Faye M. Jordan

Long-term speech and language disorders subsequent to closed head injury in children

The speech and language functioning of a group of 20 children (aged 8-16) who had sustained a closed head injury at least 12 months previously were assessed with the purpose of developing a comprehensive profile of the type and severity of the long-term speech/language disorders exhibited by this group. The subjects were administered a battery of speech/language assessments including an articulation/phonological assessment; oromotor assessment; overall language test and specific language skills assessments. Performance of the head-injured group was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Overall language performance scores of the head-injured group were found to be significantly lower than achieved by the control group.

Interpretation and comprehension of linguistic humour by adolescents with head injury: a group analysis

The aim of the present study was to determine the ability of adolescents with a head injury to interpret and comprehend linguistic humour. Nine adolescents with head injury aged between 12 years 1 month and 15 years 4 months, and nine individually matched adolescents aged between 12 years 1 month and 16 years 1 month were administered a humour test, a standard language battery, the CELF-3, and the Self-Esteem Index. The test of humour abilities required each subject to recognize and select an explanation from a group of three, as to what made each item funny. Items were based on morphological, semantic and syntactic humour elements. Comparison at a group level demonstrated that adolescents with head injury performed significantly poorer in the interpretation and comprehension of linguistic humour than a group of individually matched peers. Contrary to expectations, a relationship between the level of self-esteem and humour comprehension did not exist. The findings of the present study suggest that further research into the effects of head injury on linguistic humour in adolescents is warranted, particularly from a case-by-case perspective.The aim of the present study was to determine the ability of adolescents with a head injury to interpret and comprehend linguistic humour. Nine adolescents with head injury aged between 12 years 1 month and 15 years 4 months, and nine individually matched adolescents aged between 12 years 1 month and 16 years 1 month were administered ahumour test, astandard language battery, the CELF-3, and the Self-Esteem Index. The test of humour abilities required each subject to recognize and select an explanation from a group of three, as to what made each item funny. Items were based on morphological, semantic and syntactic humour elements. Comparison at a group level demonstrated that adolescents with head injury performed significantly poorer in the interpretation and comprehension of linguistic humour than a group of individually matched peers. Contrary to expectations, a relationship between the level of self-esteem and humour comprehension did not exist. The findings of the present study suggest that further research into the effects of head injury on linguistic humour in adolescents is warranted, particularly from a case-by-case perspective.

Severe closed-head injury in childhood: Linguistic outcomes into adulthood

The language functioning of a group of adults who had sustained a severe closed-head injury in childhood was evaluated. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including measures of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as a measure of metalinguistic ability. Performance of the experimental group was compared with that of a control group matched for age, sex and educational level. Results indicated that all areas of language competence assessed (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) appeared to be compromised by the childhood closed-head injury.

Performance of closed head-injured children on a naming task

The naming abilities of a group of 20 children (aged 8-16) who had sustained a closed head injury (CHI) at least 12 months previously were assessed with the purpose of examining the long-term effect of CHI on childrens naming ability. Performance of the CHI group on the Boston Naming Test was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. A detailed examination of the types of naming errors exhibited by the CHI children was also carried out. Boston Naming Test scores of the CHI group were found to be significantly lower than those achieved by the control group. The error pattern demonstrated by the CHI group, however, mimicked that of the control group.

Language abilities of mildly closed head injured (CHI) children 10 years post-injury

The language functioning of a group of 14 children who had sustained a mild closed head injury (CHI) at least 10 years previously was assessed. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including an overall language test, and specific language skills assessments. Performance of the head-injured group was compared with that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and educational level. Overall language performance of the experimental group did not differ significantly from the controls.

Linguistic status following closed head injury in children: A follow-up study

The speech and language functioning of a group of 20 children (aged 8-17) who had sustained a closed head injury at least 12 months previously was assessed with the purpose of developing a comprehensive profile of the type and severity of the long-term speech/language disorders exhibited by this group. The same group of subjects was then re-evaluated 12 months after the initial testing to monitor progress of the closed head-injured group in relation to a group of non-neurologically impaired controls. The subjects were administered a battery of speech/language assessments including articulation/phonological assessment; oromotor assessment; overall language test; and specific language skills assessments. Initial and re-test performance of the head-injured group was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Comparison within the head-injured group of test and re-test performance was also carried out. Overall language performance scores of the head-injured group were found to be consistently significantly lower than achieved by the control group at both initial and re-test stages. Performance of the head-injured group had, however, improved significantly over the 12-month period.

Language performance of severely closed head injured children

The language functioning of a group of children who had sustained a severe closed head injury (CHI) was evaluated. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including measures of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Performance of the experimental group was compared with that of a control group matched for age and sex. Results indicated that all areas of language competence assessed (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) appeared to be compromised by the childhood CHI. The findings of this study are considered in light of the implications for the existence of different language components (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) as opposed to a unified concept of language. Also considered is the evidence of a specific linguistic impairment in the childhood CHI population as opposed to a more generalized cognitive decline expressed as an overall decrease in performance across all domains of language skill.

High-level linguistic disturbances subsequent to childhood closed head injury

High-level language functioning was assessed in a group of 11 children with severe closed head injury (CHI). Performance was examined on measures of figurative language, oral expression, inferencing, and interpretation of ambiguous sentences, and was compared with that of a control group matched for age, gender, and handedness. The children with CHI demonstrated inferior performance on the oral expression, ambiguous sentences, and figurative language tests; however, performance on the inferencing task appeared intact. These findings are discussed with respect to the underlying nature of the observed impairments. Both linguistic and cognitive factors are considered. It is concluded that a complex interaction of cognitive and linguistic impairments experienced by children with CHI may underlie the performance deficits identified in the current study.

Interpretation and comprehension of linguistic humour by adolescents with head injury: a case-by-case analysis

The aim of the present study was to examine the linguistic humour abilities of a group of adolescents with head injury on a case-by-case basis. Nine adolescents with head injury aged between 12 years 1 month and 15 years 4 months, and nine individually matched adolescents aged between 12 years 1 month and 16 years 1 month were administered a humour test, a standard language battery, the CELF-3, and the Self-Esteem Index. The test of humour abilities required each subject to recognize and select an explanation from a group of three, as to what made each item funny. Items were based on morphological, semantic and syntactic humour elements. Examination of the individual profiles of each subject with head injury illustrated the existence of variability between subjects representing three language abilities in the presence of mild head injury; and impaired humour ability with concurrent language skills that are within normal limits. This third pattern supports previous studies, which have documented the occurrence of high-level language impairment while language abilities are intact. The present study emphasized the importance of investigating the abilities of individuals who have had a head injury in childhood, within a developmental framework. This perspective serves to highlight the context of contributing aspects that impact on future language development and recovery of injury, such as the time that the injury occurred in a childs development, in addition to injury severity and main trends: reduced humour abilities together with below average language skills; intact humour and the time that has elapsed post-injury.

Narrative discourse in multiple sclerosis: An investigation of conceptual structure

Abstract The aim of the present study was to determine whether multiple sclerosis (MS) affects a persons ability to formulate message content in narrative discourse. Discourse samples were elicited from 47 persons with MS and 47 matched controls in response to computer-generated, animated sequences. Within the conceptual level of discourse processing, data were analysed for story schema and informative content. The two groups, MS and control, could not be distinguished by measures of the quantity of information conveyed. However, results revealed a difference in the nature of the information produced by the two groups. The persons with MS produced less essential story information than control subjects, while a tendency for the persons with MS to produce more incorrect and ambiguous information than controls was also noted. A number of factors were considered in an attempt to explain the underlying source of these differences. It was postulated that both pragmatic and cognitive skills impact on performanc...