Biomedical subjects

G Woodyatt

Publications and source records attributed to G Woodyatt.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Replacing prelinguistic behaviors with functional communication.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented intervention package designed to replace prelinguistic behaviors with functional communication. Four young children with autism participated in a multiple-probe design across three communicative functions. Initially, three existing communication functions were selected for each child. Next, the existing prelinguistic behaviors that the children used to achieve these functions were identified. Replacement forms that were considered more recognizable and symbolic were defined to achieve these same functions. After a baseline phase, teachers received inservice training, consultation, and feedback on how to encourage, acknowledge, and respond to the replacement forms. During intervention, the replacement forms increased and prelinguistic behaviors decreased in most cases. The results suggested that the teacher-implemented intervention was effective in replacing prelinguistic behaviors with alternative forms of functional communication.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed1999

Otoacoustic emission findings in Rett syndrome.

Rett syndrome is a neurologic disorder affecting mainly females after a seemingly normal 6 to 18 months of life. The resulting developmental disabilities include apparent dementia and loss of acquired language, social skills, and purposeful hand use. The present investigation assessed 10 individuals with Rett syndrome and a control group matched for age and sex. The present study aimed to determine the clinical feasibility of obtaining otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) from the Rett syndrome group and to compare the characteristics of the transient evoked and distortion-product OAEs obtained from the two subject groups. Results indicated that OAE evaluation is a clinically feasible method of assessing individuals with Rett syndrome. The Rett syndrome group had less robust OAEs, especially in the higher frequencies, when compared to the control group. Seven of the Rett syndrome group were identified as having reduced or absent OAEs in at least one ear. These findings suggest a need for hearing screening at an early age and monitoring of hearing on a regular basis.

Acoustic Impedance Tests↗

PubMed1997

Rett syndrome (RS) and profound intellectual disability: cognitive and communicative similarities and differences.

The communicative and cognitive behaviours of a group of 10 girls with Rett syndrome (RS) were compared with those of a group of girls with non-Rett profound intellectual disability (NPID). The results suggest that the girls with RS were a comparatively homogenous group demonstrating similar cognitive patterns and fewer communicative behaviours, communicative functions, and total numbers of inferred communicative acts than the NPID group. Fewer girls with RS were intentionally communicating to communicative partners. Implications of these findings will be discussed in this paper.

Child↗

PubMed1994

Evaluation of an intervention program: relation between children's phonology and parents' communicative behavior.

Parents of 9 preschoolers with Down syndrome participated in a training program focusing on phonological skills. Three of the children were producing multiword utterances, but their speech was characterized by jargon and/or inconsistent errors. The remaining 6 children had very few spoken words or were mute; some relied on a Makaton sign vocabulary. Parents attended twelve 3-hour training sessions. Videotapes of parent-child interactions (made before, during, and after the program) were analyzed for number and type of children's phonological errors and rating of parents' therapeutic skills. Results showed that measures of the children's phonological abilities were correlated with their parents' interactional communication skills.

Child↗

PubMed1992

Communication abilities and Rett syndrome.

Investigated 6 girls with Rett syndrome (RS), ages between 2 and 13 years, to provide comprehensive descriptions of their communicative behaviors. Previous studies have not focused on communicative competence nor on the intentionality of the language used by children with RS. This study concluded that all members of the group investigated were at a preintentional level of communication. Intentional communication has previously been reported to develop in normally developing and intellectually disabled children attaining Piagetian Sensorimotor Stage V in Means-End behavior. The present study also investigated the cognitive performance of the group. We concluded that the preintentional level of communication noted was consistent with the subjects' profound intellectual disability. No Means-End (i.e., purposeful) behavior beyond Piagetian Sensorimotor Stage III could be elicited from the 6 girls. The relevance of this study for therapeutic intervention is discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Facilitating communication in children with multiple disabilities: three case studies of girls with Rett syndrome.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of cueing on communicative responses of children with multiple disabilities in an educational setting. It was hypothesized that differences would exist in teacher interactional styles and the use of orienting cues would increase the communicative responses of the participants. METHOD: A naturalistic observation research method was employed in order to examine the interaction of three student-teacher dyads in three special schools. Three different activity types were videotaped from which interactions were coded and analysed. RESULTS: Multi-modal cueing facilitated communicative responses of children with Rett syndrome. However, increased communication opportunities provided by caregivers did not elicit increased responses from the girls. CONCLUSION: There is a difference in cueing by teachers in their interactions with children with multiple disabilities. Also, more frequent communicative interactions did not necessarily lead to increased student responses. It is suggested that amount and type of cueing may need to be considered to be effective in generating student responses. The small number of participants, however, means findings should be viewed cautiously and that more research is indicated.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗