Faculty of Humanities
School of Social Sciences
Department of Communication Pathology
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Apraxia of Speech (AOS) is an acquired neurogenic speech motor planning disorder resulting from damage to the cortical motor areas of the brain. A characteristic symptom of AOS is overt attempts to self-correct speech. This research project was aimed at determining if speech monitoring and overt speech correction improves in a speaker with AOS during a period of speech intervention.
It was predicted that the number of self-corrections will decrease and the percentage of successful self-corrections will increase if speech improves during treatment. It was also predicted that the number of self-corrections as a percentage of the total number of errors would decrease during treatment.
A decrease in the percentage of self-corrections may indicate a shift from externally manifested (overt) self-correction based on response-produced feedback to error correction of upcoming speech errors based on internal feedback.
If internal predictive control improves, the percentage of overt self-correction may decline. Answers to these questions may contribute to a better understanding of speech motor control in AOS.
Results indicate that the number of incorrect productions of words and non-words and the number of self-corrections decreased during treatment. The percentage of successful self-corrections increased over time.
However, self-correction as a percentage of the total number of incorrect productions remained almost similar during treatment, which suggests that error prediction did not improve and that errors continued to occur inadvertently.
The results suggest that the process of internal predictive control is dysfunctional in speakers with AOS and that the loss of volitional control of speech should be addressed in a comprehensive definition of this disorder
Contact person: Prof A van der Merwe.
The pandemic proportions of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, the challenges of developing contexts and the impact of this disease on infants and young children renders them the most vulnerable group requiring Early Communication Intervention (ECI). Many infected or orphaned infants and young children are placed in care centers.
A long-term research project comprising eight studies was initiated with the aim of developing a contextually relevant ECI service delivery model in South Africa that is accountable and sustainable.
Six studies were conducted on infants and youth children with HIV/AIDS in care centers in Gauteng as well as the centers’ caregivers. A communication stimulation programme was also implemented.
Findings indicate that all the children experienced communication delays, and that their feeding was functional, but compromised by infections.
In addition, caregivers expressed a need for guidelines regarding communication stimulation. The training programme was held and received positively. Caregivers indicated that it lead to improved caregiver/child interaction. Additional findings indicate that there is a great need for ECI services in care centers and thus validated the role of a speech-language therapist as a trainer at these centers.
In addition, the service delivery to infected or affected infants and young children by speech-language therapists in private practice nationally and in the public health sector in Gauteng was investigated. Results indicated that these children were included in case loads of all the hospital based therapists, but that those in private practice were minimally involved.
These findings prompted the launch of a community orientated project by private practitioners in Tshwane, aimed at training caregivers in centers to facilitate and support the language and communication development of young children affected by HIV/AIDS.
Based on the results of the project, guidelines were formulated for ECI with these infants, young children and their caregivers to counteract the negative impact of the disease
Contact person: Prof B Louw.
In a follow-up study into the early identification of hearing loss in infants, Dr De Wet Swanepoel developed a Position Statement on Early Hearing Detection and Intervention for the country at the request of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
This position statement has been reviewed by a panel of national and international experts and will serve as a guiding document for the implementation and management of early hearing detection and intervention systems in South Africa.
In addition, Swanepoel and Prof Suzanne Delport of the Department of Pediatrics at Kalafong Hospital are investigating the long-term incidence of various types of hearing loss presenting in high-risk infants from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
This study is important because it is the first of its kind to be conducted in South Africa and aims to describe the many risk factors that are faced by these infants, such as prenatal HIV exposure and the effect it has on hearing loss in this group. Preliminary findings suggest a ten times higher incidence of hearing loss compared to healthy babies.
Apart from these research projects, Swanepoel also investigated an alternative, more cost-effective method to identify hearing loss identification; namely iridology. The study was the first to examine the possible use of this alternative and complementary healthcare method in which the iris of the eye is examined as a screening tool for hearing loss.
Results demonstrated a significant relationship between the analysis of the iris and actual hearing status, but the accuracy at this stage is not yet comparable to existing electrophysiological techniques. (A full-length article on Swanepoel’s research project appeared in the 2005 Research Report.)
Contact person: Dr DCD Swanepoel.
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