Tag: Oral Session 1S

Electronic Media Exposure and Early Vocabulary Acquisition in Spanish-Speaking Homes

Presenter(s): Ashley Goussak − Communication Disorders and Sciences

Faculty Mentor(s): Lauren Cycyk

Oral Session 1S

Research Area: Communication Disorders and Sciences

The purpose of this study is to describe the electronic media exposure of young children from Mexican immigrant backgrounds in their home and to investigate the association between media exposure and children’s vocabulary development. Thirty children between the ages of 15 and 24 months participated. Audio recordings of children’s home environment were completed through LENA technology and information on children’s productive vocabulary was collected through the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory and MacArthur Inventario Del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Inventario). The electronic media captured on the audio recordings was categorized by frequency (i.e., percentage of total minutes of recording time), type of programming (i.e., child directed versus adult directed, cartoons, or educational child-directed media), and language (i.e., Spanish or English). These characteristics of children’s media exposure were described. Then, the association of these characteristics to children’s English and Spanish productive vocabulary was examined through nonparametric, rank order correlation analyses. The findings indicated that children were more likely to be exposed to adult directed electronic media rather than child directed media and were more likely to be exposed to programs in Spanish than English. No significant associations were found between children’s vocabulary and any characteristic of electronic media exposure for toddlers from these backgrounds. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the development of language for bilingual Spanish-English speakers and helps speech-language pathologists best understand clients from these linguistic backgrounds.

How Experience Gets Under The Skin: An Examination Of Potential Correlation Between Childhood Adversity And Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

Presenter(s): Fiona Byrne − Family And Human Services

Faculty Mentor(s): Elizabeth Skowron, Shoshana Kerewsky

Oral Session 1S

Research Area: Psychology/Humanities

Exposure to adversity in childhood is shown to be a significant risk factor for negative physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. What remains to be explored is the impact of adverse childhood experiences on emotional regulation as measured by parasympathetic nervous system activity via respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The present study examines the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey (ACES) scores and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) within a population of 65 child maltreating (CM) adult female caregivers. ACE scores were collected through a standardized self report survey. RSA was collected through electrocardiogram leads while participants were seated watching a neutral video. No significant correlation was found within the total population. However, results are encouraging for further study with a larger population, which would allow for an examination of potential correlation by socioeconomic status, number of adverse childhood experiences, and education level attained, to learn more about how early adversity can impact health and behavioral outcomes.

How Smartforks Regulate Rate of Eating in People with Dysphagia Recovering from Stroke

Presenter(s): Anyasha Aragon – Communication Disorders and Sciences, German Language

Faculty Mentor(s): Samantha Shune

Oral Session 1S

Research Area: Communication Disorders and Sciences (College of Education)

Funding: Clark Honors College Thesis Grants for Extraordinary Expenses

Individuals recovering from stroke have a very high incidence of swallowing problems (dysphagia). One way to reduce rates of aspiration and choking in this population is by reducing rate of eating. Current methods for reducing rate, such as verbal cueing, often decrease quality of life. With advances in technology, smartforks provide a potentially novel method for reducing eating rate while maintaining increased autonomy. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a smartfork on eating rate and quality of meals in stroke survivors with dysphagia. The research was conducted at Oregon Rehabilitation Center over the course of two meals: one meal was eaten without the use of the smartfork’s feedback and the second meal was eaten with the vibrotactile and visual feedback turned on. Results indicated that the fork was effective for two out of the three participants. Specifically, for those two participants, their rate of eating decreased and the percentage of bite intervals when the target rate of eating was met increased with the use of the smartfork feedback. The visual feedback provided by the fork was more effective than the vibrotactile feedback. All participants felt the fork maintained or improved the quality of their meal. These results indicate that a smarkfork is potentially a helpful device to make eating a safer and more enjoyable experience for people with dysphagia.