Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a developmental speech sound disorder (SSD) notable for its severity and persistence of speech difficulties. A debate has surfaced historically about the cause of the speech and language deficits observed in the disorder. As children with CAS often present with comorbid language problems (i.e., receptive and…

Speech sound disorder (SSD) puts children at risk for word reading difficulties but does not guarantee them. Research on early literacy skills in children with SSD has primarily focused on phonological awareness due to speech sound deficits associated with SSD. Researchers have begun to examine multiple factors beyond phonological awareness that…

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) make impressionistic intelligibility judgments as part of an evaluation of children for speech sound disorders. Despite the lack of formalization, it is an important measure of choice for SLPs, going beyond single-word standardized measures by using spontaneous speech to assess functional communication. However,…

Typically developing (TD) children, as young as four years of age, have demonstrated enhanced noun learning when orthographic representations are presented during learning tasks. This dissertation investigated the impact of orthographic support on word learning in diverse populations, focusing on children from a variety of clinical categories…

Previous research on the use of voice output communication aids (VOCAs) has found a number of positive effects on the behavior of both the VOCA user and their communicative partners. Among these outcomes, studies have found that incorporating speech output into language learning tasks may result in faster and more efficient learning for adults…

This study focused on the experience of parents concerned with child social behavior and the perception of bibliotherapy as an intervention. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, four families raising children between the ages of 4-12 participated in a series of interviews. The children's social needs varied, but parent concerns were…

Students exhibiting speech deficits may not have the appropriate skills or support structures necessary to obtain adequate or acceptable literacy development as mixed results from past research have indicated that some students with speech impairments have the capacity to gain appropriate literacy skills. The purpose of the qualitative holistic…