Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

Agenesis of the corpus callosum is the lack of the development of the corpus callosum. This condition can lead to impairments in language processing, epilepsy, and emotion and social functioning, but many individuals with this condition do not show any of these impairments. The present study investigated the connectivity of language and sensorimotor networks within an individual with agenesis of the corpus callosum using resting-state fMRI. The individual’s results were compared to those of neurotypical control subjects. It was hypothesized that the overall interhemispheric functional connectivity would be less than that of a control group in bilateral language networks, but the intrahemispheric connectivity, particularly within the sensorimotor network, would show greater functional connectivity. The results revealed significantly weaker functional connectivity in the individual with agenesis of the corpus callosum within the right ventral stream compared to the control group. There were no other significant inter or intrahemispheric differences in the functional connectivity of the language and sensorimotor networks. These findings lead us to conclude that the right hemisphere’s ventral stream perhaps relies upon connections with the left hemisphere’s language networks to maintain its typical functionality. The results of this study support the idea that, in the case of corpus callosum agenesis, the right language network may contribute differently to language processes than in neurotypical controls.

The brain continuously monitors speech output to detect potential errors between its sensory prediction and its sensory production (Daliri et al., 2020). When the brain encounters an error, it generates a corrective motor response, usually in the opposite direction, to reduce the effect of the error. Previous studies have shown that the type of auditory error received may impact a participant’s corrective response. In this study, we examined whether participants respond differently to categorical or non-categorical errors. We applied two types of perturbation in real-time by shifting the first formant (F1) and second formant (F2) at three different magnitudes. The vowel /ɛ/ was shifted toward the vowel /æ/ in the categorical perturbation condition. In the non-categorical perturbation condition, the vowel /ɛ/ was shifted to a sound outside of the vowel quadrilateral (increasing both F1 and F2). Our results showed that participants responded to the categorical perturbation while they did not respond to the non-categorical perturbation. Additionally, we found that in the categorical perturbation condition, as the magnitude of the perturbation increased, the magnitude of the response increased. Overall, our results suggest that the brain may respond differently to categorical and non-categorical errors, and the brain is highly attuned to errors in speech.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pandemic’s effect on the psychosocial and physical quality of life of children with and without classic galactosemia and their parents in the Babble Boot Camp. The Babble Boot Camp within ASU’s Speech and Hearing Genetics Lab provides early intervention speech therapy for children with classic galactosemia (CG), evaluating their speech progress as well as other metrics related to stress and quality of life. In this study, the Quality of Life questionnaire (Varni, 1998) was used to measure how three pandemic stages (pre-pandemic, intense-pandemic, post intense-pandemic) affected the entire participant population, those with CG children compared to typically developing, and each family member (father vs. mother vs. child). These factors were combined within an integrated regression model to see driving factors and correlations within responses. The main results were that the pandemic itself did not have a significant effect, but there was quite a significant impact on psychosocial health when comparing affected vs unaffected groups. Evaluating an integrated regression model with the consideration of all three pandemic phases, the results show that the factor driving group differences over time was the affectation of the participant for psychosocial health and family member for physical health. When looking at just pre-pandemic and intense pandemic phase, both models in their entirety were significant, showing that all predictors (affectation, pandemic phase, and family member) drove health differences. Lastly, the findings of the study show that there were significant correlations between the health scores of fathers, mothers, and children throughout the different stages of the pandemic.

Studies during and following the height of the Coronavirus pandemic show that psychological and physical health levels decrease, due to factors such as reduced human contact and anxiety. However, there is little to no research on how quality of life levels would change over the course of the pandemic for families who have the added stress of having a child with a developmental complication. To answer this question, this study utilized longitudinal data from the Babble Boot Camp, a project under the ASU Speech Language Genetics Lab, to analyze quality of life measures in families who have children with Classic Galactosemia (CG). CG is an inborn metabolic disorder that causes an intolerance to galactose, a sugar in dairy, the effects of which can be deadly. These children often show signs of developmental delays in multiple areas within the first few years of life. Studying quality of life surveys before, during, and after the most intense phase of the pandemic, this study investigates the difference between these families and those with typical children.

The purpose of this creative project was to design a children’s book for parents, educators, caregivers, and speech language pathologists to promote vocabulary growth in young readers. Children’s books are commonly used in classrooms to connect students with new places and ideas. Books are a powerful learning tool that speech-language pathologists utilize during therapy sessions to support their language and speech development. El Papalote Perdido (The Lost Kite) is a multidimensional children’s book that provides a representation of Hispanic culture, the biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert, and a shared book reading guide that can be a tool in classrooms and therapy sessions. This literature review summarizes the research and importance of Codeswitching, Shared Book Reading, and representation. The goal of the projected children’s book, El Papalote Perdido, is for Hispanic children to increase self-worth by being represented in the illustrations and Spanish embedded in the text. Additionally, the book is for adults to learn reading strategies to build young readers' language and literacy development.