Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering speech and language fundamentals, dysarthria and cerebral palsy, acoustic voice science and cleft palate management, and fluency disorders from the lecture notes.

Fluency Shaping Technique

A stuttering treatment approach with the end goal of being fluent in speech, utilizing techniques like slowed speech, stretched syllables, and breathing exercises, which puts pressure on the speaker to sound fluent and historically has not improved quality of life.

Stuttering Modification

A stuttering approach aimed at easing stuttering pauses through coping mechanisms like cancellations and pull-outs, which can reinforce stigma and still promotes the idea of reaching for fluent-sounding speech.

The Blank Care Model

A strength-based assessment and support framework centered on Communication, Advocacy, Self-Disclosure, and Education to destigmatize stuttering, enhance self-esteem, and empower speakers.

CAPE Programming

Weekly sessions that target specific communication competencies through engaging activities such as role-playing and improvisation to create a comfortable environment.

Camp Dream. Speak. Live

A 5-day intensive summer camp focused on communication competencies, games, activities, and performances designed as a celebration of stuttering.

Dysarthria

A group of speech disorders caused by neuromuscular dysfunction resulting from damage to the central and/or peripheral nervous system pathways, affecting respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation.

Cerebral Palsy

A syndrome of deficits resulting from an injury to the nervous system at or shortly after birth, characterized by weak, paralyzed, or uncoordinated muscles.

Spastic Cerebral Palsy

A type of cerebral palsy caused by damage to pyramidal/extrapyramidal tracts, marked by spasticity (abnormal resistance to muscle lengthening), hypertonicity (arms bent upward, legs scissors), and muscle atrophy.

Athetoid Cerebral Palsy

A form of cerebral palsy caused by primary damage in the basal ganglia (extrapyramidal tract), characterized by involuntary writhing and twisting movements where the child appears in almost constant motion.

Ataxic Cerebral Palsy

A form of cerebral palsy caused by damage to the cerebellum, characterized by motor coordination disturbances affecting the speed, direction, and accuracy of movements, particularly in tasks requiring a target, precision, or rhythm.

Flaccid Dysarthria

Dysarthria caused by damage to the motor unit, characterized by muscle weakness, atrophy, rapid fatigue with prolonged use, hypernasality, nasal emission, and breathiness, which improves after rest.

Spastic Dysarthria

Dysarthria caused by bilateral damage to the pyramidal and extrapyramidal tracts, characterized by hypertonicity, muscles fighting against stretching, articulatory imprecision, slow rate, short phrases, and a strained/strangled voice quality.

Hypokinetic Dysarthria

Dysarthria most commonly associated with Parkinson's disease due to damage to dopamine cells in the basal ganglia, characterized by hypertoned/rigid muscles, a resting tremor, accelerated movements, short rushes of speech, and monopitch/loudness.

Hyperkinetic Dysarthria

Dysarthria caused by damage to the basal ganglia of the extrapyramidal system, marked by fast or slow involuntary movements in one limb or the whole body, impaired prosody, articulatory imprecision, and speech rate deficits.

Primary Stuttering Behaviors

Core speech patterns directly related to stuttering, including pauses, repetitions, prolonged vowels, and associated facial movements.

Secondary Stuttering Behaviors

Learned coping mechanisms developed to escape or cope with stuttering blocks, such as eye blinking, word switching, filler words, and foot stamping.

Harmonics

A series of simple periodic sounds that compose complex periodic sounds, each possessing its own individual frequency and amplitude.

Fundamental Frequency ($f_0$)

The lowest harmonic of a complex periodic sound; a property of the vocal source perceived as pitch, which reflects the rate of vocal fold vibration and typically ranges from $100-300\,\text{Hz}$ in the adult human voice.

Formants

Resonances of the vocal tract that appear as dark bands on a spectrogram, altered by changing the shape of the vocal tract filter.

Source-Filter Theory

The theory of speech production explaining how respiration functions as the power source, phonation provides the sound source, and articulation acts as the acoustic filter.

Phonology

The abstract system of knowledge concerning language rules and conventions for combining sounds into sound sequences.

Articulation

The motor skills and physiological movements of the vocal tract articulators involved in producing speech sounds and sound sequences.

Phoneme

The smallest unit in language that conveys meaning and serves to distinguish words from one another.

Cycles Approach

A phonological remediation treatment in which patterns occurring $40\%$ or greater are stimulated for $1\,\text{hour}$ per phoneme across cycled sessions lasting $6-18\,\text{hours}$.

Metaphon Approach

A phonological treatment approach that builds metalinguistic and metaphonological awareness through non-speech games before transitioning to speech sounds, designed for moderate to severe disorders.

Vocal Fold Nodules

Callous-like bilateral growths that form in pairs at the point of greatest vibration amplitude, accounting for approximately $20\%$ of voice problem patients and often called 'screamer's nodules.'

Cheiloplasty

The surgical repair of a cleft lip, typically performed within the first $3\,\text{months}$ of life.

Palatoplasty

The surgical repair of a cleft palate, typically completed at around $12\,\text{months}$ of age.

Palatal Lift Appliance

A prosthetic device used for individuals who have adequate soft palate length but lack muscle control, functioning by mechanically lifting the flaccid velum upward.

Language Content (Semantics)

The component of language governed by socially shared rules regarding what words mean, encompassing vocabulary and representational meaning.

Language Form

The organizational rule system of language that determines how sounds and words are structured, encompassing phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Language Use (Pragmatics)

The social aspect of language that dictates how language choices and word combinations are best selected and adapted for specific communicative contexts.

Overregularization

A speech developmental error in which children treat irregular words as regular by inappropriately applying standard grammatical rules (e.g., 'foots', 'mouses').

Infant-Directed Speech

A simplified, slower speech style used by adults toward infants, marked by exaggerated pitch and loudness variations, elongated pauses, and repetitive structures.

Speech Respiration Ratio

The modification of the typical resting $40:60$ inhalation-to-exhalation duration to a $10:90$ ratio in order to sustain speech during the expiratory phase.

Vocal Fold Abduction and Adduction

Active muscular movements that open (abduct) and close (adduct) the glottis, distinct from the aerodynamic and myoelastic open-close cycling of vocal fold vibration.