Verbal Training Research Articles

The influence of verbal training and visual feedback on manual wheelchair propulsion

Purpose. To determine if verbal training with visual feedback improved manual wheelchair propulsion; to examine propulsion differences between an individual with paraplegia and an individual with tetraplegia.Method. Quasi-experimental study: Nine manual wheelchair-using adults participated in propulsion assessments and training. Baseline propulsion performance was measured on several tasks on different surfaces. Participants were trained on a wheelchair treadmill with verbal and visual feedback to increase push length, reduce push frequency and to modify propulsion pattern. Handrim biomechanics were measured with an instrumented wheel. Changes in propulsion were assessed. Differences in propulsion characteristics between a participant with paraplegia and a participant with tetraplegia were examined.Results. Push length increased (p < 0.05), push frequency decreased (p < 0.01) and peak (p < 0.05) and average (p < 0.01) forces increased immediately after training. These changes were not sustained over time. Graphic representations showed differences in propulsion characteristics between a participant with paraplegia and a participant with tetraplegia.Conclusions. Verbal training may produce changes in push biomechanics of manual wheelchair users. Longer training periods may be needed to sustain propulsion changes. Findings from this study support other studies that have shown propulsion differences between people with tetraplegia and paraplegia. Propulsion training for populations with upper-extremity impairments warrants further study.

Verbal mediation as a treatment strategy for children with non-verbal learning difficulties

Aim The aim of this case study was to investigate the effectiveness of verbal mediation training in children with non-verbal learning difficulties. Methods Two A-B-A single case experimental design studies were conducted. In the intervention phase each child was asked to complete non-verbal construction tasks using verbal mediation. Children also completed a digit span task, as a control measure of overall development. During the training and follow-up phases they completed a jigsaw, as a measure of generalization of training to a related task. Findings: The results suggested that the children improved in their ability to complete non-verbal construction tasks, unrelated to changes in their overall developmental level. Conclusions Findings suggest that verbal mediation training was beneficial for two children with non-verbal learning difficulties but further research, in the form of randomized controlled trials is needed.

The Case of the Purloined Letter-Manuals: Archival Issues in Ancient Epistolary Theory

This essay argues that the significance and nature of ancient epistolary theory have been underestimated and misunderstood due to the nature of the ancient materials, their history of transmission, and the prestige economies of modern (and ancient) academic hierarchies, and it discusses ways in which shifts of interpretive focus can further our understanding of certain aspects of ancient verbal skills training and theory.

The Potential of a 2Tone Trainer To Help Patients Use Their Metered-Dose Inhalers

Many patients have problems using the correct inhalation technique when they use their metered-dose inhalers (MDIs). We have investigated whether a training aid (2Tone Trainer [2T]; Canday Medical Ltd; Newmarket, UK) helps to maintain the correct inhaler technique after patients leave the clinic Ethics committee approval was obtained, and patients gave consent. Asthmatic patients who had been prescribed an MDI had their inhalation technique assessed. Their peak inhalation flow (PIF) when using their MDI, FEV(1), and the Juniper asthma quality of life questionnaire (AQLQ) score were measured. Those patients using the recommended MDI technique were the good-technique (GT) group. The remainder were randomized to receive verbal training (VT) or VT plus the 2T to improve their MDI technique. All patients returned 6 weeks later. There were 36, 35, and 36 asthmatic patients, respectively, who completed the GT, VT, and 2T procedures. FEV1 did not change within all groups between visit 1 and 2. PIF and AQLQ score did not change in the GT group. In the VT and 2T groups, the AQLQ score increased by mean differences of 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14 to 0.53; p < 0.001) and 0.74 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.86; p < 0.001). At visit 1, all patients in the VT and 2T groups inhaled > 90 L/min decreasing to 12 patients and 1 patient, respectively, at visit 2 (p < 0.001 both groups). The overall changes in the 2T group for PIF and AQLQ score, between visits 1 and 2, were significantly (p < 0.001) greater than the corresponding changes in the VT group. The 2T helps patients to maintain the recommended MDI technique posttraining with improvements in AQLQ score.

Supporting teacher use of interventions: effects of response dependent performance feedback on teacher implementation of a math intervention

This study examined general education teachers’ implementation of a peer tutoring intervention for five elementary students referred for consultation and intervention due to academic concerns. Treatment integrity was assessed via permanent products produced by the intervention. Following verbal instructions, intervention implementation by four teachers was consistently low or exhibited a downward trend whereas one teacher’s moderate implementation co-occurred with student gains. When classroom training was conducted with four teachers exhibiting low integrity, all teachers improved implementation. After accurately implementing the intervention for three training sessions with classroom training, response dependent performance feedback was provided when teachers independently used the intervention below 100% integrity, as determined by review of permanent products. With response dependent performance feedback, three of the four teachers implemented the intervention at levels above the verbal training performance, whereas implementation for one teacher increased following discussion of an upcoming school team meeting. Student math scores improved during intervention.

The effects of writer immersion and the responses of a peer reader on teaching the function of writing with middle school students.

Abstract We tested the effects of writer immersion and the responses emitted by a peer reader across four male middle school participants diagnosed with behavioral disorders. The participants were chosen for this study due to their high structural errors and inability to write functionally in order to affect the behavior of a reader. Writer immersion and the observing responses of a peer reader were used to increase both accurate structural and functional components of written responses to a probe picture and selected tasks. The dependent measures were the percentage of accurate structural components written during the pre- and post-experimental probes, the number of components drawn by the reader during the pre- and post-experimental probes, the percentage of accurate structural components written during the writer immersion phase and the number of components completed by the reader during the writer immersion phase. Results showed that the writer immersion procedure and the effect of the peer reader's responses to the participant's writing functioned to increase accuracy in the both structure and function of writing across all four participants. Keywords: writer immersion, technical writing, functional writing, peer reader, self-editing. ********** Writing is a crucial skill for children to acquire. While there is much emphasis on the form of writing, little emphasis has been placed on the teaching of the function of writing and its impact on a potential reader. In fact, many national standards focus on overarching goals in which children are required to speak and write from a variety of perspectives and across numerous tasks, but the effect that the child's writing has on the reader is seldom addressed. Just as a speaker utilizes vocal language to affect the listener, a writer writes in order to affect the reader. The writing repertoire of the child needs to be able to be clear enough to direct the behavior of the reader so that the reader will accurately perform the tasks required of him (Greer, 2002). According to Catania (1998), from a verbal behavior analysis or the functionalist perspective, units of speech are identified according to their function for the speaker or writer. Verbal behavior has consequences and these consequences affect subsequent verbal behavior. In other words, verbal behavior is characterized by the effect one person has on another person including effects on the listener and speaker, as well as the effects of the writer on the reader (Greer & Ross, 2007). According to Greer and Ross (2007) in order to teach effective and functional writing, the curriculum must focus on instructing the writer on how to influence the actions of the reader. This type of technical writing is based on the outcomes of the writer's instructions to the reader. For example, the writer may produce written instructions for assembling a bicycle or baking a cheesecake. The descriptions that are provided to the reader are the stimulus control for the reader to act upon the instructions. The curriculum for functional writing must focus on creating an establishing operation and relevant contingencies within the environment by assigning tasks that allow the writer to observe the effect that his writing has on a reader. Vargas (1978) arranged conditions in which the participants were assigned a writing task in which they how provide directions on how to complete a certain task. The participant had the reader complete the task based on the written information provided, and if the reader could not complete the task based on the directions, the writer immediately edited the directions so that the reader could complete the task accurately. Therefore, the reader's behavior affected the writer's behavior by prompting the editing and the writer's behavior affected the reader's behavior through the directions provided for the task completion. Verbal behavior training programs incorporate establishing operations in which the child's environment is manipulated to co-create naturally occurring motivational conditions in order to increase the frequency of verbal responses (Michael, 1988, 1993). …

Effects of gesture+verbal treatment for noun and verb retrieval in aphasia

Links between verbs and gesture knowledge suggest that verb retrieval may be particularly amenable to gesture+verbal training (GVT) in aphasia compared to noun retrieval. This study examines effects of GVT for noun and verb retrieval in nine individuals with aphasia subsequent to left hemisphere stroke. Participants presented an array of noun and verb retrieval deficits, including impairments of semantic and/or phonologic processing. In a single-participant experimental design, we investigated effects of GVT for noun and verb retrieval in two counterbalanced treatment phases. Effects were evaluated in spoken naming and gesture production to pictured objects and actions. Spoken naming improvements associated with large effect sizes were noted for trained nouns (5/9) and verbs (5/9); no improvements were evident for untrained words. Gesture production improved for trained nouns (8/9) and verbs (6/9), and for untrained nouns (2/9) and verbs (2/9). No significant differences were evident between nouns and verbs in spoken naming or gesture production. Improvements were evident across individuals with varied sources of word retrieval impairments. GVT has the potential to improve communication by increasing spoken word retrieval of trained nouns and verbs and by promoting use of gesture as a means to communicate when word retrieval fails.

Can Distance Estimation Training Transfer to an Active Response?

Telling individuals the distance between themselves and a target, right after they estimated that distance verbally, improves subsequent verbal estimations. Prior studies, however, have not tested whether or not such training improves the accuracy of perceptually guided actions, e.g., throwing an object to a target. We begin to do so here. Specifically, the present study compared throwing performance during Pre and Post-Testing for participants who either 1) generated verbal distance estimates during Training and received feedback, 2) produced verbal distance estimates during Training but did not receive feedback, or 3) performed an unrelated task during Training. An additional comparison examined whether any effects noted in earlier analyses stemmed from interactions between the Pre-Test and the feedback manipulation. Our results indicate that improving participants' ability to verbally estimate distances didn't improve (and possibly degraded) throwing accuracy. Accordingly, the benefits of verbal estimation training may only benefit subsequent verbal estimations.

Effects of gesture+verbal and semantic‐phonologic treatments for verb retrieval in aphasia

Background: Reports have indicated that gesture+verbal treatments and semantic‐phonologic treatments are effective for improving lexical retrieval in aphasia. Most studies focus on noun production, with verb production less commonly reported. Because of links between verbs and gesture knowledge, verbs may be particularly amenable to gesture+verbal training. We extend our appreciation to our four participants who diligently completed this study. This project was supported by NIH (NIDCD) grant P50 DC03888‐01A1 to the University of Florida (subcontract to Old Dominion University), and by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development Center of Excellence Grant F2182C to the Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Gainesville, Florida. Aims: The purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of gesture+verbal and semantic‐phonologic treatments on verb retrieval in patients with chronic aphasia. Methods & Procedures: We report treatment results for four individuals, three men and one woman, with aphasia and verb retrieval impairments subsequent to left hemisphere stroke more than 8 months earlier. Word retrieval impairment was semantically based in one participant, phonologically based in another, and mixed semantic+phonologic in two others. In a single‐participant experimental treatment design, we investigated the effects of gesture+verbal treatment and semantic‐phonologic treatment for verb retrieval in two 10‐session training phases. The effects of treatment were evaluated in a verb picture‐naming task in which spoken naming and gestured responses were coded. Outcomes & Results: Spoken naming improvements associated with large effect sizes were noted in one participant during both the semantic‐phonologic training and gesture+verbal training. Gesture production improved in two other participants with severe anomia during gesture+verbal training. No improvements were evident in untrained words during either training phase. Conclusions: Gesture+verbal training and semantic‐phonologic training led to similar patterns of treatment results for verb spoken naming. The individual with phonologically based anomia responded better in treatment than the other three whose naming impairments were associated with semantic dysfunction. The item‐specific improvement in spoken naming for trained verbs only suggests that both treatments may affect individual lexical representations engaged during word retrieval. Gesture+verbal treatment may encourage use of a viable means of gestural communication for those who do not improve verbal production, even in the presence of severe limb apraxia.

Méthode de prise en charge globale non médicamenteuse des patients déments institutionnalisés

Over the last decades many approaches have been developed to manage cognitive and behavioral disturbances in dementia. The present work describes a global intervention program carried out with moderately to severely demented institutionalized patients. The aims of the intervention program are to stimulate and maintain the preserved abilities of demented patients in a supportive context, to decrease the behavioral disturbance and to avoid burnout of care-unit staff. This intervention combines different means: psychosocial care (validation therapy, social interaction), cognitive stimulation (memory and verbal training), and motor and sensitive stimulation. The global intervention program requires a special trained team composed of a supervisor, six aid-nurses, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a psychomotor therapist and a psychologist. The team cared for the patients five days per week over a three-month period. Assessments were conducted before and after the intervention program to measure the benefit. Positive effects were shown for cognitive abilities, nutritional problems and staff burnout. However, due to the small sample size for this study, more research is needed to verify the effectiveness of this global intervention program, particularly the implications for nutrition. This global intervention combined with pharmacological treatment seems to be useful for managing psychological and behavioral disorders of institutionalized demented patients.

Some Predictors of Mathematics Achievement among Black Secondary School Learners

This study was conducted to identify predictors of mathematics achievement among grade 9 learners of a random sample of five township schools. A series of regression analyses were performed for boys and girls separately to obtain Cohen's (1992) effect size estimate (uniquely explained criterion variance expressed as a proportion of unexplained criterion variance) for various predictor variables. Cognitive predictors were verbal and non-verbal General Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Non-cognitive variables included the hierarchical levels of self-concept: Global (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and academic and mathematics self-concept (relevant scales of Brookover, Erickson and Joiner). Socio-economic predictors included home-related variables (parental education, parental occupation, family size) and school-related factors (class size, teacher's qualification, teacher's experience). Gender differences favouring boys were found. Non-verbal and verbal scholastic aptitude and teacher's general training correlated significantly with mathematics achievement for boys and girls, with nonverbal scholastic aptitude showing the highest correlation and effect size estimate for girls and teacher's general training occupying this position for boys. Teacher's mathematics training and class size showed correlations in excess of 0.35 for boys but not for girls. The negative corrrelation obtained for teacher's general training suggested that learners whose teachers held a three-year teaching diploma performed better in mathematics than did learners whose teachers held a degree and a teacher's diploma.

“Silent” (Non-Language) Training Videos: Cross-Cultural Hospitality Applications

Earlier research established that non-verbal training videos work as well as the traditional verbal training films among Americans. Many hospitality companies hire expatriates for domestic operations. English is not the primary or secondary language for many of these hires. Furthermore, many hospitality companies have a growing presence abroad, often in countries where English is not the native language. Can non-verbal training films can be adopted across cultures and language group? If so, that could greatly simplify and lower the cost of training multi-cultural employees. This research attempted to start answering that question by testing the non-verbal training films on a Norwegian sample in Norway.

Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect on verbal language development of purposefully encouraging hearing infants to use simple gestures as symbols for objects, requests, and conditions. To this end, 103, 11-month-old infants were divided into three groups, all of whom were seen in the laboratory for a variety of assessments, including standardized language tests at 15, 19, 24, 30, and 36 months. Parents of those in the Sign Training group modeled symbolic gestures and encouraged their infants to use them. Parents of infants in the Non-intervention Control group knew nothing about symbolic gestures or our special interest in language development. As a control for “training effects” (i.e., effects attributable to families being engaged in a language intervention program), parents of a second control group of infants (the Verbal Training group) were asked to make special efforts to model verbal labels. After comparisons of the two control groups minimized concerns about training effects, comparisons between the Sign Training and the Non-intervention Control group indicated an advantage for the Sign Training group on the vast majority of language acquisition measures. These results provide strong evidence that symbolic gesturing does not hamper verbal development and may even facilitate it. A variety of possible explanations for such an effect are discussed.

Outcome after cochlear implantation and auditory verbal training in terms of speech perception, speech production and language.

Outcome after cochlear implantation and auditory verbal training in terms of speech perception, speech production and language.

Sequential Analyses, Multiple Controlling Stimuli, and Temporal Patterning in First-Language Transmission

Although inferences of causality from contingencies are problematic, as Hume argued, and are difficult to prove empirically, explanatory accounts of normal language acquisition and all remedial interventions rely on presumptions of environmental effectiveness. Careful sequential analyses of verbal behaviors can strongly corroborate dependencies by means of establishing either (a) contiguous contingencies or (b) topographical resemblances between antecedents and delayed consequences that could not be explained without assuming such dependencies. The promises, as well as the methodological and conceptual challenges, of such sequential analyses of verbal training and learning are exemplified on the basis of mother-child interactions. Concomitant variation over shorter and longer intervals, and immediate as well as lagged contingencies, are interpreted as indicators of dependency relationships. By focusing on behavioral evidence, extensive similarities or even homologies between first-language training and learning and basic behavioral principles established mostly through nonhuman research can be demonstrated. Nevertheless, expansions and innovations in the behavioral repertoire are suggested as conducive to mutual enrichment of the two fields of the experimental analysis of behavior and first-language acquisition.

The Effects of Verbal Mediation Training on the Problem‐Solving Skills of Children with Partial Sight and Children without Visual Impairments

Thirty children with partial sight and 30 children with unimpaired sight aged between 8 and 12 years were randomly assigned to either verbal mediation or visual mediation training regimes. Participants were asked to complete four variations of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle and success on the task was judged on the basis of the number of moves and time taken to complete the puzzles. Children with visual impairments had some difficulty in adjusting to the requirements of the problem‐solving tasks. However, on the final and most difficult of the tasks (a four‐disc problem), the children with impaired sight performed very much like participants without visual impairments. The effect of verbal mediation training was superior to that of visual mediation training in the final trials of the four‐disc problem‐solving period for both children with partial sight and children without visual impairments.

Verbal self-instructional training: An examination of its efficacy, maintenance, and generalisation

The study examined the differential efficacy, maintenance and generalisation effects of verbal self-instructional (VSI) training on reading disabled children. Type of sub-culture (Tribal Vs. Non-tribal) is crossed with type of cognitive stage (concrete Vs. formal operation) to produce four training groups with 15 subjects per cell. The subjects were trained for 10 weeks and retested for post-test and follow-up data. While VSI training was beneficial to non-tribals and children of formal operational stage, it failed in case of tribals and children of concrete operational stage. VSI effects were maintained over four months time and evidenced clear generalisation effects.

A case study of gesturally cued naming in aphasia: dominant versus nondominant hand training

Gestural plus verbal facilitation of naming was investigated in an aphasic right handed adult with apraxia and hemisensory deficit but no hemiplegia secondary to a left hemisphere lesion. An alternating treatments design was followed in combined gesture/speech training of picture naming to compare speech facilitation with dominant vs. nondominant hand iconic gesturing. A small but consistent facilitation effect was observed for naming associated with verbal plus left hand gestural training over naming of items trained in association with verbal plus right hand gesturing. This same pattern of gestural facilitation was replicated with a second set of lexical targets, those for which only verbal training was initially provided. Overall gains were retained over a six-month follow-up period for trained stimuli. Although findings are limited to the performance of a single subject, results of this study may provide data relevant to understanding mechanisms of facilitation in gesture-cued naming in apha-sia.

Effects of verbal plus gestural matrix training on sentence production in a patient with primary progressive aphasia

Abstract This research examined the effectiveness of verbal plus gestural treatment on the acquisition and generalization of present, past and future verb tenses in NP + V + NP sentence production in a primary progressive aphasic subject. Using a single-subject multiple-baseline design across behaviours as well as a matrix training procedure, treatment and generalization effects both within and across language matrices were examined. The relation between gestural and verbal responding was also examined post-hoc using a modified reversal design component. Results indicated improved production of sentences utilizing trained verb tenses and generalization to untrained verbs within tense. Paired gestural plus verbal responding resulted in higher levels of correct oral sentence production than verbal training alone. Findings are discussed in the context of brain mechanisms underlying gestural and verbal language production.

THE DIRECT AND GENERALIZED EFFECTS OF SELF INSTRUCTIONS AND PICTURE PROMPTS ON VOCATIONAL TASK PERFORMANCE

We evaluated the effects of self instructions and picture prompts on vocational task performance of three workers with mild to moderate mental retardation. The workers were asked to perform a packaging task that changed daily. Picture prompts were always present. In the verbal training phase, workers learned self instructions regarding the use of picture prompts to cue their performance on the packaging task. In the verbal and task training phase, workers learned to use the self instructions and picture prompts together to guide their task performance. The results showed that verbal training was sufficient for one worker, but that the other two workers required the combined verbal and task training to improve their task performance. For all subjects, there was evidence of generalization of the self management strategies and task performance and maintenance of both over time.