Managing Self-Talk in Clinical Sessions: Implications for Speech-Language Pathology

Currently affecting over one million Americans (NINDS, 2015), aphasia is a communication disorder caused by brain damage that disrupts an individuals use of spoken and written language. It not only disrupts communication, but is isolating, and impacts overall quality of life. Studying the social impact of aphasia, Devanga (2015) employed a 15-session collaborative intervention called the barrier task (Hengst, Duff & Dettmer, 2010) on Mr. Lee, a 75-year-old man with chronic aphasia to foster a conversational therapy environment that involved taking turns naming picture cards. Mr. Lee showed successful collaboration and reported increased confidence in his overall communication. The current study examines the self- talk patterns of Mr. Lee and the clinician by conducting secondary analysis of Devanga's video data to better understand Mr. Lees reported increase in confidence across sessions. Video transcripts from five sessions were analyzed and coded for self-talk. Self-talk is defined as instances of personal reflection using first person pronouns (Neck & Manz, 1992). Each instance of self-talk was linguistically coded as positive or negative. The preliminary findings from the on-going interpretive analysis indicate the use of multiple episodes of self-talk throughout sessions, with Mr. Lee using more self-talk than the clinician. The findings will link a variety of fields, such as linguistics, psychology, education, and communication sciences and disorders, by contributing to broader understandings of the construction of confidence in moments of negative self-talk. As a clinical implication, this study provides a stronger understanding of patients communicative confidence throughout the progression of therapy. Devanga, S., Mosier, H., & Hengst, J. A. (2015). Thin Versus Thick Description: Analyzing Representations of People and Their Life Worlds in the Literature of Communication Sciences and Disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi:10.1044/2015_AJSLP-14-0163 Hengst, J.A., Duff, M.C., & Dettmer, A. (2010). Rethinking repetition in therapy: Repeated engagement as the social ground of learning. Aphasiology, 24(6-8), 887-901. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (2015). From http://ww.ninds.nih.gov/ Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C.. (1992). Thought Self-Leadership: The Influence of Self-Talk and Mental Imagery on Performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(7), 681699. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2488389 Special Formatting: Additional Technology (for oral presentations)Ope

Letter to the editor: autoimmune pathogenic mechanisms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The innate immune system may affect the function and survival of motor neurons in ALS by at least three mechanisms. First, there is evidence to suggest that aggregates of mutant SOD1—which is derived from microglial and astroglial cells—activate neighbouring microglia by binding to TLR2, TLR4, and CD14, and subsequently promote neuronal cell death [9]. Second, the release of pro- inflammatory cytokines may drive motor neuron damage. Third, although poorly understood, a mechanism has been suggested on the basis of the functional analysis of microglial cells that express mutant SOD1 [10]. These cells showed impaired overall motility and a reduced capacity to clear neuronal cell debris. Impairment of microglial cell phagocytosis may therefore contribute to the accumulation of further immunostimulatory proteins, including mutant SOD1, chromogranin A, and dsRNA, thereby resulting in disease progression

L’esilio e la frontiera nell’italianità letteraria

Full Article in ItalianOriginally, exile was a punishment implying a permanent or temporary banishment from homeland. In modern times as it was not regarded as a penalty anymore, it turned into a self-imposed, voluntary, castigation. In this paper, the main characteristics and consequences of exile is examined from the Italian point of view, notwithstanding the historical events which led to the unification of Italy in a state. The parameters upon which ‘Italianity’ has been predicated are constituted both by language and literature, which – contrary to many European nations (where the national history intertwines with the literary and cultural history) – have paradoxically developed as foreign to any idea of state and/or political entity

Letter to the editor: autoimmune pathogenic mechanisms in Huntington’s disease

Letter to the Editor: Autoimmune pathogenic mechanisms in Huntington's disease

The State-of-Art of Tourism Planning in Archipelagic Philippines 2001-2010: A Case Review

Tourism is a development option that is pursued by the Philippines from the 1970s until present where it is a pillar of the country's economy. Arrivals from foreign origins are increasing at double digit growth rates while domestic tourism continues to outpace international arrivals. Recent legislation on tourism during the past two years has continued to place importance on the industry as an engine of growth. However, such legislation should be viewed against the backdrop of local governance structures that includes processes on comprehensive land and water use planning. The country faces a lack of environmental planners (as urban and regional planners are formally called in the Philippines) where tourism planning is a sub-specialization. This paper describes and reviews the current state-of-art of tourism planning in the Philippines against this backdrop of governance, the planning profession and tourism legislation

Bolsa Floresta: um instrumento inovador para a promoção da saúde em comunidades tradicionais na Amazônia

O Programa Bolsa Floresta implementa uma série de atividades prioneiras no campo da conservação ambiental e desenvolvimento sustentável na Amazônia. Sua concepção se insere no contexto das mudanças climáticas globais e de redução do desmatamento, com especial ênfase para as comunidades tradicionais da "Amazônia profunda". Este artigo descreve o conceito e a estratégia de implementação do Programa, com uma ênfase especial para as ações de saúde. Primeiro, é apresentado o contexto no qual foi concebido. Depois, apresentam-se o conceito, a estrutura e os resultados obtidos até setembro de 2008. Na seqüência, indicam-se o diagnóstico e as ações relacionadas com saúde pública. Finalmente, abordam-se o significado histórico e as perspectivas desse Programa.The program Bolsa Floresta [Forest Conservation Grant] implements a series of pioneering activities in the area of environmental conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon. Its conception is inserted in the context of global climate change and deforestation reduction, and a special emphasis is given to the traditional communities of the "Deep Amazon". This article describes the program's concept and strategies of implementation, highlighting its health related actions. First, the context in which the program was conceived is presented. Then, the concept, structure and results achieved until September 2008 are exposed, followed by a presentation of the diagnosis and of its public health related actions. Finally, the program's historical meaning and perspectives are discussed

Facing Non-Stationary Conditions with a New Indicator of Entropy Increase: The Cassandra Algorithm

We address the problem of detecting non-stationary effects in time series (in particular fractal time series) by means of the Diffusion Entropy Method (DEM). This means that the experimental sequence under study, of size $N$, is explored with a window of size $L << N$. The DEM makes a wise use of the statistical information available and, consequently, in spite of the modest size of the window used, does succeed in revealing local statistical properties, and it shows how they change upon moving the windows along the experimental sequence. The method is expected to work also to predict catastrophic events before their occurrence.Comment: FRACTAL 2002 (Spain

Los caracteres biocenóticos de las lagunas basálticas del oeste de Neuquén

Fil: Roig, Virgilio G.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto de BiologíaFil: Cei, José M.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto de Biologí