Grammatical comprehension in language and communication disorders.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have traditionally been considered separate disorders, although some similarities and overlaps in certain aspects of language have been detected. In this paper, we compare the deficits in receptive grammar in these two disorders. We analyse the proportion of grammatical errors in relation to semantic complexity in 84 children divided into four groups: children with autism language impairment (ALI), with autism language normal (ALN), with DLD, and with typical development (TD), all groups with the same age of receptive vocabulary. The results show significant differences in the comprehension of grammatical structures, both simple (canonical and non-reversible) and complex (non-canonical and reversible). Children with ASD and DLD show different language profiles depending on the syntactic complexity. In the simplest structures, no differences are found between the groups, starting at an equivalent vocabulary age of 7:8 years. However, there are differences between the ALI and DLD groups with respect to the TD group in the more complex structures, starting at an equivalent vocabulary age of 3 years. Therefore, both groups ALI and DLD present the greatest difficulties compared to ALN and TD. The paper discusses the importance of attending to these differences, since the repercussion of comprehension difficulties increases as children grow.

Perceptual analysis in different voice samples: agreement and reliability.

The objective of this study was to estimate the agreement and reliability of voice evaluation by a group of expert listeners using the central portion of a sustained vowel and a fragment of connected speech as voice samples. Ratings were made using Wilson's Buffalo III Voice Screening Profile. Analysis showed that intraindividual listeners' agreement presented variability in the evaluation of both voice samples. In the evaluation of the central portion of the sustained vowel, interindividual listener agreement was moderate for breathiness, hyponasal resonance, and overall voice rating; in connected speech, agreement was moderate for most voice qualities (breathy, rough, high/low pitch, and hyponasal resonance). Finally, Wilson's Buffalo III Voice Screening Profile presented good reliability values for both voice samples, with overall voice rating achieving higher values (.90) than any other voice-quality variable.

[Psychometric properties of a grammatical comprehension test]. / Propiedades psicométricas de unaprueba de comprensión gramatical.

INTRODUCTION: The Grammatical Structures Comprehension Test (CEG) has been designed to evaluate the language alterations of both Spanish speaking children and adults (specific language impairment, aphasia, craneoencephalic traumatism...) in a rapid and simple way. AIM: To study the psychometric properties of the CEG (reliability, validity and discrimination rates). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The test was carried out on a sample of 1,404 children. The criteria validity was done with 181 children, whom various tests other than CEG were applied to. RESULTS: The discrimination rate in the 27% of the subjects with the highest scores in the CEG and the 27% of those that had the worst scores show that more than the half of the test elements produce a rate higher than 0.3 between children with good and bad scores. Out of the 20 blocks of the CEG, 15 of them present a discrimination rate between 0.5 and 1. Finally, the discrimination rate data obtained for each age group reveal that the easiest and the most difficult elements and blocks are coherently those with a lower discrimination power. This trend can be noticed in each age group. CONCLUSIONS: CEG is a reliable and valid measure to evaluate the grammatical comprehension, being very useful in clinics.

Acoustic and perceptual indicators of normal and pathological voice.

The aim of this study was to obtain acoustic correlates to vocal quality of a group of men and women with and without voice disorders, based on evaluations of a group of judges experienced in the field of vocal rehabilitation. In male subjects, perceptual evaluation of normal, hoarse and rough voice qualities was related to the following acoustic features: frequency perturbation measures (JITA, RAP, and SPPQ), amplitude perturbation (SAPQ and VAM), soft phonation index (SPI) and fundamental frequency tremor intensity (FTRI). While these measures presented normal values for normal voice, hoarseness showed some deviations in perturbation frequency variables and very high SPI values, while rough voice showed deviations in all the measures. Qualities of female voices were perceived as normal, breathy and hoarse, but the acoustic correlates of these qualities were less conclusive.