Paula M. Rhyner

An Analysis of Teacher Responsiveness to Communicative Initiations of Preschool Children with Handicaps.

This paper presents data obtained in a preliminary study of teacher responsiveness to communicative initiation attempts of preschool children with developmental delays. Teacher-child interactions were analyzed during child- and teacher-directed activities to determine the types of teacher contingent responses to the childrens communicative initiations and the initiation behaviors used by the children. Teacher contingent responsiveness to the childrens initiations was low for both activities and was much lower for the teacher-directed than the child-directed activity. Analysis of the child initiation behaviors revealed that combinations of behaviors were used most frequently by the children to initiate communication with their teachers. The results suggest that the level of teacher contingent responsiveness may not have been optimal for facilitating the childrens language acquisition. Implications for future research and communication programming within classrooms for preschool children with handicaps a...

Readability of Early Intervention Program Literature

Accessibility of early intervention program literature was examined through readability analysis of documents given to families who have a child served by the Birth to 3 program. Nine agencies that serve families in Birth to 3 programs located in a county in the Midwest provided the (n = 94) documents. Documents were included in the analysis if they conveyed information about the nature of the program, the financial obligations of the family, intervention planning, and programmatic consent. The analysis indicated that a majority of the documents were written above the recommended fifth-grade reading level. Action steps to improve the accessibility of early intervention documents are discussed.

Readability Levels of Individualized Family Service Plans

ABSTRACT This descriptive study examined the readability levels of Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs). The readability of 85 de-identified IFSP documents developed by seven agencies that serve families and children enrolled in a county early intervention program was analyzed using Flesch Kincaid grade levels and Flesch reading ease scores. The average Flesch Kincaid grade level of the entire IFSP documents was 8.0, indicating that the text was written at the 8th grade reading level. The Flesch reading ease mean score for all of the IFSP documents was 58.6, indicating that the text was written at a moderate level of ease to read. The highest Flesch Kincaid grade level scores and lowest reading ease scores were found in sections that require descriptive documentation of IFSP activities and ideas, justification for services provided outside of the natural environment, the way in which outcomes would be met, and a description of the activities provided in the natural environment. The lowest Flesch Kincaid grade level and the highest reading ease level were found in the section involving gross motor development. There were no agencies that prepared IFSP documents at or below the recommended 5th grade reading level. The findings from this study indicated that on average the entire IFSP documents and most sections of the documents were written above a 5th grade reading level. Overall there were no agencies that wrote the IFSP documents at or below the recommended 5th grade reading level. Analysis of readability levels when preparing IFSP documents is recommended to optimize accessibility and usability.

Concurrent validity of the bracken basic concept scale with language and intelligence measures

The present study compared results obtained for 62 normally developing preschool children on the Bracken Basic Concept Scale, the Preschool Language Scale, and the Slossen Intelligence Test to determine whether scores on the tests correlated and were equivalent. Results of correlation analyses using standard scores from the Bracken Basic Concept Scale, the auditory comprehension and verbal ability subscales of the Preschool Language Scale, and the Slossen Intelligence Test revealed low to moderate correlations between the three tests. These results suggest that the tests do not measure the same abilities and thus cannot be used interchangeably to evaluate basic concept development, language, or intellectual functioning in preschool children. The moderate to high correlations found between the childrens CAs and age-equivalents for the three tests indicate that the tests measure skills that are developmental in nature. Implications for assessment of concept development and language functioning in preschool children are discussed.

The Pipeline Training Program in Maternal and Child Health: Interdisciplinary Preparation of Undergraduate Students from Underrepresented Groups

The Preparing Academically Successful Students in Maternal and Child Health (MCH PASS) training program provided financial support and specialized training to occupational therapy (OT) and speech-language pathology (SLP) undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in maternal and child health. The project assisted undergraduate trainees to matriculate into graduate programs in their respective fields and facilitated application into long-term maternal and child health training programs. Sixteen trainees (8 OT and 8 SLP) participated in an undergraduate training program with an emphasis on interdisciplinary teaming, family mentoring, leadership development, public health and population-based research. Instruction occurred in community and classroom settings through didactic instruction and small group discussions. Fifteen of the trainees applied to and were accepted in graduate programs in their respective fields. Two trainees applied to a long-term MCH training program. Students reported increased knowledge about programs that serve women and children, the effects of poverty on health, interdisciplinary teaming and the daily routines of families who have a child with a special health care need. The MCH PASS program provided a unique opportunity for undergraduate students in OT and SLP to learn about public health with an emphasis on maternal and child health. The specialized preparation enabled students to understand better the health concerns of underserved families whose children have special health care needs.

Screening Low-Income African American Children Using the BLT-2S and the SPELT-P

Screening the language abilities of African American kindergarten children with low socioeconomic status (SES) poses a major challenge for many speech-language pathologists. This article provides d...

Child Caregivers’ Contingent Responsiveness Behaviors During Interactions With Toddlers Within Three Day Care Contexts

Increasingly, children spend much of their day in the care of adults other than their parents, such as child care providers. Consequently, it is important to analyze nonparental adults’ use of strategies suggested to foster language development, such as contingent responsiveness, during interactions with young children. This study examined child caregivers’ contingent responsiveness behaviors that followed toddlers’ communicative attempts within unstructured, semistructured, and structured daycare contexts. Child caregiver behaviors were coded as (a) no response (appropriate), (b) no response (inappropriate), (c) noncontingent response (appropriate), (d) noncontingent response (inappropriate), (e) contingent response and termination of the interaction (appropriate), (f) contingent response and termination of the interaction (inappropriate), and (g) contingent response leading to maintenance of the communicative interaction. Important similarities and differences in child caregivers’ contingent responsiveness behaviors for the three contexts suggest a need to prepare child caregivers to use strategies such as contingent responsiveness across contexts to facilitate language development.

Graphic Symbol and Speech Training of Young Children With Down Syndrome: Some Preliminary Findings

This study examined the effects of five treatment conditions on the abilities of 11 preschool children with Down Syndrome to learn and use five new words/graphic symbols (Rebus or modified Bliss symbols). Treatment conditions included Speech and Language Training Only, Nonspeech Communication Training Only (Rebus or Bliss) and Speech and Language Training Combined with Nonspeech Communication Training (Rebus or Bliss). Subjects were seen for 12 individual sessions, the focus of which was training comprehension and spontaneous expressive use of the wordsl symbols. Pre- and post-treatment measures were obtained for training and nontraining words on the comprehension and expression tasks. Although no significant overall treatment effect was found for either task when pre-and post-treatment comparisons were made, there was a significant increase in comprehension scores for the subjects as a group. Analyses of the data from the treatment sessions revealed a significant decrease in the number of prompts require...This study examined the effects of five treatment conditions on the abilities of 11 preschool children with Down Syndrome to learn and use five new words/graphic symbols (Rebus or modified Bliss symbols). Treatment conditions included Speech and Language Training Only, Nonspeech Communication Training Only (Rebus or Bliss) and Speech and Language Training Combined with Nonspeech Communication Training (Rebus or Bliss). Subjects were seen for 12 individual sessions, the focus of which was training comprehension and spontaneous expressive use of the wordsl symbols. Pre- and post-treatment measures were obtained for training and nontraining words on the comprehension and expression tasks. Although no significant overall treatment effect was found for either task when pre-and post-treatment comparisons were made, there was a significant increase in comprehension scores for the subjects as a group. Analyses of the data from the treatment sessions revealed a significant decrease in the number of prompts required for expressive use of the wordl/symbols for subjects in the Speech and Language Training Combined with Nonspeech Communication Training conditions. Further, subjectsscores for some dependent measures significantly correlated with their developmental ages and levels of communicative functioning. Results suggest that incorporation of graphic symbols into the language intervention program may facilitate language acquisition in a young child with Down Syndrome, provided the tasks and procedures are appropriate to the childs developmental age and level of communicative functioning.

Problems with the distribution of your health and medical information

Social computing in the domain of health care is a vital, growing activity on the web. Patients, family, and healthcare professionals seek answers and share information. Knowledge management issues about accessing data and cultivating users have not been resolved. This panel has experiences to share based on research into the problems and issues that can separate each of us from personal medical and health records. Sometimes academic research in information science is separated by policies and practices from impacting the design of medical/healthcare worlds information applications. Reliability and quality in health information and knowledge depend on bridging this gap. Panelists and attendees will discuss four aspects of the gap between research and practice. Panelists want to show how their IS research may help improve your access to records. During audience interaction, everyone will be asked to concentrate on the perspective of the PATIENT by asking these questions: 1 How do I know where my medical information comes from and goes in a system? 2 If I am just the patient, can I find the information I need? 3 As part of a large group of patients (or infected population), how can my data be shared for the public good? 4 What are the challenges and opportunities of using existing health information for the public good? Format:Presentations (10 min. each) with Discussion (during and after panel presentations).