Assessing Pragmatic Language in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Yale in vivo Pragmatic Protocol

Purpose: This study compared pragmatic language in youths (9–17 years) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with typical development (TD) on the Yale in vivo Pragmatic Protocol (YiPP), a semistructured, dynamic conversational assessment. Method: Participants (n = 118) were divided into groups based on age and diagnosis. Each completed the YiPP, which included 4 pragmatic domains (discourse management, communicative functions, conversational repair, presupposition). The participant’s response to each probe was scored correct or incorrect; incorrect scores elicited cues from the examiner, and level of cue required for a correction was also scored. Results: The YiPP showed high reliability and internal consistency, with moderate concurrent validity, sensitivity, and specificity. The group with ASD performed worse overall on YiPP probes compared to their TD counterparts on both error (d = 0.96) and cue (d = 0.91) scores. Item analyses revealed greater gaps between older students with ASD and their TD peers than between the 2 younger groups. Conclusions: These data suggest that a probe measure designed to assess pragmatic abilities in children with ASD within a conversational context has some validity for contributing to diagnostic classification and can identify specific areas of pragmatic vulnerabilities as part of a clinical assessment

Brief Report: A Mobile Application to Treat Prosodic Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Communication Impairments: A Pilot Study

This study examined the acceptability of a mobile application, SpeechPrompts, designed to treat prosodic disorders in children with ASD and other communication impairments. Ten speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in public schools and 40 of their students, 5-19 years with prosody deficits participated. Students received treatment with the software over eight weeks. Pre- and post-treatment speech samples and student engagement data were collected. Feedback on the utility of the software was also obtained. SLPs implemented the software with their students in an authentic education setting. Student engagement ratings indicated students\u27 attention to the software was maintained during treatment. Although more testing is warranted, post-treatment prosody ratings suggest that SpeechPrompts has potential to be a useful tool in the treatment of prosodic disorders

The Use of Mobile Technology in the Treatment of Prosodic Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility and preliminary utility of an application, SpeechPrompts, for iOS devices in the treatment of prosodic disorders in school-age children with ASD

Enhancing the Application and Evaluation of a Discrete Trial Intervention Package for Eliciting First Words in Preverbal Preschoolers with ASD

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention package including a discrete trial program (Rapid Motor Imitation Antecedent Training (Tsiouri and Greer, J Behav Educat 12:185–206, 2003) combined with parent education for eliciting first words in children with ASD who had little or no spoken language. Evaluation of the approach includes specific intervention targets and functional spoken language outcomes (Tager-Flusberg et al., J Speech Lang Hear Res 52:643–652, 2009). Results suggest that RMIA, with parent training, catalyzes development of verbal imitation and production for some children. Three of five participants acquired word production within the DTT framework and achieved milestones of early functional spoken language use (Tager-Flusberg et al., J Speech Lang Hear Res 52:643–652, 2009). The implications of these findings for understanding the role of discrete trial approaches to language intervention are discussed

Crab Tracker Documentation

User and technical documentation for the Crab Tracker project, including details on system architecture, configuration, and design

Nonword Repetition Measures in Bilingual Preschoolers

This study aims to use a simple measure of verbal memory, a nonword repetition test, to identify 4 year olds at risk for language disorders. Preschoolers from inner-city and non-English speaking backgrounds are at risk for deficits in school readiness, particularly in the area of reading development, but it is difficult to identify which particular children experience this risk, especially in the context of economic deprivation and non-English speaking backgrounds. Nonword repetition tests, in which children are asked to repeat nonsense words of varying complexity (2-4 syllables) have been shown in a large body of research (e.g., Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998; Dispaldro, Leonard, & Deevy, 2013) to be reliable methods for identifying language learning problems in children. The present study uses a nonword repetition test designed to minimize the contribution of English language knowledge, to assess efficacy in identifying language learning difficulties in bilingual preschool children in low-income public preschools. Participants were administered nonword repetition tests by students who are fluent speakers of Spanish and Portuguese. Responses were audiorecorded and scored by trained raters blind to their language learning status. Percent correct scores for each child on the nonword repetition tests were computed, and differences in scores between the monolingual English speakers and the bilingual speakers were tested. Bilingual children showed no significant differences from monolingual English speakers on the nonword repetition test performance, suggesting that the tests are valid measures of their verbal memory capacity, and do not penalize bilingual children in obtaining this measure, which is known to predict success in learning to read

Bridging rhetoric and practice: new perspectives on barriers to gendered change

Contains fulltext : 167537.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)This article presents a new methodology, Gender Knowledge Contestation Analysis, and uses it to examine the processes under way when transformative gender equality policies, such as gender mainstreaming are implemented. Drawing on data gathered in the European Commission, the findings show the processes linking high-level rhetorical policy statements, strategic policies, and daily working practices. This analysis enables exploration of the mechanisms through which indifference to and nonawareness of gendered policy problems are collectively constituted and methods through which they can be challenged. Findings thus deepen our understanding of barriers to the implementation of gender mainstreaming and the steps required for its effective implementation.20 juli 201

Perspectives and experiences of community health workers in Brazilian primary care centers using m-health tools in home visits with community members

Abstract Background Mobile health (m-health) tools are a promising strategy to facilitate the work of community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite their potential value, little is known about CHWs’ experiences working with m-health tools in their outreach activities with community members. Methods To understand the benefits of and barriers to using m-health tools for CHWs, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 57 CHWs employed in six primary care centers in São Paulo, Brazil. All CHWs had experience using a cell phone application called Geohealth for collecting health and demographic data of community members. We assessed their experiences using Geohealth and recommendations for improvements. Results CHWs described key benefits of using Geohealth as helping them save time with bureaucratic paperwork, organizing the data that they needed to collect, and by replacing sheaves of paper, reducing the weight that they carried in the field. However, there were many technical and social barriers to the successful adoption of the m-health tool. Key among these were poor quality hardware, faulty software programs, and negative community member perceptions of the m-health program. The CHWs provided valuable input as to how Geohealth could be improved to fit their needs. Conclusion m-health tools have the potential to facilitate the work of CHWs in LMICs. However, such tools must be designed and implemented thoughtfully. Technical barriers related to both hardware and software must be anticipated and addressed to maximize their efficiency and successful adoption. CHW input on the design of the tool should be sought to maximize its utility and minimize barriers to use.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138148/1/12960_2017_Article_245.pd

Human blood autoantibodies in the detection of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common malignancy in the western world. Early detection and diagnosis of all cancer types is vital to improved prognosis by enabling early treatment when tumours should be both resectable and curable. Sera from 3 different cohorts; 42 sera (21 CRC and 21 matched controls) from New York, USA, 200 sera from Pittsburgh, USA (100 CRC and 100 controls) and 20 sera from Dundee, UK (10 CRC and 10 controls) were tested against a panel of multiple tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) using an optimised multiplex microarray system. TAA specific IgG responses were interpo- lated against the internal IgG standard curve for each sample. Individual TAA specific responses were examined in each cohort to determine cutoffs for a robust initial scoring method to establish sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity and specificity of combinations of TAAs provided good discrimination between cancer-positive and normal serum. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the sample sets tested against a panel of 32 TAAs were 61.1% and 80.9% respectively for 6 antigens; p53, AFP, K RAS, Annexin, RAF1 and NY-CO16. Furthermore, the observed sensitivity in Pittsburgh sample set in different clinical stages of CRC;stageI(n=19),stageII(n=40),stageIII(n=34)andstageIV(n=6)wassimilar (73.6%, 75.0%, 73.5% and 83.3%, respectively), with similar levels of sensitivity for right and left sided CRC. We identified an antigen panel of sufficient sensitivity and specificity for early detection of CRC, based upon serum profiling of autoantibody response using a robust multiplex antigen microarray technology. This opens the possibility of a blood test for screening and detection of early colorectal cancer. However this panel will require further validation studies before they can be proposed for clinical practice