Date of Award

4-1995

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Department

Speech Pathology and Audiology

First Advisor

Dr. Candis Warner

Second Advisor

Dr. Jan Bedrosian

Third Advisor

Dr. Nickola Nelson

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Agenesis of the corpus callosum is a disorder which has been the focus of clinical research on various tasks involving interhemispheric transfer of information. However, therapeutic intervention for individuals with this disorder has not been located in the literature by this researcher. Speech-language therapy for a five-year-old male incorporating interaction with songs was employed to activate various portions of the congenitally separated cerebral hemispheres and to encourage information transfer through non-traditional ways to facilitate syllable production.

The child received speech-language therapy for 15, 30-minute sessions. He was prompted to participate physically (with actions or manipulation of props) and verbally in the singing of the songs. A voice output communication device was also incorporated into the treatment program in alternate treatment phases to provide the child with an additional modality of participation and to further facilitate speech production.

Measures of total syllables produced by the child were calculated for the first five minutes of each session (pre-session probe) and the last five minutes of each session (post-session probe). Results indicate total number of syllables produced by the child increased immediately following treatment in each session as well as over time. Results also indicate that introduction of a voice output communication device did not particularly increase syllable production when compared to interaction with songs without the device.

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