Leonard L. LaPointe

Language impairment in Parkinson's disease

Abstract Increasingly, researchers and clinicians are beginning to unveil both cognitive and linguistic impairments in Parkinsons disease (PD), a condition characterized in the past primarily by impairment of the motoric aspects of ambulation and speech. This study describes subtle language impairment in 20 subjects with PD on a battery of measures selected to be sensitive to frontal lobe language function. Comparative performances of the PD subjects with an age, gender, and education-matched control group revealed significant performance level differences across several language variables. The PD subject group as a whole, presented with impaired naming and definitional abilities, and difficulties in interpreting ambiguity and figurative language. When the PD subjects were divided on the basis of their score on a cognitive rating scale, PD subjects with below normal cognitive status presented with deficits in naming, definition, and multi-definition abilities, as well as problems in interpreting ambiguit...

Auditory vigilance during divided task attention in aphasic individuals

Abstract Little research has been reported on auditory vigilance skills of aphasic individuals, particularly under a dual task paradigm designed to divide attention. Six aphasic males and six gender and age-matched control subjects listened to two, twenty-minute 400 word lists and were asked to identify a target word that was randomly interspersed 50 times. During Condition A, subjects were only required to remain auditorily vigilant and identify target words. During Condition B subjects were required to listen for and identify target words while simultaneously conducting a card sorting task. Aphasic and non-brain-damaged subjects performed similarly under Condition A, auditory vigilance alone. For the dual task, divided attention condition, the non-aphasic group performed virtually the same as in Condition A. The aphasic group revealed significantly less accurate performance under Condition Bs dual task requirements. Apparently the added task of card sorting so divided or preoccupied the attention of mo...

Analysis of five acoustic correlates of laughter

Five acoustic characteristics of five operationally defined laugh responses and the habitual speech fundamental frequency (F0) from each of 11 male college students are described in this study. Findings revealed a positive correlation between the means of laugh duration and number of intensity peaks. Analysis of variance performed between each of the three F0 measures of laughter as well as the F0 of habitual speech indicated differences in means were not statistically significant. A significant difference was found between the means of the habitual speech F0 and the peak laugh F0. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Quality of life with brain damage

My nominee for the key issue in the study of language and the brain during the first century of the third millennium is a concept that is slippery, burning, neglected, and crucial. That concept is definition and measurement of quality of life (QOL) with brain damage, especially brain damage that compromises the prodigy of human language. Since ancient times humans have been taken aback and fascinated by the peculiar and convoluted utterances that fell from the mouths of their brain-struck companions. These strange and confusing disorders, some of which came to be known as ‘‘aphasia,’’ have proven to be fertile ground for bemused scholars who at times seemed to be obsessed to record it, label it, rename it, sort it, resort it, categorize it, argue about it, and generally regard it as a weird and wonderful subject to study. (LaPointe, 1983) As one of my colleagues observed in the days before ‘‘person first’’ language was de rigueur, ‘‘It seems that researchers are more interested in aphasia than in aphasics.’’ The idea that shattered language can and should be mended is all too recent. The idea that there might be a connection between remediation, recovery, and perceived improvements in life quality is embryonic. In my view, the time is ripe. The impetus of the World Health Organization’s influence on the incorporation of individualistic and societal interpretations of health and wellness is gaining favor. As has been noted elsewhere (LaPointe, 1999) the definition and measurement of QOL has been tricky. What constitutes wellness? What are the dimensions of improved life quality? Oliver Wendell Holmes (1860), just one year before all of the excitement created by Tan and Pierre Paul Broca in Paris, commented on the importance and complexity of a complete life:

Attention allocation during a dual task paradigm by bilingual speakers

AbstractCognitive resource allocation theories and an impressive accumulation of empirical research suggest that humans selectively allocate their mental attention. When faced with two concurrent tasks, human performance on a variety of cognitive and language tasks can be significantly affected. Whilst the nature of performance trade-off during a dual task paradigm is being studied with increasing vigour in subjects with hemispheric damage, little is known about attentional allocation during linguistic tasks by bilingual speakers. The present study employed the dual task technique to investigate the nature and effectiveness of language processing across two languages in bilingual subjects. Twenty-nine volunteer subjects were selected for this study. All were fluent English/Greek bilingual speakers with Greek being their first language (L1) and English their second language (L2). Subjects were presented with two highly demanding verbal tasks (auditory comprehension and category fluency) in English (L2) and...

Gerontological Training for Speech-Language Pathologists:: An Initial Assessment of the Need and Benefits

This study provides an initial, data-based assessment of the need for and benefits of specialized training in gerontology for speech-language pathologists. Respondents were 77 ASHA conferees who completed written questionnaires. The demographic findings suggest that few speech-language pathologists receive gerontological training; nonetheless, the clinicians demonstrated an extensive knowledge of the aging process. Inferential findings indicate that nonprofessional interaction with elders, rather than professional interaction with older clients or gerontological training, is associated with increased knowledge about the aging process. However, both gerontological training and preference for older clients were associated with amount of professional interactions with older clients.

Gerontological Training for Speech-Language Pathologists:

This study provides an initial, data-based assessment of the need for and benefits of specialized training in gerontology for speech-language pathologists. Respondents were 77 ASHA conferees who completed written questionnaires. The demographic findings suggest that few speech-language pathologists receive gerontological training; nonetheless, the clinicians demonstrated an extensive knowledge of the aging process. Inferential findings indicate that nonprofessional interaction with elders, rather than professional interaction with older clients or gerontological training, is associated with increased knowledge about the aging process. However, both gerontological training and preference for older clients were associated with amount of professional interactions with older clients.