Browsing by Person "Watson, Jocelynne"

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Changes in linguapalatal contact patterns during therapy for velar fronting in a 10-year-old with Down's syndrome.
(2004) Gibbon, Fiona; McNeill, Alison M.; Wood, Sara; Watson, Jocelynne
BACKGROUND: Articulation errors in the speech of people with Down's syndrome are frequent and often resistant to speech therapy. This preliminary study investigates the use of electropalatography (EPG) to diagnose and treat abnormal articulation patterns associated with velar fronting in a 10-year-old girl. AIMS: The study measured changes in the accuracy and stability of linguapalatal (tongue-palate) contact patterns during a 14-week course of visual feedback therapy using EPG. Therapy aimed to resolve a pattern of velar fronting whereby targets /k, g, eta/ had alveolar placement [t, d, n]. METHODS & PROCEDURES: The participant was a girl (P) with Down's syndrome aged 10;11 years. P had a moderate-severe speech disorder, which included velar fronting. Her speech was recorded with EPG on three occasions during a 14-week course of therapy: first, before therapy; second, midway through therapy; and third, after therapy. Three analyses were conducted on the EPG data. The first used an EPG classification scheme that identified accuracy of placement for /t/ and /k/ targets. The second was a centre of gravity measure that detected whether P produced a significant difference between /t/ and /k/ targets. The third was a variability index that quantified the stability of contact patterns. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The results of the EPG classification showed that before therapy, /t/ and /k/ targets had identical alveolar placement, reflecting the process of velar fronting. The results after therapy showed that 87% of /k/ targets had accurate velar placement. The centre of gravity measure showed no difference in contact patterns for /t/ and /k/ before therapy, but a statistically significant difference at the second and third recordings. The variability index showed stable contact patterns before therapy for /t/ and /k/ targets, but both became highly unstable midway through therapy, with a return to stability at the third recording. We embed a discussion of P's increased articulation instability during therapy in a recent theoretical framework--dynamic systems--that attempts to account for the emergence of new behavioural forms. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that EPG has potential as an effective diagnostic and therapy procedure for articulation errors in people with Down's syndrome. A major issue still to be addressed, however, is the extent to which others will benefit from this approach to intervention.
CMIP and ATP2C2 Modulate Phonological Short-Term Memory in Language Impairment
(2009-08-14) Newbury, D. F.; Winchester, Laura; Addis, L.; Paracchini, Silvia; Buckingham, Lyn-Louise; Clark, Ann; Cohen, W.; Cowie, H.; Dworzynski, Katharina; Everitt, Andrea; Goodyer, I. M.; Hennessy, E.; Kindley, A. D.; Miller, Laura L.; Nasir, J.; O'Hare, Anne; Shaw, D.; Simkin, Z.; Simonoff, E.; Slonims, V.; Watson, Jocelynne; Ragoussis, Jiannis; Fisher, S. E.; Seckl, J.; Helms, P. J.; Bolton, P. F.; Pickles, A.; Conti-Ramsden, G.; Baird, G.; Bishop, DVM; Monaco, A. P.
Specific language impairment (SLI) is a common developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in language acquisition despite otherwise normal development and in the absence of any obvious explanatory factors. We performed a high-density screen of SLI1, a region of chromosome 16q that shows highly significant and consistent linkage to nonword repetition, a measure of phonological short-term memory that is commonly impaired in SLI. Using two independent language-impaired samples, one family-based (211 families) and another selected from a population cohort on the basis of extreme language measures (490 cases), we detected association to two genes in the SLI1 region: that encoding c-maf-inducing protein (CMIP, minP = 5.5 10-7 at rs6564903) and that encoding calcium-transporting ATPase, type2C, member2 (ATP2C2, minP = 2.0 10-5 at rs11860694). Regression modeling indicated that each of these loci exerts an independent effect upon nonword repetition ability. Despite the consistent findings in language-impaired samples, investigation in a large unselected cohort (n = 3612) did not detect association. We therefore propose that variants in CMIP and ATP2C2 act to modulate phonological short-term memory primarily in the context of language impairment. As such, this investigation supports the hypothesis that some causes of language impairment are distinct from factors that influence normal language variation. This work therefore implicates CMIP and ATP2C2 in the etiology of SLI and provides molecular evidence for the importance of phonological short-term memory in language acquisition.
Context conditioned error patterns in disordered systems
(Psychology Press, 2013) Bates, Sally; Watson, Jocelynne; Scobbie, James M.; Ball, Martin; Gibbon, Fiona
Context-Conditioned Error Patterns in Disordered Systems.
(Butterworth Heinemann, 2002) Bates, Sally; Watson, Jocelynne; Scobbie, James M.
This chapter reviews and expands the literature on consonantvowel (CV) interactions in developing sound systems (normal and disordered) and explores the usefulness of current phonetic models (Davis and MacNeilage, 1995; Kent and Bauer, 1985; MacNeilage and Davis, 1990b; Studdert-Kennedy and Goodell, 1995) in accounting for and predicting the occurrence of these phenomena. The phonetic models provide a biological perspective insofar as the immature pronunciations of the normally developing child are viewed as systematic reflections of organic constraints imposed by the child's developing phonetic systems, both perceptual and motor.1 In the clinical setting, context conditioning manifests itself most frequently as consonantal speech errors, which only occur in specific vocalic contexts, although recent research has also uncovered evidence of vowel errors conditioned by consonantal context (Bates and Watson, 1995; Reynolds, 1990). Such interdependencies accord well with current phonetically orientated models of speech acquisition and have important implications for clinical practice. In espousing this approach, we do not intend to overlook the benefits of an analysis in terms of recent developments in phonological theory. This is an approach robustly argued in Harris, Watson, and Bates (1999), and taken up in Chapter 6. Rather, we consider the extent to which current phonetic models of speech acquisition contribute to an understanding of disordered child speech. Research into early speech production has traditionally concentrated on the order of acquisition of individual segments, especially consonants, carrying with it the assumption that vowels and consonants are under independent control. This view is strongly attacked in phonetically oriented research into acquisition and adult sound systems. We will discuss this view in the following text.
Development of cue weighting in children's speech perception
(Temporal Integration in the Perception of Speech, 2002) Mayo, Catherine; Turk, Alice; Watson, Jocelynne; Hawkins, S.; Nguyen, N.
Effects of computer-based intervention through acoustically modified speech (Fast ForWord) in severe mixed receptive-expressive language impairment: outcomes from a randomized controlled trial.
(2005) Cohen, W.; Hodson, Ann; O'Hare, Anne; Boyle, James; Durrani, Tariq; McCartney, Elspeth; Mattey, Mike; Naftalin, Lionel; Watson, Jocelynne
Seventy-seven children between the ages of 6 and 10 years, with severe mixed receptive-expressive specific language impairment (SLI), participated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Fast ForWord (FFW; Scientific Learning Corporation, 1997, 2001). FFW is a computer-based intervention for treating SLI using acoustically enhanced speech stimuli. These stimuli are modified to exaggerate their time and intensity properties as part of an adaptive training process. All children who participated in the RCT maintained their regular speech and language therapy and school regime throughout the trial. Standardized measures of receptive and expressive language were used to assess performance at baseline and to measure outcome from treatment at 9 weeks and 6 months. Children were allocated to 1 of 3 groups. Group A (n = 23) received the FFW intervention as a home-based therapy for 6 weeks. Group B (n = 27) received commercially available computer-based activities designed to promote language as a control for computer games exposure. Group C (n = 27) received no additional study intervention. Each group made significant gains in language scores, but there was no additional effect for either computer intervention. Thus, the findings from this RCT do not support the efficacy of FFW as an intervention for children with severe mixed receptive-expressive SLI.
Fast formant estimation of children's speech
(Conference on Spoken Language Processing, 1994) Wrench, Alan A.; Watson, Jocelynne; Soutar, D. S.; Robertson, A. G.; Laver, John
Genetic and phenotypic effects of phonological short-term memory and grammatical morphology in specific language impairment
(2008-06) Falcaro, M.; Pickles, A.; Newbury, D. F.; Addis, L.; Banfield, E.; Fisher, S. E.; Monaco, A. P.; Simkin, Z.; Conti-Ramsden, G.; Newbury, D. F.; Banfield, E.; Addis, L.; Cleak, J. D.; Cardon, L. R.; Merriden, M. J.; Goodyer, I. M.; Simonoff, E.; Bolton, P. F.; Slonims, V.; Baird, G.; Everitt, Andrea; Hennessy, E.; Shaw, D.; Helms, P. J.; Kindley, A. D.; Clark, Ann; Watson, Jocelynne; O'Hare, Anne; Seckl, J.; Cowie, H.; Cohen, W.; Nasir, J.; Bishop, DVM
Deficits in phonological short-term memory and aspects of verb grammar morphology have been proposed as phenotypic markers of specific language impairment (SLI) with the suggestion that these traits are likely to be under different genetic influences. This investigation in 300 first-degree relatives of 93 probands with SLI examined familial aggregation and genetic linkage of two measures thought to index these two traits, non-word repetition and tense marking. In particular, the involvement of chromosomes 16q and 19q was examined as previous studies found these two regions to be related to SLI. Results showed a strong association between relatives' and probands' scores on non-word repetition. In contrast, no association was found for tense marking when examined as a continuous measure. However, significant familial aggregation was found when tense marking was treated as a binary measure with a cut-off point of -1.5 SD, suggestive of the possibility that qualitative distinctions in the trait may be familial while quantitative variability may be more a consequence of non-familial factors. Linkage analyses supported previous findings of the SLI Consortium of linkage to chromosome 16q for phonological short-term memory and to chromosome 19q for expressive language. In addition, we report new findings that relate to the past tense phenotype. For the continuous measure, linkage was found on both chromosomes, but evidence was stronger on chromosome 19. For the binary measure, linkage was observed on chromosome 19 but not on chromosome 16. 2007 The Authors.
Highly Significant Linkage to the SLI1 Locus in an Expanded Sample of Individuals Affected by Specific Language Impairment
(2004) Watson, Jocelynne; Clark, Ann
Specific language impairment (SLI) is defined as an unexplained failure to acquire normal language skills despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. We have reported elsewhere a full-genome scan in 98 nuclear families affected by this disorder, with the use of three quantitative traits of language ability (the expressive and receptive tests of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals and a test of nonsense word repetition). This screen implicated two quantitative trait loci, one on chromosome 16q (SLI1) and a second on chromosome 19q (SLI2). However, a second independent genome screen performed by another group, with the use of parametric linkage analyses in extended pedigrees, found little evidence for the involvement of either of these regions in SLI. To investigate these loci further, we have collected a second sample, consisting of 86 families (367 individuals, 174 independent sib pairs), all with probands whose language skills are 1.5 SD below the mean for their age. Haseman-Elston linkage analysis resulted in a maximum LOD score (MLS) of 2.84 on chromosome 16 and an MLS of 2.31 on chromosome 19, both of which represent significant linkage at the 2% level. Amalgamation of the wave 2 sample with the cohort used for the genome screen generated a total of 184 families (840 individuals, 393 independent sib pairs). Analysis of linkage within this pooled group strengthened the evidence for linkage at SLI1 and yielded a highly significant LOD score (MLS = 7.46, interval empirical P<.0004). Furthermore, linkage at the same locus was also demonstrated to three reading-related measures (basic reading [MLS = 1.49], spelling [MLS = 2.67], and reading comprehension [MLS = 1.99] subtests of the Wechsler Objectives Reading Dimensions).
Increased prevalence of sex chromosome aneuploidies in specific language impairment and dyslexia.
(Wiley, 2014-04) Simpson, Nuala H.; Addis, Laura; Brandler, William M.; Slonims, Vicky; Clark, Ann; Watson, Jocelynne; Scerri, Thomas S.; Hennessy, Elizabeth R.; Bolton, Patrick F.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Fairfax, Benjamin P.; Knight, Julian C.; Stein, John; Talcott, Joel B.; O'Hare, Anne; Baird, Gillian; Paracchini, Silvia; Fisher, Simon E.; Newbury, Dianne F.; Consortium, Sli
AIM Sex chromosome aneuploidies increase the risk of spoken or written language disorders but individuals with specific language impairment (SLI) or dyslexia do not routinely undergo cytogenetic analysis. We assess the frequency of sex chromosome aneuploidies in individuals with language impairment or dyslexia. METHOD Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping was performed in three sample sets: a clinical cohort of individuals with speech and language deficits (87 probands: 61 males, 26 females; age range 4 to 23 years), a replication cohort of individuals with SLI, from both clinical and epidemiological samples (209 probands: 139 males, 70 females; age range 4 to 17 years), and a set of individuals with dyslexia (314 probands: 224 males, 90 females; age range 7 to 18 years). RESULTS In the clinical language-impaired cohort, three abnormal karyotypic results were identified in probands (proband yield 3.4%). In the SLI replication cohort, six abnormalities were identified providing a consistent proband yield (2.9%). In the sample of individuals with dyslexia, two sex chromosome aneuploidies were found giving a lower proband yield of 0.6%. In total, two XYY, four XXY (Klinefelter syndrome), three XXX, one XO (Turner syndrome), and one unresolved karyotype were identified. INTERPRETATION The frequency of sex chromosome aneuploidies within each of the three cohorts was increased over the expected population frequency (approximately 0.25%) suggesting that genetic testing may prove worthwhile for individuals with language and literacy problems and normal non-verbal IQ. Early detection of these aneuploidies can provide information and direct the appropriate management for individuals.
Lack of replication for the myosin-18B association with mathematical ability in independent cohorts
(2015-04-01) Pettigrew, K. A.; Fajutrao Valles, S.; Moll, K.; Northstone, K.; Ring, S.; Pennell, C.; Wang, C.; Leavett, R.; Hayiou-Thomas, M. E.; Thompson, P.; Simpson, N. H.; Fisher, S. E.; Whitehouse, A. J. O.; Snowling, M. J.; Newbury, D. F.; Paracchini, S.; Clark, Ann; Watson, Jocelynne
Twin studies indicate that dyscalculia (or mathematical disability) is caused partly by a genetic component, which is yet to be understood at the molecular level. Recently, a coding variant (rs133885) in the myosin-18B gene was shown to be associated with mathematical abilities with a specific effect among children with dyslexia. This association represents one of the most significant genetic associations reported to date for mathematical abilities and the only one reaching genome-wide statistical significance. We conducted a replication study in different cohorts to assess the effect of rs133885 maths-related measures. The study was conducted primarily using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), (N=3819). We tested additional cohorts including the York Cohort, the Specific Language Impairment Consortium (SLIC) cohort and the Raine Cohort, and stratified them for a definition of dyslexia whenever possible. We did not observe any associations between rs133885 in myosin-18B and mathematical abilities among individuals with dyslexia or in the general population. Our results suggest that the myosin-18B variant is unlikely to be a main factor contributing to mathematical abilities. We could not replicate the association of the myosin-18B gene with mathematical ability. 2015 The Authors.
Multivariate Linkage Analysis of Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
(2007) Monaco, A. P.; Watson, Jocelynne; Clark, Ann
Specific language impairment (SLI) is defined as an inability to develop appropriate language skills without explanatory medical conditions, low intelligence or lack of opportunity. Previously, a genome scan of 98 families affected by SLI was completed by the SLI Consortium, resulting in the identification of two quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosomes 16q (SLI1) and 19q (SLI2). This was followed by a replication of both regions in an additional 86 families. Both these studies applied linkage methods to one phenotypic trait at a time. However, investigations have suggested that simultaneous analysis of several traits may offer more power. The current study therefore applied a multivariate variance-components approach to the SLI Consortium dataset using additional phenotypic data. A multivariate genome scan was completed and supported the importance of the SLI1 and SLI2 loci, whilst highlighting a possible novel QTL on chromosome 10. Further investigation implied that the effect of SLI1 on non-word repetition was equally as strong on reading and spelling phenotypes. In contrast, SLI2 appeared to have influences on a selection of expressive and receptive language phenotypes in addition to non-word repetition, but did not show linkage to literacy phenotypes.
Paper 44. Prosody and Melody in Vowel Disorder, Journal of Linguistics, 1999, 35, 489-525
(Routledge, 2009) Harris, John; Watson, Jocelynne; Bates, Sally; Ball, Martin J.; Powell, Thomas W.
Perceptual Strategies in Phonological Disorder: Assessment, Remediation and Evaluation
(1998) Watson, Jocelynne; Hewlett, Nigel
Evidence is presented that immature perceptual strategies are a contributory factor to developmental phonological disorder. The findings endorse the current re-focusing of attention on the role of perception in disordered speech and language acquisition and also highlight the need for more precise assessment and remediation techniques. Technical developments working towards providing these are reviewed and implications for future clinical practice discussed.
Receptive language disorder in childhood: Familial aspects and long term outcomes: Results from a Scottish study
(2007) Clark, Ann; O'Hare, Anne; Watson, Jocelynne; Cohen, W.; Cowie, H.; Elton, R.; Nasir, J.; Seckl, J.
Background and aims: Little is known about the familial characteristics of children with severe receptive specific language impairment (SLI). Affected children are more likely to have long-term problems than those with expressive SLI but to date they have only been described as small cohorts within SLI populations. We therefore aimed to describe the clinical and familial characteristics of severe receptive SLI as defined by a rigorous phenotype and to establish whether non-word repetition showed a relationship with language impairment in these families. Methods: Cross-sectional study of children who met ICD-10 (F80.2) criteria for receptive SLI at school entry, their siblings and genetic parents with standardised measures of language and non-verbal IQ, phonological auditory memory and speech sound inventory. Results: At a mean of 6 years after school entry with a severe receptive SLI, the 58 participants had a normal mean and standard deviation non-verbal IQ, but only 3% (two) had attained language measures in the normal range. One third still had severe receptive language impairment. One third of siblings not known to be affected had language levels outside the normal range. Phonological auditory memory was impaired in most family members. Conclusion: Severe receptive SLI is nearly always associated with an equally severe reduction in expressive language skills. Language impairment in siblings may go undetected and yet they are at high risk. Family members had weak phonological auditory memory skills, suggesting that this could be a marker for language acquisition difficulties. Receptive SLI rarely resolves and trials of therapy are urgently needed.
Vowel Assessment for Systems of English (VASE)
(1999) Bates, Sally; Hewlett, Nigel; Kaighin, Sally; Sinclair, Alison; Sweet, Jane; Watson, Jocelynne
VASE is a single word picture naming task which has been especially designed to assess vowel production in children presenting with developmental phonological disorder. The full assessment comprises 53 line drawings plus a set of transcription sheets, realisation score sheets and vowel system profiles. The transcription, scoring and vowel system profile sheets are all photocopiable. The screening assessment consists of 10 line drawings (selected from those used in the full assessment) plus transcription and score sheets. The full assessment may be administered in its entirety, recommended in complex cases presenting with moderate-severe consonant and/or vowel difficulty, or selectively depending on the results of the screener. For example, if a child shows errored realisation on one or two vowels only, it is not necessary to further assess the full range of vowels across all contexts. Rather the clinician may select those pictures which will generate additional tokens of the problem vowels highlighted by the screener.
Working with children with specific speech impairment (SSI)
(Taylor & Francis, 2012-01-31) Bates, Sally; Watson, Jocelynne; Kersner, M.; Wright, J.