Establishing Cueing Skills When Treating Bilingual Speech Sound Disorders

Purpose: This study sought to train cueing skills in first-year graduate students when working with bilingual children with speech sound disorders to ensure fidelity of intervention of a larger research investigation. Method: Before explicitly training cueing skills, three students were randomly assigned bilingual clients that had been previously diagnosed with a speech sound disorder and asked to administer trial therapy. During the instructional phase, we gave students a cueing protocol, a scoring template, and feedback. We assessed performance according to challenge-point criteria and adherence to our cueing protocol. Results: Performance varied per student, but overall scores were higher during the instructional phases than during the baseline phase for all students. Performance was also higher when the students participated in individual conferencing versus group conferencing. Conclusion: Although the data are limited, the results suggest that a cueing protocol is supportive in establishing cueing skills in first-year graduate students administering speech sound intervention

Establishing Diagnostic Skills in Novice Bilingual Clinicians: A Scaffolded Approach

This study sought to scaffold administration performance of a standardized bilingual screener to sufficient levels of accuracy for data collection using principles of Cognitive Load Theory by managing task complexity when training pre-service clinicians. Before training administration skills, two students were given copies of the manual for the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener (BESOS) and asked to administer the protocol independently. During the intervention phase, students were scaffolded through administration tasks of increasing complexity and given explicit instruction, which included tailored goals, modeling and feedback. Performance for four skills was assessed using a fidelity rubric and analyzed using visual analysis. Performance varied per skill but overall scores were higher during the intervention phases than during the baseline phase for both students. In addition, accuracy of performance maintained across client participants showing patterns of generalization. Although the data are limited, scaffolding training skills for pre-service clinicians appears supportive in training administration skills for bilingual tasks. The level of support may vary per skill and per language. Future research may seek to investigate other clinical skills and tasks

Actividades educativas que ejecuta el profesional de enfermería para la prevención del dengue en el Ambulatorio Urbano Tipo I “Los Próceres”. Municipio Heres. Parroquia Agua Salada. Ciudad Bolívar.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo Determinar las acciones educativas que ejecuta el profesional de enfermería en la prevención del dengue en usuarios atendidos en el Ambulatorio Urbano tipo I “Los Próceres “Ciudad Bolívar, Estado Bolívar. Se trata de un estudio descriptivo, de campo y transversal; la muestra estuvo constituida por todo el personal de enfermería (15), clasificadas en: Cuatro (04) Licenciadas, Cinco (05) T.S.U y Seis (06) Auxiliares, que laboran en el Ambulatorio y constituyen una muestra, a quienes se le aplicó un instrumento (Guía de Observación) previamente validado a juicio de expertos y estuvo constituido por 26 ítems de repuestas dicotómicas (si/no), se realizaron (3) observaciones al personal de enfermería o unidades muéstrales. Los resultados obtenidos, señalan que el 68,25 % de los Profesionales de Enfermería no aplican acciones educativas en cuanto a la prevención primaria (Fomento de la salud), mientras que el 31,75 % de estos profesionales lo realizan. El 76,44 % de los profesionales de enfermería no aplican acciones educativas en cuanto a las medidas de prevención primaria (Protección específica), el 23,56 % orientan en cuanto a estas medidas que deben realizar los usuarios para evitar la proliferación del dengue. Y por último, el 70,12 % de los profesionales de enfermería no ejecutan acciones educativas sobre la prevención secundaria (diagnóstico precoz y tratamiento oportuno), mientras que un 29,88 % lo ejecutan. Por tal razón, se recomendó: Proponer un Plan Educativo permanente sobre como evitar el Dengue para los usuarios que acuden al Ambulatorio y Promover talleres de Educación continua sobre la naturaleza del Dengue, la prevención primaria y la prevención secundaria de la salud al profesional de Enfermería

Language dimensionality in Spanish-English bilingual children

The purpose of the current study was to characterize the relationships across languages and domains on a variety of linguistic tasks for a sample of school-aged Spanish-English (SE) bilingual children. Data for 164 bilingual second and fourth graders were analyzed and included the following measures (in Spanish and English): semantics and morphosyntax subtests of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment - Middle Extension (BESAME; Peña, Bedore, Iglesias, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Goldstein, in development), the Test of Narrative Language (TNL; Gillam & Pearson, 2004; Gillam, Peña, Bedore, & Pearson, in development), and the Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT; Brownell, 2000; Brownell 2001). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) allowed testing the applicability of hypothesized models of language based on single-language studies to a bilingual sample. In addition, cross-linguistic models were tested to examine the underlying structure of language across measures in both Spanish and English. Examination of dimensionality by language in school-age SE bilingual children yielded a 3-factor model (semantics, morphosyntax, and discourse). However, findings for cross-linguistic dimensionality were inconclusive. Results are discussed in terms of relationships within and across languages as well as within and across domains.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Language and Literacy Together: Supporting Grammatical Development in Dual Language Learners With Risk for Language and Learning Difficulties

Purpose Early Interventions in Reading (Vaughn et al., 2006), the only literacy intervention with demonstrated effectiveness for U.S. dual language learners, was enhanced to support the development of oral language (vocabulary, grammar, and narrative) and literacy, which we refer to as “Language and Literacy Together.” The primary focus of this study is to understand the extent to which grammatical skills of bilinguals with risk for language and/or reading difficulties improve in the Language and Literacy Together intervention. Method Fifteen first-grade dual language learners with risk for language and/or reading difficulties participated in an enhanced version of Early Interventions in Reading in Spanish. Children completed pre- and postintervention evaluations in Spanish and English, including grammatical testing from the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener (Peña et al., 2008) and narrative evaluation Test of Narrative Language story prompts (Gillam &amp; Pearson, 2004; Gillam et al., n.d.). Data from six comparison participants with typical language skills who completed pre- and posttesting demonstrate the stability of the measures. Results The intervention group made gains in English and Spanish as evidenced by significant increases in their cloze and sentence repetition accuracy on the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener Morphosyntax subtest. They increased productivity on their narratives in Spanish and English as indexed by mean length of utterance in words but did not make gains in their overall grammaticality. Conclusions Structured intervention that includes an emphasis on grammatical elements in the context of a broader intervention can lead to change in the production of morphosyntax evident in both elicited constructions and narrative productivity as measured by mean length of utterance in words. Additional work is needed to determine if and how cross-linguistic transfer might be achieved for these learners. </jats:sec

Understanding Disorder Within Variation: Production of English Grammatical Forms by English Language Learners

PurposeThis study examines English performance on a set of 11 grammatical forms in Spanish-English bilingual, school-age children in order to understand how item difficulty of grammatical constructions helps correctly classify language impairment (LI) from expected variability in second language acquisition when taking into account linguistic experience and exposure.MethodThree hundred seventy-eight children's scores on the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment-Middle Extension (Peña, Bedore, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, &amp; Goldstein, 2008) morphosyntax cloze task were analyzed by bilingual experience groups (high Spanish experience, balanced English-Spanish experience, high English experience, ability (typically developing [TD] vs. LI), and grammatical form. Classification accuracy was calculated for the forms that best differentiated TD and LI groups.ResultsChildren with LI scored lower than TD children across all bilingual experience groups. There were differences by grammatical form across bilingual experience and ability groups. Children from high English experience and balanced English-Spanish experience groups could be accurately classified on the basis of all the English grammatical forms tested except for prepositions. For bilinguals with high Spanish experience, it was possible to rule out LI on the basis of grammatical production but not rule in LI.ConclusionsIt is possible to accurately identify LI in English language learners once they use English 40% of the time or more. However, for children with high Spanish experience, more information about development and patterns of impairment is needed to positively identify LI

Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum in Health Professions Education

In health professions education, the hidden curriculum is a set of implicit rules and expectations about how clinicians act and what they value. In fields that are very homogenous, such as rehabilitation professions, these expectations may have outsized impacts on students from minoritized backgrounds. This qualitative study examined the hidden curriculum in rehabilitation graduate programs&mdash;speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy&mdash;through the perspectives and experiences of 21 students from minoritized backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews explored their experiences with their programs&rsquo; hidden curricula. These revealed expectations about ways of being, interacting, and relating. Three overarching themes emerged, each reflecting tensions between conflicting values: (i) blend in but stand out; (ii) success lies in individualism, while de-prioritizing the individual; and (iii) fix the field, using your identities as a tool. When the expectations aligned with students&rsquo; expectations for themselves, meeting them was a source of pride. However, when the social expectations clashed with their own culture, dis/ability, gender, or neurotype, these tensions became an additional cognitive burden, and they rarely received mentorship for navigating it. Health professions programs might benefit from fostering students&rsquo; critical reflection on their hidden curricula and their fields&rsquo; cultural norms to foster greater belonging, agency, and identity retention