Secondary school support teachers' perception of speech-language pathology services to adolescents

A survey was conducted to investigate secondary school support teachers' perceptions of speech-language pathology services to students experiencing language difficulties. Information was sought regarding support teachers' understanding of language disorder, their experience with students who have language difficulties and their involvement with speech-language pathologists with regard to these students. Support teachers' views on supporting adolescents who are experiencing language difficulties were also sought as well as information regarding their satisfaction with speech-language pathology services to adolescents. Findings indicated variations in support teachers' perceptions, including mixed views regarding how speech-language pathologists should offer assistance to students. The need for support teachers and speech-language pathologists to offer each other professional training was indicated.

Evaluating the role of speech-language pathology with patients with communication disability in the acute hospital setting using the ICF

The practice of speech-language pathology in the acute care hospital setting has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. Speech-language pathologists now routinely assess and manage patients with dysphagia as well as patients with acquired communication disorders. In practice, clinicians have tended to direct their limited resources toward the assessment and management of patients with dysphagia before addressing the needs of patients with acquired communication disorders. This practice has resulted in a decline in speech-language pathology services for patients with communication disorders and has led some clinicians to question the role of the speech-language pathologist in the acute care hospital setting. This article continues this discussion by evaluating the role of the speech-language pathologist in the acute care hospital setting within the context of the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; WHO, 2001). It argues that by adopting the ICF, speech-language pathologists have a sound rationale for broadening their role to identify the communication needs of all hospital inpatients who experience communication difficulties in the acute care hospital setting.

Multilingualism and local-global identities: Japanese language education in rural Australia

The purpose of this article is to examine the value accruing to a regional area in Australia from the location of an undergraduate Japanese language education program in a university in that area. The focus is on the manner in which the inclusion of such a program enhances the sustainability of the area. Sustainability is here defined as the resilience demonstrated by social subjects in the absence of the full range of services available in more densely populated and resource advantaged areas. Such resilience implies an ongoing capacity on the part of subjects to contribute productively to social and economic networks in the area. The discussion includes two cases of graduates of the program under review. On the basis of these cases, the argument is advanced that local regional and rural area access to a tertiary sector second language program offers a unique and valuable strategic dimension to the personal and professional development of social agents in regional areas and to the sustainability of these areas generally.

The effect of music therapy services on classroom behaviours of newly arrived refugee students in Australia

This pilot study examined the effects of a short-term music therapy program on the classroom behaviours of newly arrived refugee students who were attending an intensive 'English as a Second Language' secondary school. A cross-over design with two five-week intervention periods was employed with group music therapy sessions conducted one or two times per week. Data from the Behaviour Assessment Scale for Children were used to evaluate a range of positive and negative school behaviours. A significant decrease in externalising behaviours was found with particular reference to hyperactivity and aggression. No significant differences were found in other behaviours. Explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.

Successes and failures in assessing acquired language disorders using an Internet-based telerehabilitation system

We have used a telerehabilitation system (eREHAB) to remotely assess acquired language disorders via the Internet. The system was used to establish a 128 kbit/s videoconference between two sites and allowed a remote language assessment to be conducted using the standardized Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE). The system had the capacity to display text and images, and could play pre-recorded instructions to the participant via various built-in tools. A touch screen allowed tasks involving picture identification to be completed easily. Eighteen participants with a diagnosis of an acquired language disorder were simultaneously assessed using the eREHAB system, and in the traditional face-to-face manner by two speech pathologists. There was very high agreement between the two assessors, with weighted kappa scores of 0.8–1.0 for 88% of the sub-tests of the BDAE. There was also high agreement (80–100%) and high kappa scores (0.67–0.90) between assessors on the six rating scales relating to language characteristics. The agreement between the two assessors for the diagnosis of the type of aphasia was 83%. Limitations of the system related mainly to problems inherent in IP videoconferencing. The inability to maintain the preferred speed of 128 kbit/s for the duration of the videoconference and the resultant increase in video and audio breakup and latency affected the clinician’s ability to administer the BDAE with the same ease and accuracy as in face-to-face administration. These difficulties were exacerbated when participants presented with a moderate to severe language disorder, auditory comprehension deficits or significant hearing loss. Despite these limitations, a valid assessment of language disorder was found to be feasible via this telerehabilitation application.

A tool for a formal pattern modeling language

This paper presents a formal but practical approach for defining and using design patterns. Initially we formalize the concepts commonly used in defining design patterns using Object-Z. We also formalize consistency constraints that must be satisfied when a pattern is deployed in a design model. Then we implement the pattern modeling language and its consistency constraints using an existing modeling framework, EMF, and incorporate the implementation as plug-ins to the Eclipse modeling environment. While the language is defined formally in terms of Object-Z definitions, the language is implemented in a practical environment. Using the plug-ins, users can develop precise pattern descriptions without knowing the underlying formalism, and can use the tool to check the validity of the pattern descriptions and pattern usage in design models. In this work, formalism brings precision to the pattern language definition and its implementation brings practicability to our pattern-based modeling approach.

Linking contracts, processes and services: An event-driven approach

This paper addresses the problem of mapping business contract conditions onto the messages and rules that represent service interactions in a collaborative business process. We describe why this mapping is not straightforward by means of an example. We then consider a message-driven process language as a target for the mapping and use this mapping solution to discuss broad range of problems related to the mapping problem.

Compilation by refinement for a practical assembly language

In this paper we extend the conventional framework of program refinement down to the assembler level. We describe an extension to the Refinement Calculus that supports the refinement of programs in the Guarded Command Language to programs in .NET assembler. This is illustrated by a small example.