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1st Student's Major

Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services

1st Student's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Students' Professional Biography

Evan Panitzke recently graduated from MSU, Mankato with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in Communication disorders. Her areas of interest include bilingual therapies and fluency disorders. She will be attending the MSU Communication Disorders graduate program in the fall of 2006. Emily M. Kruse is a recent graduate of MSU, Mankato receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders with minors in Family Consumer Science Family and Child Development and Linguistics. Her areas of interests include voice disorders and neurological communication disorders. She will be attending the MSU Communication Disorders program in the fall of 2006. Kelly Ritter recently graduated from MSU, Mankato with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication disorders. Her areas of interest include autism, and child language disorders. She will be attending the MSU Communication Disorders graduate program in the Fall of 2006.

Mentor's Name

Patricia Hargrove

Mentor's Email Address

patricia.hargrove@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services

Mentor's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Abstract

This project investigated selected aspects of paralinguistics in spontaneous speech of speakers with Williams syndrome. Speakers with Williams syndrome “are noted for their well developed vocabulary, relatively complex and syntactically correct sentences, and their ability to spin a good tale. In contrast, their reasoning usually remains at a pre-operational or preschool level, and they typically have difficulty grasping cause-effect relations” (Semel & Rosner, 2003, p. 5). This research focused on an area of communication called paralinguistics which involved the use of nonspeech sounds for communication. Specifically, we looked at the frequency of laughing and sound effects produced during conversation. Ten participants, five with Williams syndrome and five typically developing peers, individually talked with a graduate clinician on a topic of their interest. The conversations were analyzed for the frequency of laughing and sound effects and the proportion of laughing and sound effects (e.g., # of occurrences of laughter/# of sentences). The results will be discussed in light of the commonly held impression that speakers with Williams syndrome are involved, engaged, and charming.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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