Background
Ninja Turtle, is a bilingual 13-year old male, who was brought into the University Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic (USLHC) for a fluency evaluation in 2012. Parental concerns arose when Ninja began stuttering while attending pre-kindergarten at the early age of four. Parents report that after stuttering was first noticed, his stuttering remained constant. Additionally, parents indicated that stuttering was present in the maternal side of the family. Prior to the fluency evaluation by USLHC, there was not any speech and language therapy provided. Parents provided detailed description of their son’s stuttering as being present in the repetition of first syllable of words (e.g. “ca-car”). Furthermore, details provided by Ninja’s …show more content…
Ninja turtle presented normal function of his oral cavity, and he presented diadochokinetic rates that were within a normal range. The hearing screening presented an issue to Ninja, due to his unresponsiveness to the presentation of a frequency of 1,000 Hz at 25 dB in his right ear. Ninja’s lack of response to the given frequency suggest that he needs further audiological assessment. Following the assessment of Ninja’s oral cavity and hearing, a speech sample was collected in both English and Spanish to analyze Ninja’s type and frequency of stuttering. Based on the results derived from the molecular analysis, the English speech sample contained a higher number of dysfluencies (124) than the Spanish sample (43). A percentage was calculated to indicate the extent of Ninja’s dysfluencies. Based on the diagnostic of the molecular analysis of dysfluencies, it was suggested that Ninja presents a severe fluency disorder in both the English and Spanish language. Along with the fluency analysis conducted in Ninja’s speech, an additional analysis was done to observe his voicing and airflow of speech. It was later concluded that Ninja presented difficulty in starting appropriate voicing along with sustaining it. Additional testing such as the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test- Spanish Bilingual Edition was given …show more content…
Based on his communication status in 2012, it was recommended that he attend speech therapy two times a week. Methodologies applied in his speech therapy was the use of the Fluency Rules Program, which controlled his speech airflow. The therapy was implemented to improve dysfluencies in both the English and Spanish language. Ninja Turtle was formally assessed again in the spring of 2015. A molecular analysis of dysfluencies was conducted once again in a reading and conversation speech sample. The data revealed a decrease in fluency failures from the beginning of January to the end of April 2015. Additionally, Ninja has progressed in being fluent while reading aloud. Visual cues such as eye contact was used to aid Ninja in his awareness of rate of speech. As the semester progressed, the visual cues decreased, which caused Ninja to decline in his accuracy of fluent speech. Overall, Ninja did not meet his long-term goal of continuing fluent speech, but Ninja is on the brink of reaching his therapy
Ninja Turtle, is a bilingual 13-year old male, who was brought into the University Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic (USLHC) for a fluency evaluation in 2012. Parental concerns arose when Ninja began stuttering while attending pre-kindergarten at the early age of four. Parents report that after stuttering was first noticed, his stuttering remained constant. Additionally, parents indicated that stuttering was present in the maternal side of the family. Prior to the fluency evaluation by USLHC, there was not any speech and language therapy provided. Parents provided detailed description of their son’s stuttering as being present in the repetition of first syllable of words (e.g. “ca-car”). Furthermore, details provided by Ninja’s …show more content…
Ninja turtle presented normal function of his oral cavity, and he presented diadochokinetic rates that were within a normal range. The hearing screening presented an issue to Ninja, due to his unresponsiveness to the presentation of a frequency of 1,000 Hz at 25 dB in his right ear. Ninja’s lack of response to the given frequency suggest that he needs further audiological assessment. Following the assessment of Ninja’s oral cavity and hearing, a speech sample was collected in both English and Spanish to analyze Ninja’s type and frequency of stuttering. Based on the results derived from the molecular analysis, the English speech sample contained a higher number of dysfluencies (124) than the Spanish sample (43). A percentage was calculated to indicate the extent of Ninja’s dysfluencies. Based on the diagnostic of the molecular analysis of dysfluencies, it was suggested that Ninja presents a severe fluency disorder in both the English and Spanish language. Along with the fluency analysis conducted in Ninja’s speech, an additional analysis was done to observe his voicing and airflow of speech. It was later concluded that Ninja presented difficulty in starting appropriate voicing along with sustaining it. Additional testing such as the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test- Spanish Bilingual Edition was given …show more content…
Based on his communication status in 2012, it was recommended that he attend speech therapy two times a week. Methodologies applied in his speech therapy was the use of the Fluency Rules Program, which controlled his speech airflow. The therapy was implemented to improve dysfluencies in both the English and Spanish language. Ninja Turtle was formally assessed again in the spring of 2015. A molecular analysis of dysfluencies was conducted once again in a reading and conversation speech sample. The data revealed a decrease in fluency failures from the beginning of January to the end of April 2015. Additionally, Ninja has progressed in being fluent while reading aloud. Visual cues such as eye contact was used to aid Ninja in his awareness of rate of speech. As the semester progressed, the visual cues decreased, which caused Ninja to decline in his accuracy of fluent speech. Overall, Ninja did not meet his long-term goal of continuing fluent speech, but Ninja is on the brink of reaching his therapy