Faculty and Graduate Research from the UVM Department of Communication Sciences
View all graduate research posters from the CMSI Graduate Class of 2009. Barry Guitar, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Dr. Barry Guitar's research focuses primarily on children who are just beginning to stutter. Current research is underway on three related topics: Dr. Guitar's research attempts to answer the following questions: What is the best treatment? Which children will recover naturally and which need treatment? For more information about the stuttering research studies, please contact Barry Guitar at barry.guitar@uvm.edu
Michael S. Cannizzaro, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Dr. Cannizzaro's current research interests include both basic (understanding mechanisms) and applied (clinical) investigations of language & cognitive function in adults with and without neurological disorders. Methods of exploration include behavioral analysis using experimental and standardized linguistic and neuropsychological measures, as well as the use of neuroimaging technologies. Areas of current research investigations are listed below. Recently featured in the CMSI E-News: Michael S. Cannizzaro, Julie Dumas, Patricia Prelock, Paul Newhouse; University of Vermont (Above) A functional Magnetic Resonance Image (fMRI) of reduced brain activation in the prefrontal cortex as participants read well-organized stories (vs. unrelated sentences). Data from our latest neuroimaging project suggest that well organized narratives actually reduce the processing load on the neural circuits that support understanding of discourse communication. This has implications for communicating with, and teaching communication strategies to children and adults with communication disorders. Examples in speech-language pathology might include: The clinical examination of discourse is a useful tool for studying communication skills in both children and adults with or without neurological impairments. The comprehension and production of discourse represents complex behavior in that integrated knowledge of linguistic principles, organizational structure, and pragmatic rules, are required to create a coherent message. Current neuroimaging data support the activation of a bilateral network (i.e., anterior prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus) involved in narrative discourse processing. However, it is not known how this network is influenced by the organizational structure of the story. Twelve right-handed native English speaking subjects (4 females), over the age of 18 (mean (SD) = 25.67 (2.5)), participated in this fMRI study. Structurally simple 60 word narratives containing a single complete episode were created to conform strictly to story grammar conventions (i.e., the schematic mental! model). These were presented as either story narratives or unrelated sentences in a block design. Across all brain regions previously reported to be activated during narrative processing, we found reduced activation for cohesive schematically organized narratives compared to the unrelated sentences. This finding is consistent with structured event complex (SEC) knowledge framework (e.g., organizational rules and patterns related to mental schema) of the prefrontal cortex, at least in the case of linguistically based story narratives. In essence, the stimuli in the present study created a condition that reduced workload by the neural substrates previously associated with discourse processing, by using familiar organizational patterns based on theoretical mental schema. Current Research Interests Michael S. Cannizzaro, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Former Graduate Student Research Projects Rebecca Bonnici: Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of Flaccid Dysarthria in Muscular Dystrophy To learn more about Professor Cannizzaro's research, please contact: Michael Cannizzaro, Ph.D.
ASHA Fellow, Specialist in Fluency
a) assessing outcomes for two different treatments for preschool children who stutter - traditional family-child interaction therapy and the Lidcombe Program,
b) examining the extent to which measures of temperament made near the onset of stuttering are related to recovery (natural recovery and treatment recovery),
c) examining measures of temperament in adults who stutter persistently compared to adults who recovered as children.
What’s the Story with the Prefrontal Cortex?
Abstract: How Story Schema Influences Narrative Comprehension: an fMRI Study
The cognitive architecture (neural correlates) of narrative discourse and executive functions
(fMRI pilot work in development in conjunction with UVM’s Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit)
Age related changes in narratives and executive functions
Dissertation Title: “Narrative Discourse Production in Adults: Relationships with Age and Executive Functions” 2003
Brain injury and related changes in narrative and executive functions
Cannizzaro, M.S. & Coelho, C.A. (2002). Treatment of story grammar following traumatic brain injury: A pilot study. Brain Injury, 16, 1065-1073.
Neurogenic Changes in Speech Production
Mundt, J.M., Snyder, P.J., Cannizzaro, M.S., Chappie, K., & Geralts, D.S. (2007). Voice acoustic measures of depression severity and treatment response collected via interactive voice response (IVR) technology. Journal of Neurolinguistics. 20, 50-64
Cannizzaro, M.S., Cohen, H., Reppard, F. & Snyder, P.J. (2005). Bradyphrenia and bradykinesia both contribute to altered speech in persons with schizophrenia: A quantitative speech acoustic study. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. 18, 206-210.
Cannizzaro, M.S., Reilly, N. & Snyder, P.J. (2005). Remote capture of human voice data by telephone: A methods study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. 19, 649-658.
Harel, B.T., Cannizzaro, M. S., Cohen, H., Reilly, N. & Snyder, P. J. (2004). Acoustic characteristics of Parkinsonian speech: A potential biomarker of early disease progression and treatment. Journal of Neurolinguistics. 17, 439-453.
Jessica Decker: The effectiveness of Narrative Discourse Treatment in Persons with Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury
Danielle Johnson: The Agrammatic Aphasic’s Comprehension of the Matrix Clause in Embedded Sentences: A Test of the Trace-Deletion Hypothesis (submitted for publication to the Journal of Neurolinguistics)
The development of meaningful social relationships among children with autism and their typical peers is a frequently identified valued outcome for families. Yet, children with autism demonstrate marked challenges in their ability to establish joint attention, engage in pretend play and sustain their interaction with their peers—all critical components to the development of social relationships and friendship building. Dr. Patricia Prelock has been involved in intervention research in which she is using graduate student interventionists to support the peer interactions of young children with autism and their typical peers in the home setting. The home was selected as opposed to the classroom setting because Dr. Prelock is trying to capitalize on an environment where children with autism are familiar with their toys, have established routines and can practice their skills as play partners in a common context for children without autism. During this 15-week treatment study, interventionists learn to scaffold the play of children with autism and their typical peers, mediating and interpreting their play events, encouraging their joint attention, and facilitating their sustained engagement in play. Several former and current students have participated in this research as graduate research assistants including Kimberly Bennett (’03), Corrie Rilling (’03), Eugenia Corbett (’05), Mary Plain (’05), Gregory Unwin (’05), Emily Schug (’07), Courtney Ehlers (’07), Laura Bonazinga (’08), Cocoa Blake (’08) and Sarah Nestor (’08). Undergraduate students have been involved in the transcription of the data tapes including Alicia Kaderbeck, Ashley Besaw and Alexandra Brogan. Currently, Dr. Prelock is working on the analysis of the intervention for 11 dyads.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often experience difficulty understanding social situations, communicating effectively, and taking the perspective of others. A relatively new approach to help children with ASD behave more appropriately in social situations involves the use of Social Stories. Social Stories are short stories that explain to children how to behave more successfully in a social settings. Although much enthusiasm surrounds this approach, little rigorous research has been conducted in this area to date. In addition, no research has been conducted to explore the potential benefits of Social Stories for enhancing the perspective-taking abilities of children with ASD.
Drs. Patricia Prelock and Tiffany Hutchins are co-investigating the effectiveness of Social Stories to help children with ASD 1) increase their appropriate communicative strategies, 2) decrease their inappropriate social behaviors and, 3) influence their perspective-taking abilities. As a large scale and experimentally-controlled study, this research involves the participation of several children with ASD and their families. The children and their families represent a diverse sample in terms of child characteristics and parents’ backgrounds. Both graduate and undergraduate students in the Department of Communication Sciences are collaborating with Drs. Prelock and Hutchins in this research. Our collaborative team works closely with the children with ASD and their parents in order to identify challenges that become the targets of our intervention. We also work to train students as effective and sensitive interventionists who are adept in data collection procedures, experimental design, transcription or data analysis. As a project that will span the next few years, we look forward to contributing to our knowledge of the effects of Social Stories for children with ASD.
A number of undergraduate students were involved in this research as interventionists during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 academic years, including Darlene Barone, Laura Bonazinga, Regina Charron, Megan Deshais, Ally Gould, Elizabeth Rinaldi, Heather Fjeld, Lindsay Miller, Rhiannon Kim, and Crystal Variava. Graduate students in the class of 2005 also participated as interventionists for the research, including Mary Plain, Greg Unwin, Erin Murphy and Mary Beth Dugan. Mary Beth also served as the Research Coordinator for the project during the 2004-2005 academic year. Several graduate students participated as interventionists in year two of the project (2005-2006), including Cocoa Blake, Ashley Clark, Chrissy Daly, Courtney Ehlers, Carolyn Hofford, Regina Charron and Mary Daniels. Several undergraduates including Lily Hughes, Heather Fjeld, Christine McGovern, Shoshanna Kantor, Michelle Cadieux and Kira Schachinger supported the project through transcription of tapes and data analysis. Currently, Drs. Prelock and Hutchins are working on the final analysis for future publication.
Photos and stories about CMSI graduate research is available in the Fall 2009 CMSI E-News
View all graduate research posters from the CMSI Graduate Class of 2009
Elizabeth Allen, M.S. '09
In November 2009, recent CMSI graduate Elizabeth Allen (MS, 2009) presented her data-based research to the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) at the annual convention in New Orleans. Elizabeth's presentation is from her Masters Student research project entitled: Pragmatic Perceptions of Word Retrieval Behaviors in a Young Woman with Traumatic Brain Injury. View the 2009 Graduate Poster for this study. The manuscript for this research paper is currently under review in the journal Brain Injury.
Elizabeth M. Allen, Michael S. Cannizzaro & Patricia Prelock: University of Vermont
Acquired brain injury often results in a variety of cognitive and linguistic changes including word-finding difficulties (i.e., anomia). The present study explores peers’ perceptions of the communication abilities of an individual with anomia and co-occurring non-verbal word finding behaviors (e.g., gesture) secondary to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thirty-four undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Communication Sciences course at the University of Vermont rated the individual on communication parameters from the Pragmatic Protocol (Prutting & Kirchner, 1987) and on four other dependent measures related to communicative competence after watching or listening to six short clips of the individual with TBI engaged in conversation. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between groups (audio & video) on overall perceptions of the individual’s communication abilities, suggesting that gestures and other visual word retrieval behaviors were not integral to perceptions of the individual as a communicator. Among participants in the video group, there was a positive correlation between perceptions of gesture and hand and arm movements and ratings of overall communicative competence. A discussion of the implications of these findings as they relate to clinical decision making for the population of individuals with TBI and anomia, as well as those with other communication deficits, is included.
Research posters from the CMSI Graduate Class of 2009
Elizabeth M. Allen '09
Pragmatic Perceptions of Word Retrieval Behaviors in a Young Woman with Traumatic Brain Injury - Read Abstract
Katie Anson-Chapman '09
Counseling as a Component in Stuttering Therapy
Alison Card '09
A Comparison of Personal and Fiction Narratives of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury
Sarah Cousins '09
Factors Predicting Treatment Outcomes of the Lidcombe Program
Lillian Dean '09
Can a Course in Buddhist Meditation Reduce Anxiety and Stuttering in Adults who Stutter?
Heather Elizabeth Fjeld '09
A comparison of the repetitive disfluencies of preschoolers who do and do not stutter using fundamental frequency, spectral tilt, and duration.
Celina R. Fuller '09
Evidence Based Practice in Treatment for Dysphagia in Wallenberg’s Syndrome: A Case Study
Lindsay C. Miller '09
Differential Diagnosis of an Acquired Neurogenic Communication Disorder in an Individual with Premorbid Psychosocial and Legal Stressors
Theodore C. Myotte '09
Understanding Why Speech-Language Pathologists Rarely Pursue the Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders: A Survey Study
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Last modified November 24 2009 11:08 AM
