A Palatal Training Appliance and a Visual Aid for use in the Treatment of Hypernasal Speech: A Preliminary Report

Two intra oral training appliances have been developed to assist in the treatment of patients with hypernasal speech. One of these incorporates a visual aid which is used by the patient during frequent practice at home. This preliminary report describes their construction, discusses their possible mode of action, and indicates how they may be used.     

An Investigation of the Validity and Utility of Two Curriculum-Based Measurement Writing Tasks

We investigated 2 curriculum-based measurement tasks for writing with 170 students in 2nd and 3rd grade. The 2 tasks, Story Starter and Picture Story, varied on topical support. Both tasks used production and accuracy scores, and we developed a qualitative score for Picture Story. All production and accuracy scores and the qualitative score demonstrated low to moderate validity coefficients with the Woodcock–Johnson Test of Achievement Writing Samples subtest and a teacher rating of overall writing ability. All scores were sensitive to grade-level differences in performance, with 3rd-grade students performing higher than 2nd-grade students. Two scores for Picture Story were sensitive to growth only for 3rd-grade students, and 5 scores were sensitive to bimonthly growth for both grade levels. There was moderate classification accuracy for both tasks.