Minna Laakso

Language abilities of children with Asperger syndrome.

Current diagnostic taxonomies (ICD-10, DSM-IV) emphasize normal acquisition of language in Asperger syndrome (AS). Although many linguistic sub-skills may be fairly normal in AS there are also contradictory findings. There are only few studies examining language skills of children with AS in detail. The aim of this study was to study language performance in children with AS and their age, sex and IQ matched controls. Children with AS had significantly lower scores in the subtest of Comprehension of Instructions. Results showed that although many linguistic skills may develop normally, comprehension of language may be affected in children with AS. The results suggest that receptive language processes should be studied in detail in children with AS.

Coherence and informativeness of discourse in two dementia types

Abstract We examined the coherence and informativeness of discourse in vascular dementia (VaD) and probable Alzheimers disease (AD) by analyzing work history interviews in 8 patients with VaD, 11 patients with AD, and 19 age- and education-matched normal controls. The patient groups had comparable levels of cognitive impairment (mild-to-moderate dementia). The results show that both VaD and AD patients exhibited impaired global thematic coherence and reduced informativeness in their discourse. By contrast, the degree of local coherence between two successive utterances did not reliably differentiate the patient groups from the controls. A case-by-case analysis indicated that severely impaired global coherence was found among the ADpatients only. Correlational analyses showed that global coherence was the only discourse variable related to conceptual/semantic impairment.

Anomia treatment with contextual priming : a case study

Background : We present a multiple-baseline single-case treatment study on anomia. The present anomia treatment technique originates from several studies whose aim was to test word-production models in a multiple object naming paradigm by eliciting naming responses in normal (Martin, Weisberg, & Saffran, 1989) and aphasic speakers (Laine & Martin, 1996; Martin & Laine, 2000). In addition to evidence in favour of interactive word-production models, the studies of Laine and Martin (1996) and Martin and Laine (2000) have suggested that the procedure, known as contextual priming, might facilitate target naming in anomic patients at least in some naming conditions. Aims : Our aim was to test further the therapeutic potential of the contextual priming technique with the following questions: (1) Does the treatment technique facilitate the naming of target words? (2) Does a particular treatment condition (semantic, phonological, unrelated) show more facilitation than others? (3) Does the treatment technique facilitate the naming of untrained control items? (4) If there is a facilitatory effect, is it enduring? Methods & Procedures : A single anomic person with a long-standing anomia was treated with contextual priming. The technique included repeated cycles of spontaneous naming attempts and repetition of target names after the examiner. In the treatment, the target items were presented in sets of five pictures that were related either semantically or phonologically or were unrelated. The treatment was carried out in a multiple-baseline design consisting of 10 baseline measurements, 27 treatment sessions along with 27 within-training measurements, and 1 post-measurement 1.5 months after the treatment. Outcomes & Results : The anomic patient showed facilitation of the target naming in all contextual conditions. Generalisation to the untrained control items was evident in the semantic context only. The effect of naming facilitation was present up to the last follow-up measurement 1.5 months post-training. Conclusions : The results indicate that the contextual priming technique can provide long-term facilitation of target naming in anomia and induce some generalisation to untreated items.

Talk in interaction : comparative dimensions

During the recent decades Conversation Analysis has developed into a distinctive method for analyzing talk in interaction. The method is utilized in several disciplines sharing an interest in social interaction, like anthropology, linguistics, social psychology, and sociology, and it has been applied to a great variety of languages and types of interaction. Conversation Analysis then is coming of age as a truly comparative enterprise. This volume presents and discusses comparative approaches to analyzing interactional practices and structures. The contributors to the volume have their background in sociology, linguistics, and logopedics. They offer comparative analyses of activity types, participant roles and identities, displays of emotion, and design of actions such as questions and corrections. The languages covered by the chapters include English, Finnish, German, and Swedish. This volume is of interest to all those interested in the research of language and social interaction. Because of its methodological nature, the book can also be utilized in teaching and in learning the discovery procedures typical of Conversation Analysis.

Sole ulcers in Finnish dairy cattle.

The Finnish Healthy Hooves project was set up to determine the frequency of, and risk factors for various hoof lesions in Finnish dairy herds. Data were collected in the years 2003 and 2004. A large dataset of over 74,000 cow-level observations recorded by hoof trimmers was merged with production data from the Finnish Agricultural Data Processing Centre Ltd. Ultimately, data from a single lactation from each of 16,792 cows in 703 herds were used for the analyses in this paper. Three-level hierarchical logistic models with hoof trimmer and farms (within hoof trimmer) as random effects were fit to data sets of tie stall (TS) and loose housing (LH) herds separately. The outcome of interest was the presence or absence of a sole ulcer in one or more legs of a cow during the lactation of interest. Cows examined once had a risk of sole ulcer 5.23% in tie stall herds and 7.58% in LH herds. As the number of examinations increased the odds of a diagnosis of sole ulcer increased substantially (2 and 3+ examinations had odds ratios (ORs) of 1.42 and 3.42 in TS herds and 2.77 and 6.89 in LH herds). Breed had a large effect on the risk of sole ulcer with Holsteins 2.89 times more likely to be affected than Ayrshires in TS herds and 2.94 times in LH herds. In TS herds, the presence of other hoof lesions such as haemorrhages (OR = 2.97), heel-horn erosions (OR = 2.10) and corkscrew claw (OR = 2.83) increased the risk of a sole ulcer developing. In LH herds, only haemorrhages (OR = 1.80) were a significant risk factor when parity was > or = 2. In TS herds, use of mats (compared to hard flooring) significantly reduced the risk of sole ulcers (OR = 0.49). The effect of parity on the risk of sole ulcer was greatest when parity > or = 4 but this effect was only significant in tie stalls (OR = 1.86). When analyses were restricted to cows with parity > or = 2, similar results were obtained for the risk factors identified above. In addition, parity became highly significant in TS and LH (OR 2.31 and 2.23, respectively when parity was 4+). In TS herds, herd average milk production was significantly associated with a decrease risk of sole ulcer (OR = 1.28 per 1000 kg decrease) but there was no effect of production at the cow level (measured as deviation from the herd mean). No significant effects of production were observed in LH herds.

Self-repair of speech by four-year-old Finnish children

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to examine what four-year-old children repair in their speech. For this purpose, conversational self-repairs (N=316) made by two typically developing Finnish-speaking children (aged 4 ; 8 and 4 ; 11) were examined. The data comprised eight hours of natural interactions videotaped at the childrens homes. The tapes were analyzed using conversation analysis. The children made phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and non-linguistic self-repairs, and also inserted additional material into their utterances. Finnish-speaking children made more syntactic and fewer morphological self-repairs than the previous research on English-speaking children suggests. Furthermore, most self-repairs were found in talk during pretend play. In designing and engaging in such play, the children skilfully used self-repair to match their talk to meet the requirements of different interactive activities and co-participants. Finally, contextual analysis of childrens self-repairs showed that these were also socially motivated, and not just related to slips or errors in speech.

Mother-initiated repair sequences in interactions of 3-year-old children

Repair initiated by parents provides their children with corrective feedback of the children’s developing talk.To investigate how the interactive repair process is constructed, this study looked at five mother—child pairs during play interaction, focusing on mother-initiated repair sequences (N = 163). The mothers used many types of repair initiators from the general ‘What?’ to the more specific interrogatives. They also offered candidate understandings, and made other-corrections. Repair sequences usually comprised of three parts: the child’s turn, the mother’s repair initiation in the next turn, and the child’s response in the third turn. In more than 90% of the cases the children responded to their mothers’ repair initiations. Thus, after mother-initiation the 3-year-old children could already locate the trouble and repair it.

Collaborative participation in aphasic word searching: comparison between significant others and speech and language therapists

Background: Searching for words is a common phenomenon in conversations of people with aphasia. When searching for a word the speaker interrupts the emerging conversational turn with a pause, vocalisation (e.g., uh), and/or a question (e.g., what is it). Previous studies suggest that gazing and pointing can be used to invite conversational partners to join the search. Aims: This study compares the collaborative actions of different conversational partners of people with aphasia (significant others vs. speech and language therapists) during aphasic word searching. The aphasic speakers’ actions inviting assistance from the partners in the search are also examined. Methods & Procedures: The data for the study comprised 20 conversations, half videotaped at the participants’ homes and half in aphasia therapy sessions. The conversations were transcribed and analysed sequentially with a special emphasis on taking non-verbal actions into account. In the analysis, word search sequences were identified and the collaborative participation of the significant others, as well as the speech and language therapists, compared. Outcomes & Results: The analysis showed that institutional and non-institutional conversational partners collaborate in different ways during word searching. When invited to join the search, often non-verbally, the significant others quickly offer words for the aphasic speakers to complete the search. When successful, these immediate completions solve the search and the core conversation can continue. On the other hand, even if invited non-verbally, speech and language therapists do not join in searching by offering words. Instead, they ask questions or offer their candidate understandings that are more elaborate than one word. Furthermore, they regularly shift the speaking turn back to the aphasic speaker encouraging the aphasic speaker to continue the search by him or herself. Conclusions: The institutional and everyday practices of sequential resolutions of word searching differ to a great extent. Everyday conversational practices of collaborative completion appear more effective in solving the search and allow the aphasic speaker to experience smoothly flowing conversational interaction. Everyday practices could also be systematically used within aphasia therapy. Furthermore, if necessary, speech and language therapists should promote the use of these practices within daily interactions of the aphasic clients and their significant others.

Grammatical structuring in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia in Finnish

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the linguistic problems of aphasic speakers of Finnish. The focus is on Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. First, we present an overview of the special characteristics of the grammar of Finnish. Secondly, there is a discussion of previous studies on aphasic speakers of Finnish. Thirdly, we present an analysis of our data from conversation and picture description task by speakers with Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. The analysis focuses on case marking, subject-verb agreement, word order and the expression of tense in the speech of Finnish aphasics. As a whole, many linguistic features are preserved both in Brocas and Wernickes aphasia. Even the neologistic words in Wernickes aphasia are appropriately inflected. However, our findings suggest that aphasic errors are not always systematic and furthermore, they may be context-dependent. For example, Brocas aphasics produced case marking and agreement patterns in some contexts correctly, whereas in some other contexts they were produced erroneously. The word order patterns were similar to those found in conversational discourse in general. However, it is sometimes impossible to give a definitive analysis of the word order or structure of a given grammatical construction. This is due to the fact that sentence structure is sometimes badly distorted both in Brocas and Wernickes aphasic cases because of difficulty in finding lexical content words. We conclude with a comparison of our findings with previous studies of Finnish aphasics, proposing some methodological implications for further studies.

Aphasia Sufferers’ Displays of Affect in Conversation

How do people with aphasia express their emotions? This article uses a sample of video-recorded speech and language therapy sessions to see how patients make use of facial, vocal, and bodily expression. Analysis shows that their affect displays regularly co-occur with linguistic difficulties and efforts to repair them. The most common affect displays consist of frowning, laughing, smiling, and shifts in gaze or body posture. If the difficulties are prolonged, affect displays are intensified with lowered/raised voice quality, sighing, head shaking, and verbal exclamations. Both frowning and laughter display recognition of linguistic difficulties, thus turning the threatening display of linguistic incompetence into a display of competence and active management of the trouble. The therapists are neutral in displaying affect but reciprocate smiles and laughter. The way that patient and therapist manage their displays of affect are part of their management of their larger social identities. Data are in Finnish with English translation.