Browsing by discipline "Logopedi"

Objective. The previous studies have focused mainly on deviant linguistic processing regarding dyslexia, while people's experiences and contextual factors have received less attention. This study gives voice to the dyslexic students who can tell about their own experiences about dyslexia. Additionally, the objective of this study is to examine what kind of difficulties the students face while studying and which strengths they have. This study can bring a new perspective and decrease prejudices towards dyslexia. Method. Focused interview was used as a method of this study. The interviews consisted of questions inspired by the previous literature. Eight students were interviewed, six of them were studying at the university and two of them were studying at the university of applied sciences. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusion. On the basis of the analysis the interviews included several positive aspects. Many of the participants told they were quite open about their own dyslexia. They were also used to observe their learning and they had found several useful ways to learn. Many of them used deep learning as their learning method. They had also coped several difficulties and they believed in themselves. Especially organizing big amount of information, learning foreign languages and organizing different studying was challenging for them. Several participants reported that their learning was quite slow. In this study dyslexia was a phenomenon, not only a limitation. All the students have their strengths and limitations, regardless if they have a dyslexia or not.

Objectives. Assessment of language development and differential diagnosis between typical bilingual language development and developmental language disorders in bilingual children is difficult due to lack of appropriate diagnostic tools and norms. Dynamic assessment has been proposed as a complementary method in which learning potential is assessed instead of current language skills. Graduated prompting as dynamic assessment method involves helping children with the tasks by presenting graduated prompts. The aim of the study was to add information about the dynamic assessment of language skills in preschool-age children acquiring Finnish as their second language and its applicability in the differential diagnosis. Methods. A dynamic assessment method was translated and adapted into Finnish and piloted with eight bilingual children aged between 4 to 6 years whose home language was not Finnish, Swedish or Sami language. Half of the children were typically developing bilinguals and half were bilinguals with diagnosed or suspected developmental language impairment. Children's language skills and learning of receptive and expressive vocabulary as well as sentence production were assessed. Test scores were analyzed quantitatively and compared between groups and matched pairs. The usefulness of the prompts was analyzed qualitatively. In addition, the usability and the suitability of the method for the assessment of bilingual children were examined. Results and conclusions. The typically developing children scored slightly higher in the dynamic measures of vocabulary. In the static pre- or post measures of vocabulary or in the measures of sentence production no such difference was found. The results of the vocabulary assessment were in line with previous studies stating dynamic assessment having potential as a differential diagnostic tool. Score differences were minor and the sample was small, thus the results cannot be generalized. The assessment method is short enough to be carried out in single assessment session but complicated to use and rate. The used tasks need be improved further. However, new dynamic assessment methods in Finnish can be developed based on the information gathered in the study.

Aim: An undiagnosed language learning disability, such as SLI (specific language impairment), may play a role in an adult immigrant's learning problems. There is no previous research in Finland on referrals to assessment or the assessment process of adult immigrants based on symptoms of SLI. The purpose of this study was to find out how SLI symptoms are recognized in adult immigrants, how are referrals for assessment being made and what kind of specific issues are related to these assessments. Methods: The methods in this study are a short email survey and semi-structured interviews. The survey and the interviews were carried out between March 2016 and Ferbruary 2017. The survey area covered the whole country, but all but one of the interviews were carried out in three regions of Southern Finland. The research material consists of the email responses from 27 health care professionals and one teacher as well as the interviews of two L2 teachers, two adult immigrants, two SLTs and one neurologist. The material was analyzed with theory-bound content analysis. Results and conclusions: The results show that adult immigrants are rarely referred to assessment based on symptoms of SLI. There is no uniform practice in referring adult immigrants to an SLP. Health care professionals see diagnosing an SLI in adult immigrants as problematic, since a person's learning abilities may be affected by a number of other background factors besides an SLI. L2 teachers have a crucial role in recognizing verbal learning disabilities in adult immigrants as well as in referring them to assessment. Special knowledge gained on learning disabilities helps them in recognizing verbal learning disabilities. However, recognizing the problem and referring a person to assessment may be delayed due to lack of background information, lack of information about assessment opportunities and immigrants not being open about their learning difficulties. The composition of the team involved in the assessment process may vary, and there is no harmonised assessing protocol to follow. The use of assessment methods is largely based on the clinicians' own clinical experience. A clinical interview is an important assessment method. An interpreter also plays a vital role in the assessment, but the use of an interpreter involves challenges of its own.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia in Finland. Very early on, it can impair the linguistic and cognitive abilities. Dysgraphia, the disorder in writing, is a common symptom in Alzheimer’s disease. There has been little research on dysgraphia and texts written by people suffering from dementia in Finland, and presumably no research has been done previously regarding the cohesion of written texts. The aim of this study is to examine, if the number of cohesive devices, the linguistic devices creating cohesion, changes in the diary entries written by a person with Alzheimer’s disease as the disease progresses, and if it is possible to see the outset of the possible changes. The data of this study were the diaries written by a person with Alzheimer’s disease during the years 1967–2012. The diary entries written in June 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 were selected for the analysis. The number of grammatical and lexical cohesive devices as well as the number of exophoric pronouns or the pronouns referring to the extralinguistic situation in the diary entries was counted. The IBM SPSS Statistics 24 program was used for the quantitative analysis of the data. A scatter diagram of the number of the cohesive devices was created, and a line of best fit was added to the diagram in order to demonstrate the temporal changes. The correlation between the number of cohesive devices and years was measured with Spearman’s rho or Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The study showed that the number of all grammatical cohesive devices, exophora, anaphora or the expression that depends upon an antecedent expression and reiteration seemed to have increased as time passed by. The number of all lexical cohesive devices, collocation or the semantically related words and ellipsis or the omission of words seemed to have decreased. The results were not statistically significant. The changes seemed to have begun year 2001, but the result was inaccurate, because the data varied considerably. The writing style of the person with Alzheimer’s disease resembled note taking, which influenced the occurrence of cohesive devices. Examining the spontaneously written texts by people with dementia provides more knowledge of the effects of dementia on the linguistic abilities and the possibility to develop diagnostic tools for the speech-language pathologists.

The Objective. According to many studies, social isolation, decreased quality of life and psychosocial problems such as depression are some of the most difficult consequences of aphasia. The aim of this study was to explore the amount and the quality of aphasic peoples' social participation. The questions of the study were how much and what kind of social events did the participants have and also how happy they were with the quality of the participation. In addition, one aim of this study was to find out what kind of thoughts did the participants have about the impact of aphasia on their social life. The further goal was to survey the importance of aphasia groups. Data and Methods. Four chronically aphasic people were included in the study. They all took part in an aphasia group in an adult education center. The participants kept a diary for two weeks, marked all of their social occasions and gave a satisfaction-score for each of them. Later the participants took part in a semi-structured interview where their views and experiences on social life were examined. In addition, the participants filled the Communication Activity Log to evaluate the amount and the quality of their daily communication Results. The participants participated in different social events every day despite of the severity of the aphasia. The quality of the communication did not seem to have effect on the amount of the communication. The satisfaction in social events was reasonably high with only a few exceptions. Overall, the participants thought that they had succeed to adapt to live with aphasia. Despite the difficulties in communication, they felt that they could participate in social life although they had some limitations. They all avoided occasions with a lot of people because they felt that it was difficult to participate in conversations. All of the participants took regularly part in activities that were targeted for aphasic people because they felt that such occasions were easy to participate in. All of the participants had lost friends after the stroke, and hoped they could participate more in social occasions. Severe solitude or social isolation wasn't, however reported. All of the participants had regular contact with the people that were important for them. The participants felt that the general knowledge about aphasia was quite low, which made it more difficult to communicate with strangers. It was easier to communicate with familiar people, but even the closest family members didn't always understand the consequences of aphasia.

Objectives. Specific language impairment (SLI) is a heterogeneous disorder varying in both symptom profile and severity and it often involves a variety of co-morbid problems. Language problems seem to be somewhat persistent until adolescence and adulthood but there is still little known about the wider long-term effects of the disorder. Information could help, for instance, in early identification and prevention of potential problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the childhood diagnosis of SLI on self-perceived quality of life and well-being of young adults aged 20–22 years. The focus was on the subjects' self-perceived health-related quality of life and their own views on the effects of the SLI diagnosis on their lives. The study is part of a larger research project, which examines symptom profiles and longitudinal effects of childhood SLI. Methods. The study was carried out as a survey. The study sample consisted of persons who had received at Lastenlinna, the children's hospital of Helsinki University Central Hospital, a primary diagnosis of specific language impairment (F80.1 expressive and/or F80.2 receptive language disorder) in 1998 or 1999. The survey consisted of a 15D questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and a separate SLI questionnaire which gathered other information relevant for the study. A total of 74 subjects answered the questionnaire resulting in a response rate of 38,5 percent. The data of the multiple-choice questions of the 15D and SLI questionnaires were analysed quantitatively by computing frequencies, averages, standard deviations and percentages of the answers and examining correlations between different variables. Answers of the open question were analysed using qualitative content analysis which brought forth some descriptive themes. Results and conclusions. The subjects perceived their HRQoL (15D) to be significantly worse off compared with age- and gender-matched control population which was apparent in the total 15D score and in several dimensions (hearing, sleeping, speech, usual activities, mental function, depression, distress and vitality). Subjects' views on the effects of the SLI diagnosis on their lives were individual and varied, which reflects the heterogeneous nature of the disorder also from the perspective of the long-term effects. The effects of the SLI diagnosis extended to several areas of life, but the results included also positive effects and mitigation of problems. In the future additional research will be needed to, for instance, identify factors predicting long-term effects of SLI. The acquired information could help to focus the preventive supportive actions, rehabilitation and follow-up on children at greatest risk of negative long-term effects.

Tiedekunta - Fakultet - Faculty Medical Sciences Laitos - Institution – Department Department of psychology and logopedics Tekijä - Författare - Author Sanni-Liisa Haikarainen Työn nimi - Arbetets titel Title Verbalizing the chances of nonverbal interaction using the intensive interaction outcomes table Oppiaine - Läroämne - Subject Logopedics Työn laji/ Ohjaaja - Arbetets art/Handledare – Level/Instructor Master’s Thesis/Kaisa Launonen Aika - Datum - Month and year 01/2018 Sivumäärä - Sidoantal - Number of pages 43 pp. + 3 appendices Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aims: The aims of this study were to investigate how the users of intensive interaction outcomes table estimate the feasibility of it. I was especially interested whether the outcomes table makes it easier to observe and verbalize the changes in a client’s way to use nonverbal interaction. I also wanted to know how the users of intensive interaction outcomes table evaluate the need of improving it. Methods: The data of this study were collected with a questionnaire. The participants were found from the intensive interaction group in Facebook and from the email list of Tikoteekki’s specialist Kaisa Martikainen. The answers were classified thematically with the help of graphic symbols. Results: According to the findings of this study it seems that the intensive interaction outcomes table supports professionals in recognising changes in their client’s ways to use nonverbal interaction. It also helps them in verbalizing the recongized changes. The participants would develop the form by shorting it. It would make it easier to be used in everyday work. Avainsanat - Nyckelord Keywords Intensive interaction, intensive interaction outcomes table, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual impairment, nonverbal interaction Säilytyspaikka - Förvaringsställe - Where deposited Helsinki University Library – Helda / E-thesis (opinnäytteet) ethesis.helsinki.fi Muita tietoja - Övriga uppgifter - Additional information

Tavoitteet. Pikkukeskosina syntyneillä lapsilla on kohonnut riski kielenkehityksen häiriöihin verrattuna täysiaikaisina syntyneisiin lapsiin. Pikkukeskosten lukivalmiustaidoista ja varhaisen kielenkehityksen yhteydestä niihin on kuitenkin vain vähän tietoa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää pikkukeskosina syntyneiden lasten kahden vuoden iän sanaston koon ja koostumuksen mahdollista yhteyttä lukivalmiustaitoihin viisivuotiaana. Menetelmät. Tutkittavana oli 103 pikkukeskosena syntynyttä lasta ja 119 täysiaikaisena syntynyttä verrokkia. Keskoset ja verrokit olivat osa isompaa Pienipainoisten riskilasten käyttäytyminen ja toimintakyky –tutkimusta. Pikkukeskosten ja verrokkien ilmaistun sanaston koko ja koostumus kaksivuotiaana arvioitiin Varhaisen kommunikaation ja kielen kehityksen arviointimenetelmällä. Lukivalmiustaidot (fonologinen prosessointi ja kiirehditty nimeäminen Nepsy II –testillä, nimeäminen Bostonin nimentätestillä, kirjaintuntemus sekä sanojen ja lauseiden lukeminen) arvioitiin viiden vuoden iässä. Aineisto analysoitiin tilastollisin menetelmin. Sanaston koon, sanakategorioissa olevien sanojen määrän ja sanakategorioiden suhteellisten osuuksien yhteyttä lukivalmiustaitoihin tarkasteltiin Spearmanin korrelaatiokertoimen avulla. Sanaston koon ja koostumuksen selitysastetta hyviin lukivalmiustaitoihin tutkittiin kahden logistisen regressiomallin avulla erikseen keskos- ja verrokkiaineistossa. Ensimmäisessä mallissa selittävät muuttujat olivat sanaston koko, raskauden kesto ja äidin koulutustausta. Toisessa mallissa selittävät muuttujat olivat verbien ja sulkeisen luokan sanojen yhteismäärä, raskauden kesto ja äidin koulutustausta. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Pikkukeskosina ja täysiaikaisina syntyneiden lasten sanaston koko, sanaluokkakategorioiden sanamäärät ja niiden suhteelliset osuudet olivat yhteydessä moniin lukivalmiustaitoihin. Kuitenkin keskosaineistossa korrelaatiot olivat hieman suurempia ja sanaston koon sekä verbien ja sulkeisen luokan sanojen selitysaste hyviin lukivalmiustaitoihin hieman vahvempi kuin verrokkiaineistossa. Tulokset vahvistavat näkemystä pikkukeskosten varhaisen sanaston koon ja koostumuksen yhteydestä myöhempiin kielellisiin taitoihin. Tulosten perusteella keskosten varhaista kielenkehitystä tulisi seurata ja tukea lukivalmiustaitojen parantamiseksi.

Aim. Neurogenic stuttering typically starts after brain injury. In previous research the variation of neurogenic stuttering between different tasks has been contradictory. There is a lack of domestic research on neurogenic stuttering and foreign material is similarly limited. Also, consistent practices between investigations are absent from the literature. The purpose of this study is to provide new information on neurogenic stuttering and other aspects of fluency in patients who have brain injuries.Methods. Five people with a brain injury and diagnosis of neurogenic stuttering after injury took part in this research. The control group consisted of five participants with a brain injury but without neurogenic stuttering. Speech tasks included cartoon narration and spontaneous speech. The data was analyzed by calculating speech and articulation rates, the total amount of pauses, non-fluent pauses, pause durations and pause types most commonly occurring for each task. In addition, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of stuttering were evaluated by calculating percentages and average duration of stuttering and by classifying different types of stuttering. Results and conclusions. The speech and articulation rate were slower in cartoon narration task in comparison to spontaneous speech. The durations of pauses were longer and more non-fluent pauses existed in cartoon narration task than spontaneous speech. In both tasks the most common type was the dysrytmic pause. In cartoon narration task, there was more stuttering whereas in spontaneous speech the durations of stuttering were longer in comparison to cartoon narration task. In this research speech task had influence on the variation of quantitative and qualitative characters of speech fluency on neurogenic stutterers.

Abstract Study aims: For many, working is a significant part of their daily life and thus well-being at work is considered important. Well-being at work consists of finding one's job meaningful and rewarding. In previous studies, work-counselling has been shown to be an effective method in supporting people's personal growth and ability to function in their professional lives as well as improving their well-being at work. Work-counselling aims to assist people in improving as employees and addressing problematic situations and experiences related to their work by means of reflective conversation. Work-counselling has been discovered to be particularly meaningful with employees within the healthcare sector. Very little research data on the experiences of speech and language therapists (SLT) with work-counselling exists in Finland or globally. The aim of this thesis was to find out how common work-counselling is with SLTs in Finland and how its impact on e.g. well-being at work are perceived by the SLTs. Additionally, the contents and guidelines of work-counselling as well as the goals and desires of SLTs relating to work-counselling were examined. Methods: The study was carried out in survey form via a web questionnaire by the University of Helsinki. The target group of the study were the members of the Finnish Association of Speech Therapists. The web questionnaire was sent to the 1222 members of the association in December of 2016. 330 SLTs participated in the survey, resulting in a response rate of 27%. The survey data was analyzed quantitatively using the IBM SPSS Statistics 24-software, with which means, frequencies, and percentages were calculated from answers to the survey’s multiple-choice questions. The open-ended answers in the survey were analyzed qualitatively by means of content analysis, classification, and grouping of the responses. Results and conclusions: 91% of the respondents reported having received work-counselling and close to half of them had received at least six work-counselling periods. The decision to seek work-counselling was in most cases initiated by the SLT. In most cases, the expenses of the latest work-counselling period were covered by the SLT's employer, and 32% of the respondents reported having paid for their own work-counselling. 84% of the respondents that had received work-counselling perceived it as beneficial and 15% reported having experienced varying benefits. The respondents expressed wishes to receive support in matters relating to occupational safety and their professional skills, including dealing with their professional roles, reviewing practical working methods, exchanging experiences, and professional tips and ideas. Reviewing difficult case studies was also a common desire. Matters relating to occupational safety, such as well-being at work, improving the functionality of the working community, and interaction were also mentioned as desired topics in work-counselling. The results of this thesis increase the understanding of SLTs' experiences with work-counselling. Considering the results presented in this thesis it can be concluded that SLTs experienced work-counselling as an important part of their professional activity that plays a significant role in securing their well-being at work.