Browsing by Author "Ogilvy, Dale"

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    Development and evaluation of a free-field voice test for potential use as a community screening tool for hearing impairment in children
    (1999) Omoding, Sammy S; Prescott, C A J; Ogilvy, Dale
    Early identification of hearing impairment in children is essential to avoid potentially disabling effects of hearing loss or deafness. This necessitates effective screening measures appropriate to the community in question. Current methods used in South Africa, especially for pre-school and school going children have resulted in poor coverage as they are designed for the more developed countries. There is thus a need to devise a screening method that is appropriate to our local conditions. In this study, a free-field live voice test was developed based on three levels: whisper, conversational and loud. This was evaluated against pure tone audiometry for sensitivity, specificity, cost and ease of application in two studies: hospital and school- based. A total of 394 children were tested; 189 in hospital-based study and 205 in school based study. 378 of the total were eligible for analysis. In the hospital-based study, the results of 177 children were analysed. The age range was 3 - 12 years with a mean of 5.8 years. The sensitivity (ability of the test to detect hearing impairment) was 80.0%; and the specificity (ability to identify children with normal hearing) was 95.0%. In the school-based study, done after modification and standardisation of the test set, the sensitivity and specificity were 83.3% and 97.8% respectively. Age range was 3 - 8 years with 79% being 4- 6 years. In both studies, the voice test was simpler to perform, easily understood and acceptable to the children and the testers; and considerably cheaper as the only equipment required was picture/toy set. The main limitation was non-standardisation of the test set. This was rectified in the school-based study. The drawbacks noted were the inability of the voice test to detect unilateral hearing loss/deafness and high frequency hearing loss. The voice test generally correlated well with pure tone audiometry and could be used as alternative for screening for hearing impairment in the community especially for pre-school and school going children. However, it is recommended to repeat the study in actual community settings using Community Health Care Workers as the testers. This would also determine the reliability of the voice test, as this cannot be reliably established at this stage.
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    Developmental limb apraxia in deaf children : an objective assessment
    (2001) Kinsella, Angela; Ogilvy, Dale
    This study determines the presence of developmental limb apraxia in deaf signing children and in an oral hearing-impaired child who presents with oral apraxia. The VICON 370 Motion Analysis System was adapted to objecitvely assess the presence of this disorder and to illustrate differences in patterns of movement between the experimental and control subjects.The execution of motor performance of praxic functioning was analysed on a continuum of complexity across signs, gestures and meaningless movement sequence. Qualitative measures of kinematic abnormalities, spatial parapraxias, temporal qualities, quantitative elbow joint angles, resultant tractories of elbow position and wrist joint centre were obtained.
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    An evaluation of a communicative intervention programme for hearing caregivers and their deaf children in a developing context
    (2005) Hurt, Sharon; Ogilvy, Dale
    This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention programme, in a developing context within an ecological framework that involves parents througp parent training adopting a parent-child interaction approach to intervention. This short-term, group intervention programme was developed specifically for hearing primary caregivers of profo,undly deaf signing children from low socio-economic backgrounds. A naturalistic approach to .intervention that followed a conversational model was applied. The programme was deSigned to enhance dyadic communicative interaction and to empower the caregivers as effective change agents, primarily through the programme components of communication skills and sign language, information and knowledge, educational advocacy and support. A broader perspective was adopted through addressing socio-economic factors and adapting to cultural differences. A team of people was involved in programme development, implementation and evaluation and included professionals from a range of disciplines, Deaf signing adults, and an English-isiXhosa interpreter. A shortterm longitudinal, before-and-after group design was used in programme implementation and evaluation. This design encompassed constructivist-interpretive and positivist/post-positivist research paradigms. The group of sixteen caregiver-child dyads reported on in this study was its own control, constituting a quasi-experimental design. An estimate of the effect of the programme was determined by analysing pre-post-intervention comparisons of videotaped dyadic interactions during play and storytelling, and the post-intervention evaluation questionnaire and focus group interview data. A coding system was compiled for the investigation of communication and sign language parameters that were not part of an occurrence of communication breakdown. Investigation of breakdown and repair as well as aspects of caregiver sign production constituted a separate analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were Icarried out in the evaluation process and certain procedures were adopted to enhance the reliability and validity of the findings. It is believed that the aims I of this study and the specific goals/objectives of the programme were met. The analyses carried out indicated positive change and that this change was most likely due to the programme. In particular, it is believed that the style of caregiver-child interaction changed over the course of the intervention and so the programme was effective to the degree that it improved caregiver-child communicative interaction. More so, it is believed that the programme resulted in empowerment of the caregivers. Numerous aspects are believed to contribute towards the uniqueness of this study and of the communicative intervention programme. The numerous clinical and theoretical implications and implications for future research arising from this study are discussed in detail.
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    An investigation into the expectations of mothers of children with cochlear implants
    (1999) Perold, Jennifer Lynne; Ogilvy, Dale
    There is a paucity of research examining the expectations of parents whose children have received a cochlear implant. The process of implantation is fraught with expectations, and in order to ensure continued parental interest and motivation, it is important to have insight into and understanding of these expectations, as well as the factors which influence them. This study aimed to investigate the pre- and post-implant expectations of mothers whose children had received a cochlear implant, as well as the possibility of changes in their expectations with duration of cochlear implant use. It also aimed to examine satisfaction of mothers with the cochlear implant, and the influence this had on expectations. A qualitative research methodology was used in the form of in-depth interviews. Eight mothers of prelingually deafened children who had not yet started formal schooling were interviewed. The data obtained from the mothers was transcribed verbatim and then analysed according to a detailed qualitative analysis procedure. Important findings emerged which detailed the changing expectations based either on hope or knowledge over time. These expectations were influenced by many variables, including the mothers' response to the deafness of the child (i.e. the grief reaction), anxiety and stress, performance outcomes, satisfaction, and expectations of others, including family and friends. Numerous theoretical and clinical implications emerged from these findings, including the dynamic nature of expectations, as well as the impact these have on the importance of ongoing counselling of mothers whose children use cochlear implants.
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    Narrative discourse characteristics of South African Afrikaans speaking Cape Coloureds with aphasia
    (2002) Venter, Analou; Ogilvy, Dale
    The spoken language production of eight Afrikaans speaking Coloured persons with mild to moderate aphasia and eight Afrikaans speaking Coloured persons without aphasia were explored using a narrative discourse analysis procedure. The aim of the study was to investigate the discourse characteristics of the Cape Afrikaans dialect in persons with and without mild to moderate aphasia. Furthermore the study aimed to establish the cultural appropriateness as well as the clinical applicability of the newly developed Discourse Test Battery (Ulatowska et al., 1998) for the Afrikaans speaking Coloured population. In addition the adaptation features as well as the dialectal and discourse ethnic markers features were identified. The narrative Discourse Test Battery devised by Ulatowska et al., (1998) consisting of two composite pictures, a picture sequence story, a story retell and personal experience task was administered to all subjects. For the purpose of investigating the higher cognitive and linguistic processes, the formulation of main ideas, providing the lessons for the stories as well as proverb interpretation tasks were included and analysed. The narrative discourse productions were transcribed and analysed using more stringent reliability measures. Measures of reliability were obtained by calculating inter-rater and intra-rater reliability measures. The data was analysed in terms of the length of narratives, pr6positional units, quality analysis, analysis of evaluation analysis of dialectal features and ethnic discourse markers as well as adaptation features. The results indicated that for all of these methods of assessment the experimental group performed poorer than the control group. Statistically significant differences were noted on the measures of expressive phonology, lexical items, global structure, suspense, clarity and temporal sequence of some of the narrative tasks. One of the most important clinical as well as theoretical findings was the overlap between some of the dialectal features, general discourse features as well as adaptation features. Analysis of the task effects indicated that the picture sequence and the personal experience narratives showed the greatest differences between the groups and revealed the most information with regard to dialectal features, discourse ethnic markers and adaptation features. The spontaneous proverb and multiple choice proverb interpretation tasks revealed greater difficulties in abstracting and generalising information for the experimental group than for the control group. The assessment tool was found to be culturally appropriate for the Afrikaans speaking Coloured population of the Western Cape.
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    Narrative discourse in English speaking coloured persons with aphasia and normal controls in the Western Cape, South Africa
    (2000) Von Bentheim, Ingrid; Ogilvy, Dale
    This study aimed to characterise the discourse performance of English speaking Coloured persons with mild to moderate aphasia and match controls. It ascertained whether various narrative discourse tasks resulted in differences in discourse performance between the two groups in the amount of information and the quality of information provided as well as the number of evaluative devices used in various narrative tasks. Furthermore, adaptation features, dialectal features and ethnic discourse markers were identified. A narrative Discourse Test Battery devised by Ulatowska et al (1998) consisting of two composite pictures, a picture sequence story, a story retell and a personal experience task were administered to all subjects. In order to gain further insight into higher level cognitive processes the formulation of main ideas, providing the lessons for the stories and interpreting proverbs were used. All narrative samples were transcribed and the date treated in terms of the length of narratives, propositional units, quality analysis and analysis of evaluation. The results indicated that for all of these methods of assessment the experimental group performed poorer than the control group.
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    Narrative discourse production in language impaired learning disabled young adolescents
    (2000) Fonarov, Ida; Ogilvy, Dale
    The spoken language productions of three language impaired learning disabled and non-learning disabled young adolescents were explored using a narrative discourse analysis procedure. The purpose was to compare the narrative production abilities of language impaired learning disabled and non-learning disabled young adolescents on a number of measures: story length, amount of information, coherence, evaluation and cohesion. In addition, it compared the performance of language impaired learning disabled and non-learning disabled young adolescents on three types of narrative tasks (story generation from a picture, personal narrative, and story retelling). Furthermore, this study investigated the stability of the narrative scores over three measurement times. The narrative discourse productions were analysed using more stringent reliability measures. Measures of reliability were obtained by calculating inter-rater and intra-rater reliability measures and testing for stability of scores across the three testing sessions. The results indicated that 46 of the 48 dependent measures in this study remained stable across the three testing times. One of the most important clinical findings in this study was that the language impaired learning disabled young adolescents are able to retell and generate narratives. Significant differences were however, found between the two groups. The language impaired learning disabled young adolescents produced shorter and less coherent and cohesive stories than the non-learning disabled young adolescents. Although they used fewer cohesive devices, they did not use significantly more incomplete and erroneous cohesive ties than the non-learning disabled young adolescents. The analysis of task effects indicated that story retelling is more clinically useful with language-impaired learning-disabled young adolescents for an assessment of narrative discourse ability than story generation. The implications for use of narrative discourse and types of story collection tasks for the assessment of language impaired learning disabled young adolescents are discussed.
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    The study of a long term sign language intervention programme for hearing caregivers of deaf children : the challenges and successes of community-based rehabilitation and evaluation
    (2003) Commerford, Ann; Ogilvy, Dale
    The present study aimed to develop, implement and evaluate a long-term sign language intervention programme for the hearing caregivers of deaf children living within a socio-economically disadvantaged community. The programme was implemented by a deaf signing adult from the same community as the caregivers, and was undertaken within the naturalised contexts at a community-based level. It involved the instruction of more complex aspects of sign language, using storybooks, storytelling and natural conversation. information and knowledge regarding Deaf Culture and the Deaf community was also imparted to the caregivers. The evaluation of the programme involved the examination of the caregivers’ signed-communication development, using a Communication Signing Profile during multiple signed communication tasks. Furthermore, focus group interviews were undertaken to evaluate the caregivers’ perceptions and attitudes toward the programme, deafness and sign language, as well as to document the challenges and barriers involved in implementing intervention programmes. Findings that emerged indicate that although the expected improvement in the caregiver‘s signed communication was not observed, the programme was considered beneficial to the caregivers in providing easily accessible community-based rehabilitation, exposure to more complex aspects of sign language, contact with a deaf signing adult as well as providing a social support network amongst the caregivers. The programme sought to overcome and account for the challenges involved in implementing intervention and undertaking research within the community, by making the programme culturally and linguistically appropriate. However, poverty emerged as being highly influential in programme implementation and evaluation. Hence, there is a need for a greater insight into the larger complexities of the socio-economic status of a disadvantaged community, in implementing community-based rehabilitation. These findings are discussed in the light of previous research, as well as future research and clinical implications for the development of long-term intervention’ sign language programmes.
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    Towards culturally appropriate speech-language and hearing services : exploring the cultural narrative in initial consultations with Xhosa-speaking patients
    (2001) Evans, Melanie; Ogilvy, Dale
    Transformation of the existing health care system to one relevant to the needs of all its people, is the vision to which South African health providers aspire. This move towards more culturally and linguistically appropriate services is in line with the worldwide trend away from the biomedical to a more biopsychosocial and patient-centered approach to health care. Within the field of Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy (SLHT), the provision of more culturally appropriate services has been emphasized and research has focused on the new field of Cultural Speech-Language Pathology, interpreter-mediated consultations, and the use of more appropriate assessment and rehabilitation procedures. Penn (2000) proposed the use of the cultural narrative as a more appropriate means of gathering information from patients in initial consultations. Research into the use of narratives has been conducted in a number of health related disciplines, however, to date, this area has been under-researched within the field of SLHT and in the South African context. In this study, the researcher explored and documented the cultural narrative within multilingual, multicultural consultations in the field of SLHT in South Africa. The cultural narrative was compared to traditional methods of obtaining case history information in initial consultations across interpreter-mediated consultations with a white, English-speaking clinician and a black Xhosa-speaking clinician with Xhosa-speaking patients. In addition, post-consultation interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were carried out. Both the initial consultations and the post-consultation interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analysis of the initial consultation transcripts included an in-depth analysis of the interpreting practices. The post-consultation interview transcripts were thematically analyzed. The analysis included an analysis of interpreting and thematic analysis of the post-consultation interviews in which the participants also took part. The major finding of this study was that the cultural narrative method is more culturally appropriate, patient-centered and in line with a biopsychosocial approach to health care than the traditional case history method in both monolingual and multilingual, multicultural, interpreted consultations. This study has numerous theoretical, clinical and future research implications. It is hoped that these findings will be used to inform the training of clinicians and in practical application in clinical encounters. Although this study was conducted within the field of SLHT, the findings are believed to be applicable across all disciplines in health care.
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