Current Externally Funded Research by Faculty

Fey, Marc: Language Intervention Lab

Project: Effects of Intensity of Early Communication Intervention (August, 2005 – July 2010, sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

Marc E. Fey, Ph.D., Professor, Hearing and Speech Dept., KUMC, Co-PI
Steven F. Warren, Ph.D., Director, Schiefelbusch Life Span Institute, KU-Lawrence, PI
Paul J. Yoder, Ph.D., Professor, Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Co-PI

Over the past decade, members of our research group have developed an early communication intervention referred to as Prelinguistic Communication Intervention (PCI). PCI involves direct intervention with 2-year-old children with developmental delay as well as parent training designed to establish and support a highly responsive style of parent-child interaction. Our preliminary research using experimental designs has involved a very small “dose” of direct intervention with the child, averaging approximately one hour per week for 6 months. The effects we have observed have been encouraging, but modest. This research project is a test of the hypothesis that a high “dose” of PCI will have dramatically more positive outcomes. PCI will be delivered at two different levels of intensity to approximately 80 young children with communication delays. These children are randomly assigned to either a “high” or “low” intensity group. Children in the low-intensity group receive one hour of direct intervention per week for 9 months, while children assigned to the high-intensity group receive 5 hours a week of direct intervention for 9 months. Parents in both groups receive the same treatment focusing on helping them to be highly responsive to their children’s communication attempts. All participants in both groups are followed for an additional 6 months after the conclusion of the 9-month treatment period. We will compare the effects of high and low doses of PCI on children’s nonverbal and verbal communication skills.

Boyd, Lara: Brain Behavior Laboratory

Primary Investigator:
Lara Boyd, PT, PhD

Research conducted in the Brain Behavior Laboratory seeks to aid our understanding of the relationships between patterns of neural activation and functional ability. This focus allows the description of the relationships between lesion location, potential for neuroplastic change and recovery from brain damage. Primary areas of study are recovery from stroke, and the rehabilitation of individuals with Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. The Brain Behavior Laboratory houses a state of the art computing system designed for the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data as well as multiple workstations for the collection and processing of behavioral data.

Stehno-Bittel, Lisa; Smirnova, Irina; Searls, Yvonne: Diabetes Research Laboratory

Primary Investigators:
Lisa Stehno-Bittel, PT, PhD
Irina V. Smirnova, PhD
Yvonne Searls, PT, PhD

Drs. Stehno-Bittel, Smirnova and Searls work collaboratively to study the effects of chronic diabetes on rat cardiovascular system. Dr. Stehno-Bittel leads the work examining the connective tissue changes surrounding vessels. More recently, she has been involved in refining the protocol of isolating insulin producing beta-islets for transplantation in diabetic rats. This project focuses on finding measurable markers that can be used to predict the quality of isolated beta-islets and their suitability for the transplantation. Dr. Smirnova heads the work on diabetes and heart tissue. She is interested in the cellular signaling involved in the pathological processes associated with diabetes, and how various interventions, including physical training, can help to protect the damaged diabetic heart. Dr. Searls studies the signaling pathways triggered by diabetes in the vascular smooth muscle cells, including calcium mobilization and transcription factor activation affected by the hyperglycemia.

All investigators are examining the effects of endurance exercise on the negative consequences associated with chronic diabetes. The goal is to determine whether exercise training can directly thwart the long term effects of diabetes on the tissues studied.

Kluding, Patty; Pohl, Patricia: Functional Performance Laboratory

Primary Investigators:
Patty Kluding, PT, PhD
Patricia Pohl, PT, PhD

The Functional Performance Laboratory is under the direction of Drs. Kluding and Pohl. This research lab is fully equipped with exercise and functional training equipment. The primary focus of the research undertaken in this lab is the study of functional performance and physical therapy interventions for older adults and adults with stroke.

Dr. Kluding’s work includes an investigation on the effect of ankle joint mobilizations and functional training on improving function in adults with hemiplegia post-stroke, and the effect of ankle joint mobilizations on improving function for patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Dr. Pohl’s research interest has been the control and learning of human movement in older adults and adults post-stroke. Her current work examines task effects on procedural learning in stroke survivors, and dual task performance in adults with stroke. A collaborative project with Drs. Boyd, Kluding and Pohl will examine whether people with both diabetes and stroke respond differently to exercise than people with stroke alone.

Liu, Wen: Neuromuscular Research Laboratory

Wen Liu, PhD