Impact of a Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse on Corticomotor Excitability after Mental Fatigue in Healthy College-Aged Subjects.

Mental Fatigue (MF) has been associated with reduced physical performance but the mechanisms underlying this result are unclear. A reduction in excitability of the corticomotor system is a way mental fatigue could negatively impact physical performance. Carbohydrate (CHO) mouth rinse (MR) has been shown to increase corticomotor excitability. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if CHO MR impacts corticomotor excitability after MF. METHODS: Fifteen subjects (nine females, six males; age = 23 ± 1 years; height = 171 ± 2 cm; body mass = 69 ± 3 kg; BMI = 23.8 ± 0.7) completed two sessions under different MR conditions (Placebo (PLAC), 6.4% glucose (CHO)) separated by at least 48 h and applied in a double-blinded randomized fashion. Motor-evoked potential (MEP) of the left first dorsal interosseous (FDI) was determined by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) before and after MF. Perceived MF was recorded before and after the MF task using a 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS). RESULTS: MF was greater following PLAC (+30.4 ± 4.0 mm) than CHO (+19.4 ± 3.9 mm) (p = 0.005). MEP was reduced more following PLAC (-16.6 ± 4.4%) than CHO (-3.7 ± 4.7%) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: CHO MR was successful at attenuating the reduction in corticomotor excitability after MF. Carbohydrate mouth rinse may be a valuable tool at combating the negative consequences of mental fatigue.

Carbohydrate mouth rinsing does not affect 6-min walk test performance and blood glucose responses in older adults.

PURPOSE: Carbohydrate (CHO) mouth rinsing (MR) prior to exercise has been shown to elicit enhanced performance and energy availability in some studies. Previous literature has concentrated on examining CHO MR strategies for improving aerobic endurance performance in younger athletic adults. Knowledge of the impact of CHO MR on functional performance in older adults is scarce. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if CHO MR would improve 6-min walk test (6MWT) performance, perceived exertion, and blood glucose responses in older adults. METHOD: Thirty-three individuals (16 males, 17 females), age ≥ 70 years performed two 6MWT trials, one of which utilized a 6.4% maltodextrin CHO MR and one of which utilized a placebo MR. Participants held the MR in their mouth for 20 s prior to the 6MWT, and trials occurred in a counterbalanced fashion. Total distance walked and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded upon completion of each 6MWT. Heart rate (HR), peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BP), blood glucose, and blood lactate were measured before and after each 6MWT. RESULT: CHO MR did not alter the response of any study parameter compared to the placebo MR (p = 0.13-0.94). HR, systolic BP, and blood lactate increased and SpO2 decreased across time (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: A 6.4% maltodextrin CHO MR did not alter total distance walked, perceived exertion, or other physiological responses elicited by the 6MWT in older adults.

Structural and dialectal characteristics of the fictional and personal narratives of school-age African American children.

PURPOSE: To report preliminary comparisons of developing structural and dialectal characteristics associated with fictional and personal narratives in school-age African American children. METHOD: Forty-three children, Grades 2-5, generated a fictional narrative and a personal narrative in response to a wordless-book elicitation task and a story-prompt task, respectively. Narratives produced in these 2 contexts were characterized for macrostructure, microstructure, and dialect density. Differences across narrative type and grade level were examined. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences between the 2 types of narratives were found for both macrostructure and microstructure but not for dialect density. There were no grade-related differences in macrostructure, microstructure, or dialect density. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate the complementary role of fictional and personal narratives for describing young children's narrative skills. Use of both types of narrative tasks and descriptions of both macrostructure and microstructure may be particularly useful for characterizing the narrative abilities of young school-age African American children, for whom culture-fair methods are scarce. Further study of additional dialect groups is warranted.

Learning word meanings during reading by children with language learning disability and typically-developing peers.

This study investigated whether children with language learning disability (LLD) differed from typically-developing peers in their ability to learn meanings of novel words presented during reading. Fifteen 9-11-year-old children with LLD and 15 typically-developing peers read four passages containing 20 nonsense words. Word learning was assessed through oral definition and multiple-choice tasks. Variables were position of informative context, number of exposures, part of speech, and contextual clues. The LLD group scored lower than same-aged peers on oral definition (p < .001) and multiple-choice (p < .001) tasks. For both groups, there was no effect for position of informative context (p = .867) or number of exposures (p = .223). All children benefitted from contextual clues. The findings suggested difficulty inferring and recalling word meanings during reading and pointed to the need for vocabulary intervention in the upper elementary years for children with LLD.

Subtyping stuttering II: contributions from language and temperament.

UNLABELLED: This paper is the second in a series of two articles exploring subtypes of stuttering, and it addresses the question of whether and how language ability and temperament variables may be relevant to the study of subtypes within the larger population of children who stutter. Despite observations of varied profiles among young children who stutter, efforts to identify and characterize subtypes of stuttering have had limited influence on theoretical or clinical understanding of the disorder. This manuscript briefly highlights research on language and temperament in young children who stutter, and considers whether the results can provide guidance for efforts to more effectively investigate and elucidate subtypes in childhood stuttering. Issues from the literature that appear relevant to research on stuttering subtypes include: (a) the question of whether stuttering is best characterized as categorical or continuous; (b) interpretation of individual differences in skills and profiles; and (c) the fact that, during the preschool years, the interaction among domains such as language and temperament are changing very rapidly, resulting in large differences in developmental profiles within relatively brief chronological age periods. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to: (1) discuss possible associations of language ability and temperament to the development of stuttering in young children; (2) summarize the subtyping research from the literature on language ability and temperament in young children; (3) generate directions for future research of stuttering subtypes drawn from the literature related to language ability and temperament in young children.

Measuring word learning: dynamic versus static assessment of kindergarten vocabulary.

UNLABELLED: This preliminary study investigated the potential of using a dynamic approach to assessing expressive word mapping. Because measuring word mapping with productive language responses is much more difficult than measuring receptive word mapping, incorporating a dynamic measure allowed us to tap partial mapping and provided useful information on word learning. Participants were 24 typically developing African American children, from high-risk backgrounds and low-risk backgrounds, as determined by school and family demographics. Performance was compared on the PPVT-III and on the dynamic assessment of word mapping. The dynamic assessment of word mapping provided information about complete and partial mapping of words. Additionally, there was an interaction between risk and performance on the vocabulary and word learning measures. These data suggest that the use of the dynamic measure in conjunction with traditional vocabulary measures may have the potential to provide an estimate of word-learning ability. LEARNING OUTCOMES: Readers will (1) be able to identify the need for word-learning measures and (2) become familiar with the combined technique of using dynamic assessment and fast mapping.

Examining communication repairs of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder: the influence of the environment.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the repair strategies of 2 young children with autism spectrum disorder from an environmental rather than a developmental perspective. METHOD: A scripted protocol that included opportunities for requests and repair was followed. The environmental variables investigated were activity type (e.g., puzzle, shapes, book) and breakdown type (i.e., request for clarification, wrong response, and ignore). The sessions were videotaped, and each child's behavior was coded. RESULTS: The results revealed that (a) both participants repaired the majority (70%) of their unsuccessful initial requests and (b) the repair strategies varied across children, activities, and breakdowns. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that the 2 young children with autism and limited expressive language discriminated among environmental variables (i.e., type of activity and type of breakdown). The participants modified their repair topographies to correspond to changes in the environment. The findings from this study offer ways to enhance assessment and intervention of early communication. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Language abilities and nonverbal IQ in children with language impairment: inconsistency across measures.

The present study used correlation analyses to examine the extent to which language abilities are associated with nonverbal IQ in 30 children with language impairment, age 4-8 years. After controlling for age, nonverbal IQ demonstrated medium associations with composite measures of both semantic and morphosyntactic abilities (r = .46 and .45 respectively). However when only criterion-referenced measures of language were included in the analyses, no significant associations between language and nonverbal IQ were observed. In addition, individual difference scores between language and nonverbal IQ revealed that discrepancies occurred in both directions--with language exceeding nonverbal IQ in some cases and nonverbal IQ exceeding language in others. In sum, the relatively inconsistent associations between language and nonverbal IQ provided additional reason to question current practices, such as cognitive referencing and the definition of specific language impairment. Implications in regard to theoretical accounts of language impairment are also discussed.

Preschool teachers' perceptions and reactions to challenging classroom behavior: implications for speech-language pathologists.

Awareness of issues of social competence and challenging behavior related to childhood language an communication disorders has been increasing. The purpose of this clinical exchange is to provide speech-language pathologists with basic information on communication disorders and challenging behaviors, as well as with insights into ways to support both students and classroom teachers. To provide effective services to children with language impairments and optimally support classroom staff, speech-language pathologists need to recognize (a) the interdependence of language, communication, social competence, and challenging behaviors; (b) the significance that challenging behaviors can have on evaluations of academic competency; and (c) how teachers in early childhood classrooms perceive and react to challenging behaviors. This clinical exchange provides an overview of the relationship between language, communication, and social competence, and presents preliminary survey research data investigating teachers' perceptions and reactions to challenging behaviors. Clinical implications are discussed, including considerations for intervention with children who may exhibit challenging behaviors in combination with language disabilities, and the speech-language pathologist's instrumental role in educating and supporting classroom staff to use communication strategies when managing challenging classroom behaviors.

Language abilities in children who stutter: toward improved research and clinical applications.

The nature of the association between language and stuttering in young children has been the focus of debate for many years. One aspect of this ongoing discussion is the status of language abilities in children who stutter (CWS). Available research findings and associated interpretations of these findings are equivocal. This article asserts that an important contributor to the ambiguous nature of this literature may be differences in research traditions and methods that typically have been employed n the study of language development and in the study of stuttering. Cross-disciplinary investigations are inherently complex and, in designing and intterpreting research of this nature, a larger set of issues must be considered and more diverse variables must be aressed and/or controlled. This article presents five prinples that can be used to guide future research in the area language and stuttering. These principles also assist in interpreting and applyng the current research literature to clinical concerns.

Listeners' Perceptions of Language Use in Children.

Past research suggests that when children's communication skills do not match others' expectations, children are likely to be perceived negatively and may consequently experience less academic and social success. This project focused on listeners' perceptions of three children, one with specific language impairment (SLI) and two typically developing peers. The listeners consisted of teachers, speech-language pathologists, undergraduate students, and sixth-grade students. All four listener groups consistently perceived the child with SLI more negatively than the typically developing youngsters, thereby illuminating the need for clinicians to (a) increase their awareness of personal biases, (b) educate parents and teachers regarding the nature of SLI,