PENERAPAN FOCUSED STIMULATION DALAM KEMAMPUAN BAHASA RESEPTIVE PADA ANAK RETARDASI MENTAL DI RUMAH SAKIT JIWA TAMPAN PEKANBARU

This study aims to see the application of the Focused Stimulation Method in improving the ability of prescription language in children with mental retardation at Tampan Mental Hospital Pekanbaru. The subjects in this study were 3 people with the criteria of experiencing low mental retardation and prescription language development. The implementation of the Focused Stimulation Method was carried out for 10 sessions, including baseline results and evaluation after implementation. From the results of the application of the method shows an increase in understanding of the receptive language on the subject. This increase can be seen from the baseline and evaluation results. In the FA subject there was an increase, namely the baseline results got 3 points and the evaluation score became 5 points, this means that there was an increase of 2 points. In the FR subject there was an increase, namely the baseline results got a value of 4 points and the evaluation value was 7 points, this means that there was an increase of 3 points. In the FM subject there was an increase, namely the baseline results got 5 points and the evaluation score became 8 points, this means that there was an increase of 3 points. Thus it can be said that the Focused Stimulation Method is effective for improving receptive language in children with mental retardation

Focused Stimulation Intervention in 4- and 5-Year-Old Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Exploring Implementation in Clinical Practice

Purpose Applying evidence-based grammar intervention can be challenging for speech and language therapists (SLTs). Language in Interaction Therapy (LIT) is a focused stimulation intervention for children with weak morphosyntactic skills, which was developed to support SLTs in incorporating results from effect studies in daily practice. The aims of this Clinical Focus are (a) to explain the principles and elements of LIT and stimulate use in daily SLT practice and (b) to describe the effects of LIT on morphosyntactic skills of 4- to 5-year-olds in special education, compared to usual care. Method With a description of LIT, we provide guidance to implement evidence-based intervention. Important elements are as follows: proper selection of therapy goals, language facilitating techniques, child-centered and clinician-directed elements, and the use of scripts. Our focus in the description is on the support and practical solutions LIT tries to provide to SLTs. We also explored the implementation of LIT in special education, to improve morphosyntax in 4- and 5-year-old children. We provided SLTs with training and designed protocols for each therapy session. The effects of LIT were measured in a single-case A–B design, repeated in five children with developmental language disorders (ages 4;2–5;7 [years;months]). Conclusion We conclude that implementation of LIT is possible if LIT is enriched with support in goal selection, protocols to guide therapy sessions, and training and coaching. In the single-case study, four children showed more growth in mean length of utterance during and directly following the LIT intervention phase, compared to the baseline phase with usual care, and in two of them, this difference was significant. The grammatical complexity measure “TARSP-P” showed an overall significantly higher score at group level during LIT, but limited effects on an individual level.

Angle-tuned Coil: A Focal Spot-size Adjustable Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator

BackgroundConventional transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coils are limited by the depth-focality tradeoff rule and the emission field intensity from coils with either small or large apertures will diverge quickly at less than one aperture diameter distance away from the coil. To utilize a better depth-focality tradeoff rule and accomplish deep and focused stimulation, a new approach needs to be employed.ObjectivesWe report a new TMS coil design that can deliver deep and spot size adjustable stimulation to deep brain regions.MethodsIn our design, we introduce a magnetic core at the center of a coil to help confine the magnetic field and prevent leakage. We further tilted the wire wrapping angle of the coil to break its ring symmetry and accomplish tunable focusing by adjusting the tilting angle.ResultsBy comparing the electric field decay curves of five types of coils, our results concluded the proposed novel method to improve the coils’ depth-focality profile. Both theoretical calculations and experimental data collectively demonstrated that by using a larger tilting angle, we were able to accomplish a more tightly focused stimulation at any distance away from the coil.ConclusionEnlarging the tilting angle of the coil wire wrapping and applying magnetic core significantly improved the spatial resolution of the field without inducing considerable effect on field decay speed. Our novel TMS coil design plots a new curve in the depth-focality profile with better performance than the existing conventional coil designs in the tradeoff rule.

Identifying Culturally Consistent Early Interventions for Latino Caregivers

A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was applied to identify promising culturally consistent early intervention (EI) approaches with Latino caregivers. The researchers collected multiple sources of data, analyzed them separately, and then integrated relevant findings with other sources to identify promising EI approaches. Data included acculturation level, coded caregiver interaction style, and reported caregiver preferred activities. Based on the integration of these data and other sources, several themes and promising interventions were identified for Latino caregivers of young children. The use of imperatives, asking questions to redirect attention, and explicit teaching are discussed as well as ways to expand upon these behaviors through request for clarification, use of expansions, focused stimulation, and dialogic reading. Identifying culturally congruent interventions that fit with caregiver’s style and prepares the child for academic settings is also discussed.

The Changing View of Input in the Treatment of Children With Grammatical Deficits

Purpose The purpose of this article is to present 3 approaches that emphasize the role that input plays in the treatment of grammatical deficits in children with language impairments. Method These approaches—input informativeness, competing sources of input, and high variability—were selected because they go beyond issues of token frequency and emphasize instead type frequency, relative frequency, and frequency at an abstract as well as a concrete level of grammar. Each of these approaches can be applied to the grammatical deficits seen in children with specific language impairment and can be readily used with well-established procedures, such as focused stimulation and recasting. Results Each approach is supported by a body of laboratory research with children with typical language skills, and the feasibility of each has been tested in studies with a treatment design. Furthermore, the assumptions of the 3 approaches are largely compatible, permitting application of combinations of these approaches without violating any of their principles. Conclusion The positive findings from each of these approaches should serve as a basis for further clinical research.

Early Intervention for Speech Impairment in Children with Cleft Palate

Objective: This study explored the effectiveness of a parent-implemented, focused stimulation program on the speech characteristics of children younger than 3 years with cleft lip and palate. The research questions included the following: (1) Can parents be trained to deliver an early intervention (EI) program for children with cleft palate? (2) Does a parent-implemented EI program result in positive changes in speech characteristics? Participants: Ten mother-child pairs in which the child had cleft lip and palate (CLP) and 10 mother-child pairs in which the child did not have a cleft (NCLP). The children ranged in age from 14 to 36 months of age and were matched between the CLP and the NCLP groups for vocabulary size, age, and socioeconomic status. Main Outcome Measures: Group differences (CLP and the NCLP) for preintervention and postintervention language and speech measures were compared. Results: The results of this study showed that the mothers could be trained to deliver the intervention reliably. Furthermore, the results indicated that the intervention resulted in increased sound inventories, increased speech accuracy, and reduced use of glottal stops for the children with clefts. Conclusions: While the intervention resulted in speech gains for the children with clefts, speech measures did not exceed those made by the children without clefts. The results of the study have implications for service delivery models where the services of speech-language pathologists are limited.