University of Kansas School of Allied Health

Current Projects

Information for Parents and Potential Participants

Information brochure for caregivers for our early communication project, Effects of Intensity of Early Communication Intervention

For project questions or participant inquiries, please contact Dr. Fey:
mfey@kumc.edu
(913) 588-5937
(913) 588-7963 TDD

Related Info

Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders (KU Lawrence Campus)

Director Bio:
Marc E. Fey, PhD

Current Project 1
Effects of Intensity of Early Communication Intervention (August, 2005 – July 2010, sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

Current Project 2
Effects of Fast ForWord on Language Processing (September, 2005 – August 2007, sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

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Current Project 1

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

Investigators:

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

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.

Related Papers and Book Chapters

Fey, M. E., Warren, S. F., Brady, N., Finestack, L., Bredin-Oja, S. L., Fairchild, M., Sokol, S., & Yoder, P. J. (in press). Early effects of responsivity education/ prelinguistic milieu teaching for children with developmental delays and their parents. Journal of Speech, Language, & Hearing Research.
http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/mccauley-6881/
Warren, S. F., Bredin-Oja, S. L., Fairchild, M., Finestack, L. H., Fey, M. E., & Brady, N. (in press). Prelinguistic communication intervention. In R.J. McCauley & M. E. Fey (Eds.) Treatment of Language Disorders in Children. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/mccauley-6881/
Yoder, P. J. and Warren, S. F. (2002). "Effects of prelinguistic milieu teaching and parent responsivity education on dyads involving children with intellectual disabilities." Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 1158-74. Read article at
http://www.asha.org/members/deskref-journals/journals/jslhr/45/06/jsl45061158.htm

Yoder, P. J. and Warren, S. F. (2001). "Relative treatment effects of two prelinguistic communication interventions on language development in toddlers with developmental delays vary by maternal characteristics." Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 224-37.
http://www.asha.org/members/deskref-journals/journals/jslhr/44/01/jsl44010224.htm

Yoder, P. J. and Warren, S. (1998). Maternal responsivity predicts the prelinguistic communication intervention that facilitates generalized intentional communication. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 1207-19.

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Current Project 2

Effects of Fast ForWord on Language Processing (September, 2005 – August 2007, sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

Investigators:

Marc E. Fey, Ph.D., Professor, Hearing and Speech Department, KUMC-Kansas City
Jeffrey D. Lewine, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Hoglund Brain Imaging Center
Byron J. Gajewski, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Allied Health, KUMC-Kansas City

Although children with specific language impairment (SLI) perform normally on tests of nonverbal intelligence, they have significant problems in the development of semantic, grammatical, and/or narrative language skills. Until recently, most interventions have been based on the principle that more efficient learning depends on changing the language the child hears. In some cases, new skills are taught explicitly. In contrast, Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L) is designed to improve the learner’s ability to process auditory and auditory-verbal signals by fundamentally reorganizing the child’s central auditory nervous system.

The broad objectives underlying this investigation reflect the investigators’ interest in developing and testing interventions, or sequences of interventions, that not only change the language performance of children with SLI, but fundamentally change their ability to learn new language from the input to which they are exposed. The specific aims of the project are (a) to examine the effects of FFW-L on children’s responses to a conventional Narrative Based Language Intervention (NBLI); (b) to compare the neurophysiologic effects of FFW-L with those of the less intensive, conventional NBLI; and (c) to compare the effects of FFW-L and those of NBLI (alone and in combination) on measures based on more naturalistic language activities.

A battery of language measures are supplemented by whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with high-density electroencephalography (EEG). These techniques provide a detailed spatio-temporal profile of the brain’s response to simple and complex auditory stimuli before and after intervention.

The outcomes of the investigation will include (a) a better understanding of the effects of FFW-L on language learning abilities; (b) more comprehensive knowledge of the neurobiology of SLI and the brain’s response to language intervention; and (c) the evidence necessary to plan and implement tests of sequences of interventions involving FFW-L and other conventional interventions in fully-powered clinical trials.