Recent advances in language and communication
Abstract
Language ability is not only universal, but of vast potential, and related to numerous other cognitive and social functions. This book explores individual language process development and how it proceeds in a very predictable manner, parallel to specific areas of brain development. The authors' acquaint the reader with the current debate on the prevalence of oral and written linguistic difficulties as a precursor of Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD). The difficulties in verb/action processing found in patients with Parkinson's disease are discussed as well. The inferential abilities of children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI) are also reviewed. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its effects on communication are explored in Chapter 6. The authors' findings suggest that communication difficulty persist for years after injury, independent from other cognitive abilities. In later chapters, the authors examine atypical language development and psychopathological risk. The remaining chapters review nonverbal behavior and its importance in objectifying and verifying the diagnosis of mental disorders, if any; the communication challenges for the deaf (and applications that can help impaired people in some aspects of their life); and finally, the importance of segmental duration - a very important component of a text-to-speech (TTS) system in order to produce high quality synthetic speech which sounds natural.
... The interpretation of complex visual patterns is predominantly a right hemisphere function (Compton & Bradshaw, 1975; Goyvaerts, 1975; Moscovitch et al.,'1976; Schwartz, Davidson, & Pugash, 1976). Furthermore, the right hemisphere is much more adroit in the recognition of faces (Hillyard, 1973; Muller, 1973), while the left hemisphere remembers the names that go with the faces. ...
The document looks at left/right brain research as it relates to learning styles and teaching styles, particularly in special education. An initial section on brain basics covers the history of brain research, methods of investigation, cerebral dominance, divisions of labor of the bifunctional brain, language and related functions, bilingualism, learning styles, traditional education and the single brain, and emotions and the brain. A second section considers the need to integrate both convergent left-hemisphere modes in learning experiences. Another section examines determinants of neurologically based learning styles including the impact of age, sex, and handedness on left or right brain learning style preference. The effects of relaxation and diet upon brain functioning is the topic of the fourth section. The fifth section discusses findings relative to the study of learning disabilities, mental health, and creativity. Methods for educational assessment of learning styles are reviewed, such as the Structure of Intellect Learning Abilities Test and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Steps toward dealing with the whole child in the educational system should incorporate consideration of teachers' verbal and nonverbally expressed attitudes, relaxation strategies, general strategies which more fully involve the brain in learning, and curricular strategies which promote integrated processing of information. Following a summary and a list of implications for education are appendixes which contain 35 activities to stimulate integrated/right brain processes and a brief report on the deprivation of estimates for national prevalence of right brain children. (SW)
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