Communication Disorders Quarterly

The purpose of this article is to share a stuttering program utilized in public schools of Oregon. It is a direct intervention program aimed at the elementary age school population. The program has four stages which combine management and transfer in order to lead to fluent maintenance. The central goal of the program is to teach the child to make appropriate discriminations of muscle tension and air flow. Suggested criteria for movement between stages are included.

This study attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of a non-oral expressive communication program for a nonverbal retarded subject. The subject had been engaged in speech therapy programs for over 11 years, but she was only able to use one word, mama, to communicate expressively. Her language disability may have been further compounded by an auditory language deficit. As soon as the relatively simple training procedures were begun, the subject was able to respond correctly by identifying printed words and phrases. This program was an adaptation of the language boards that are frequently provided for subjects with cerebral palsy. It is generally agreed that such forms of expressive communication should only be resorted to after many attempts to train vocal verbalization have failed.

Computer averaging can be used in recording low amplitude, far-field reflections of electrical activity in stimulated auditory pathways ascending the brainstem in man. These evoked responses were recorded from pre-term neonates in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Orange County Medical Center. Recordings were made while the infants were in environmentally-regulated isolettes with the use of conventional EEG electrodes. Clicks at 65, 45, and 25 dB SL (re: normal hearing adults) were applied via a headphone. Seven components were found within the first 15 msec following stimulation. Latency (msec) and amplitude (nanovolts) were measured and compiled with the individual infant's estimated gestational age. Results from clinically normal and abnormal patients were grouped separately, and brainstem pathology reports were evaluated on patients which expired. Responses from normal subjects decreased in latency with maturation. Amplitudes and latencies in abnormal patients deviated from the established normal pattern. Auditory evoked responses are quantitative measures which can be useful in estimating gestational age and hearing integrity, and determining the neurological status of brainstem structures in the auditory pathway.