Evelyn R. Klein

Perfectionism in People who Stutter: Preliminary Findings Using a Modified Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Approach

Perfectionistic people set unrealistic goals and, when they fail to reach them, experience self-criticism and blame. Preliminary research revealed that perfectionism appears to be a characteristic of people who stutter (PWS) (Amster, 1995 ). The purpose of the present study was to explore perfectionism in PWS and to determine if a modified cognitive behavioral therapy approach alone and combined with Stuttering Modification could help reduce perfectionistic tendencies and stuttering behaviors. Degree of perfectionism and scores of stuttering severity were measured with eight adult PWS and compared at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, after 6-weeks of treatment, and at 15 weeks follow-up, after treatment was withdrawn. Initial open-trial testing showed promising results as perfectionism and stuttering severity were reduced and communication attitudes improved. CBT significantly reduced perfectionism by mid-point. Stuttering decreased significantly throughout all phases of the study. Possible implications are discussed.

Examining Visual-Verbal Associations in Children with and Without Reading Disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate verbal working memory processing both before and after providing semantically elaborated training sentences designed to enhance memory for symbol-word (visual-verbal) pairs. Abilities of 20 children diagnosed with Reading Disorder (RD) and 20 age-matched peers who were normally achieving in reading (NA) were compared (M = 10 years old). Results demonstrated RD children experienced significantly more difficulties on measures of complex auditory-verbal working memory than their NA peers. The best predictor of reading performance was word recall ability measured after students were provided with semantic training sentences. Findings have important implications for identifying young children with potential reading impairment.

A Speech-Language Approach to Early Reading Success

pathologists who, in earlier periods of our careers, have served as specialists in school settings. A substantial part of our caseloads consisted of young children with articulation delays and disorders to whom we provided therapy. One of the procedures we frequently employed was intensive training in speech-sound perception that enabled the children to develop a heightened awareness of the difference between their error production and the corresponding standard sound. On several occasions, first-grade teachers told us that children receiving articulation therapy excelled in phonics. On the basis of this information, in 1970, I (Adele Gerber) designed a program called Beginning Reading Through Speech in a format appropriate for use in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. Recently we have revised the procedures to a format suitable for use by tutors or teachers providing individual or small-group training for children needing help mastering emergent literacy and early reading skills. Over the past few decades, teachers have been informed about results of extensive research that has produced compelling evidence of a strong relationship between phonological awareness and the acquisition of reading skills (Chaney, 1998). In particular, professional development programs have placed a heavy emphasis on phonemic awareness—that is, the perception of the speech sounds that form words— and its relevance to the mastery of let-

Assessing Spoken Language Competence in Children With Selective Mutism Using Parents as Test Presenters

Children with selective mutism (SM) display a failure to speak in select situations despite speaking when comfortable. The purpose of this study was to obtain valid assessments of receptive and expressive language in 33 children (ages 5 to 12) with SM. Because some children with SM will speak to parents but not a professional, another purpose was to explore the efficacy of employing parents to deliver test stimuli. Parents received training on presenting standardized test material and were monitored during testing by a professional who scored and interpreted the results. Professional-administered tests underestimated children’s capabilities. However, even with parents, children’s scores decreased as the tasks changed from receptive to expressive vocabulary and from narrative comprehension to telling a story on their own. Thus, although SM is typically classified as an anxiety disorder, an underlying expressive narrative language deficit was identified in 42% of children with SM using this new procedure.

Social Communication Anxiety Treatment (S-CAT) for children and families with selective mutism: A pilot study

This research assessed the feasibility of Social Communication Anxiety Treatment (S-CAT) developed by Elisa Shipon-Blum, a brief multimodal approach, to increase social communication in 40 children aged 5–12 years with selective mutism (SM). SM is a disorder in which children consistently fail to speak in specific situations although they have the ability to do so. Key features of this approach are the SM-Social Communication Comfort Scale (SCCS), transfer of control (ToC), a nonchalant therapeutic style, and cognitive-behavioral strategies over a brief time frame. Following 9 weeks of treatment, children showed significant gains in speaking frequency on all 17 items from the Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ), a standardized measure of SM severity. Children also showed decreased levels of anxiety and withdrawal as reported by parents on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). SM initial symptom severity and family therapy compliance, but not duration of SM, contributed to treatment outcomes.

An experimental evaluation of the effects of using training sentences to aide young children's word recall

Using a task that is similar to real-world early reading of environmental print, this study explored how two encoding conditions impacted young childrens ability to remember names associated with symbols. Sixty-five children from prekindergarten (n = 20), kindergarten (n = 20), and first grade (n = 25) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. Both groups heard 15 words accompanied by 15 black-and-white line drawings, but the experimental group also heard training sentences. Results indicated that the experimental group had significantly poorer recall accuracy for the symbol names when compared with the control group. Older children in both groups were found to be more effective than younger children at the symbol naming task. Practical applications and theoretical implications are discussed.