressed. Taken together, the results relate to some issues to be addressed on a practical level and a continuing need for initiatives to raise awareness of DLD in the public domain.Peer reviewe
Bogoliubov transformations and exact isolated solutions for simple non-adiabatic Hamiltonians
We present a new method for finding isolated exact solutions of a class of
non-adiabatic Hamiltonians of relevance to quantum optics and allied areas.
Central to our approach is the use of Bogoliubov transformations of the bosonic
fields in the models. We demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of this
method by applying it to the Rabi Hamiltonian.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages, 1 figure. Minor additions and journal re
Polarized Magnetic Wire Induced by Tunneling Through a Magnetic Impurity
Using the zero mode method we compute the conductance of a wire consisting of
a magnetic impurity coupled to two Luttinger liquid leads characterized by the
Luttinger exponent . We find for resonance conditions, in which
the Fermi energy of the leads is close to a single particle energy of the
impurity, the conductance as a function of temperature is , whereas for off-resonance conditions the conductance is
. By applying a gate voltage and/or
a magnetic field, one of the spin components can be in resonance while the
other is off-resonance causing a strong asymmetry between the spin-up and
spin-down conductances.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to PR
Reduction of laser intensity scintillations in turbulent atmospheres using time averaging of a partially coherent beam
We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that the application of a
partially coherent beam (PCB) in combination with time averaging leads to a
significant reduction in the scintillation index. We use a simplified
experimental approach in which the atmospheric turbulence is simulated by a
phase diffuser. The role of the speckle size, the amplitude of the phase
modulation, and the strength of the atmospheric turbulence are examined. We
obtain good agreement between our numerical simulations and our experimental
results. This study provides a useful foundation for future applications of
PCB-based methods of scintillation reduction in physical atmospheres.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure
The H molecular ion: a solution
Combining the WKB expansion at large distances and Perturbation Theory at
small distances it is constructed a compact uniform approximation for
eigenfunctions. For lowest states 1s\si_{g} and 2p\si_{u} this
approximation provides the relative accuracy (5 s.d.) for
any real in eigenfunctions and for total energy it gives 10-11 s.d.
for internuclear distances . Corrections to proposed
approximations are evaluated. Separation constants and the oscillator strength
for the transition 1s\si_{g} \rar 2p\si_{u} are calculated and compared with
existing data.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables, typos are corrected and small
additions are inserted, to be published at JPB (fast track comm
Recommended from our members
Associated reading skills in children with a history of Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
A large cohort of 200 eleven-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were assessed on basic reading accuracy and on reading comprehension as well as language tasks. Reading skills were examined descriptively and in relation to early language and literacy factors. Using stepwise regression analyses in which age and nonverbal IQ were controlled for, it was found that a single word reading measure taken at 7 years was unsurprisingly a strong predictor of the two different types of reading ability. However, even with this measure included, a receptive syntax task (TROG) entered when reading accuracy score was the DV. Furthermore, a test of expressive syntax/narrative and a receptive syntax task completed at 7 years entered into the model for word reading accuracy. When early reading accuracy was excluded from the analyses, early phonological skills also entered as a predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension at 11 years. The group of children with a history of SLI were then divided into those with no literacy difficulties at 11 and those with some persisting literacy impairment. Using stepwise logistic regression, and again controlling for IQ and age, 7 years receptive syntax score (but not tests of phonology, expressive vocabulary or expressive syntax/narrative) entered as a positive predictor of membership of the ‘no literacy problems’ group regardless of whether early reading accuracy was controlled for in step one. The findings are discussed in relation to the overlap of SLI and dyslexia and the long term sequelae of language impairment
Nonlinear Micromechanical Casimir Oscillator
The Casimir force between uncharged metallic surfaces originates from quantum
mechanical zero point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We demonstrate
that this quantum electrodynamical effect has a profound influence on the
oscillatory behavior of microstructures when surfaces are in close proximity
(<= 100 nm). Frequency shifts, hysteretic behavior and bistability caused by
the Casimir force are observed in the frequency response of a periodically
driven micromachined torsional oscillator.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; added and rearranged references; added comments
on sensitivit
Phase Transitions in the Spin-Half J_1--J_2 Model
The coupled cluster method (CCM) is a well-known method of quantum many-body
theory, and here we present an application of the CCM to the spin-half J_1--J_2
quantum spin model with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbour interactions on the
linear chain and the square lattice. We present new results for ground-state
expectation values of such quantities as the energy and the sublattice
magnetisation. The presence of critical points in the solution of the CCM
equations, which are associated with phase transitions in the real system, is
investigated. Completely distinct from the investigation of the critical
points, we also make a link between the expansion coefficients of the
ground-state wave function in terms of an Ising basis and the CCM ket-state
correlation coefficients. We are thus able to present evidence of the
breakdown, at a given value of J_2/J_1, of the Marshall-Peierls sign rule which
is known to be satisfied at the pure Heisenberg point (J_2 = 0) on any
bipartite lattice. For the square lattice, our best estimates of the points at
which the sign rule breaks down and at which the phase transition from the
antiferromagnetic phase to the frustrated phase occurs are, respectively, given
(to two decimal places) by J_2/J_1 = 0.26 and J_2/J_1 = 0.61.Comment: 28 pages, Latex, 2 postscript figure
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