Study Guide #1: SLHS 204

What is communication?

Any means by which individuals relate their wants, needs, thoughts, feelings, and knowledge to another person.

What is language?

Language is a socially shared code used to represent concepts.

• Uses arbitrary symbols combined in rule-governed ways

• Generative: You can create new utterances

• Dynamic: Languages change over time (e.g., google)

• Grammar: Rules of a language

• All languages have three primary components: Form, content, and

use

Describe form.

Form

• Phonology: Sound system of a language. English has about 43 phonemes

• Phonotactic rules: How sounds may be arranged (Phoneme)

• Morphology: Structure of words (Morphemes)

• Syntax: How words are arranged in a sentence

Describe content.

Content

• Semantics: Meaning of language

• Helps us differentiate sense from nonsense

• Features of words affect meaning

Describe use.

Use

• Pragmatics: Purpose of language

• Pragmatic rules vary with culture

What is a phoneme?

Phoneme is the shortest arbitrary unit of sound in a language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds in the language.

What is a morpheme? What is the difference between free morphemes and bound

morphemes?

Morphemes are the smallest grammatical units. Free morphemes can stand alone as a word whereas bound morphemes must be attached to free morphemes. e.g. un-, pre-, -ful

What is speech?

Speech is the process of producing the acoustic representation of language.

It is made up of: articulation, fluency, voice.

Describe articulation.

The way speech sounds are formed.

• Prosody: Rate and rhythm

• Suprasegmentals: include stress and intonation

Describe fluency.

• Smooth, forward flow of communication

• Rate: The speed at which we talk

Describe voice.

Can reveal things about the speaker and the message.

• Loudness and loudness patterns

• By stressing different words or syllables, meaning can be changed

• Pitch: Listener’s perception of how high or low a sound is (frequency)

• Habitual pitch: Basic tone an individuals mostly uses

• Intonation: Pitch movement within an utterance

What are communication disorders?

Impairment in the ability to receive, send, and process and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal, and graphic information.

May be categorized on the basis of whether reception, processing, and/or expression are affected (or a combination).

• Etiology: Cause/origin of a problem

• Congenital: Present at birth

• Acquired: Result of illness, accident, or environmental circumstances

later in life

• Variations in communication and swallowing are not impairments

• Dialects: Differences that reflect regional, social, cultural, or ethnic identity

Briefly describe types speech disorders. (articulation)

Atypical production of speech sounds.

Briefly describe types speech disorders. (stuttering)

Interruption in the flow of speaking.

Briefly describe types speech disorders. (voice)

Abnormal production and/or absence of voice quality.

Describe language disorder. (form)

• Phonological disorder: Error in sound use

• Morphological disorder: Incorrect past tense or plural markers

• Syntactic disorder: Incorrect word order and run-on sentences

Disorders of form can be due to sensory limitations, perceptual difficulties, limited exposure to correct models, neurological disorders.

Describe language disorder. (content)

• Limited vocabulary

• Misuse of words

• Word-finding difficulties

• Difficulty understanding and using abstract language

• Avoiding naming objects and referring instead to “the thing”

Can be due to limited experience, concrete learning style, stroke, head trauma.

Describe language disorder. (use)

• Difficulty staying on topic

• Providing inappropriate or incongruent responses

• Continually interrupting the conversational partner

Can be related to limited or unacceptable conversational social, and narrative skills.

Describe hearing disorders. (deafness)

Impaired sensitivity in the auditory system.

• Ability to perceive sound is so limited that the auditory channel is not the

  primary sensory input for communication.

Describe hearing disorders. (hard of hearing)

Depend primarily on audition for communication.

• Conductive: Damage to the outer or middle ear

• Sensorineural: Problems with the inner ear and/or auditory nerve

What is a Central Auditory Processing Disorder?

May have normal hearing but difficulty understanding speech.

Difficulties with:

• Keeping up with conversation

• Understanding speech in noise

• Discriminating and identifying speech sounds

• Integrating speech with nonverbals

What is ASHA's scope of practice?

It is an official policy (by ASHA) that defines the breadth of practice within the profession of

Speech-Language Pathology.

What is ASHA's code of ethics?

Framework and focused guide to provide professionals support of day-to-day decision making related to professional conduct (fundamental principles and rules) that are essential to the preservation of the highest standards of integrity and ethical principles in speech-language pathology.