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Biomedical subjects

E P Abrahamsen

Publications and source records attributed to E P Abrahamsen.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Fable comprehension by children with learning disabilities.

Seven fables were read to 14 average learners and 14 children with learning disabilities, all of whom ranged in age from 10 to 13 years. They were presented with four possible moral choices: one correct, one related, and two incorrect. They were instructed to select the correct moral choice and were asked to explain their choice. The average learners' ability to select the correct moral was significantly better than that of the children with learning disabilities. In addition, even when they chose correct morals, the children with learning disabilities were less capable of explaining their choice.

Adolescent↗

Temporal clause comprehension in fluent and nonfluent aphasics.

Ten fluent and ten nonfluent aphasics participated in this study. Their ability to comprehend before and after clauses which mirrored the order of occurrence and those which did not mirror the order of events was investigated. Results indicate that type of aphasia was not a significant variable related to comprehension but that sentence type was a significant variable. Aphasics' comprehend before clauses better than after clauses. Nonfluent aphasics were able to comprehend those temporal clauses that mirror the order of occurrence better than those that do not. Order of mention was not a significant factor related to comprehension in the fluent group.

Adult↗

Communication and sensorimotor functioning in children with autism.

This study examined the relationship between sensorimotor functioning and communicative intent in children with autism. Ten children with autism, four verbal and six nonverbal, served as subjects. Sensorimotor functioning was assessed on object permanence, means-end, causality, vocal and gestural imitation, the construction of objects in space and schemes for relating objects. A 2-hr communication sample was also obtained and analyzed for the number and diversity of pragmatic functions expressed. Object permanence was not significantly related to either the diversity or total number of pragmatic functions. Means-end was significantly related to both of these measures, while vocal imitation was significantly related to the total number of pragmatic functions expressed. In addition, means-end was significantly correlated with performance on the vocal and gestural imitation scales.

Autistic Disorder↗

Reading comprehension in adolescents with learning disabilities: semantic and syntactic effects.

Ninety-two adolescents with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to four groups to determine the effects of semantic and syntactic complexity on the reading comprehension of content area prose. One group served as a control and read a social studies passage without change. The three treatment groups read passages with syntactic and/or semantic modifications. Comprehension was significantly better for those groups reading passages with combined semantic and syntactic modifications and syntactic modifications alone, when compared to the control group. Semantic modifications alone did not significantly improve comprehension.

Adolescent↗