Anita McAllister - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Anita McAllister

The topic of the present study is the relationship between the pedagogical philosophy of educatio... more The topic of the present study is the relationship between the pedagogical philosophy of education and the professional outcome, mainly regarding general competencies. The overall purpose of the study is to evaluate postgraduates- opinions on how well prepared for the professional life they feel after their speech and language pathology education. Previous research have shown differences in professional skills between problem-based learning (PBL) and non-PBL graduates (Prince, van Eijs, Boshuzien, van der Vleuten & Scherpbier, 2005). Those differences mainly concern general competencies such as organizational skills and teamwork. These findings get further support from the evaluation of the Swedish medical education programmes, where PBL-graduates report better communicational, co-operational and leadership skills than non-PBL graduates (Grundutbildningsenkaten, 2006). PBL is a student centred pedagogical philosophy where students are encouraged to be very active. In PBL real-life problems become the context in which students learn academic content as well as professional skills (Biggs, 2003). The first Swedish speech language pathology program using PBL throughout the program was completed in 2007, and the graduate students have participated in an evaluation of the program. A comprehensive questionnaire, focusing on perceived professional skills in relation to education, was distributed to the students of this program, to students from a partial PBL curriculum who graduated the same year and to students from a partial PBL curriculum who finished in 2002. Preliminary results indicate that the PBL graduates feel well prepared for meeting the demands of the professional life. The results also suggest that the students who finished their education six years ago feels more able to evaluate their education. These students also seem more satisfied. The present study adds further knowledge concerning outcomes of higher medical education. It also points to differences between PBL graduates and non-PBL graduates regarding professional experiences. The study also provides information on how the opinions of the educational experience changes over time.

Journal of Medical Speech-language Pathology, 2014

Background: Oral senorimotor development is the basis for several vital functions for the child, ... more Background: Oral senorimotor development is the basis for several vital functions for the child, hence orofacial dysfunction may be severely disabling. Recently, a comprehensive screening instrument assessing different aspects of orofacial function in adults and children age three and up was developed, the Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S). The aim of the present study was to establish developmental profiles of orofacial function for children 3 to 7:11 years old using NOT-S methods: A total of 231 typically developing children 3:0 to 7:11 years old were included. Data were compiled from previous investigations. Comparisons across ages and gender were made. Results: The total NOT-S score was below two for 58% (133) of all children in the study. There was a clear trend of lower total NOT-S score with increased age according to a best linear fit regression, R 2 = .81, p = .014. The number of children without any score on NOT-S increases dramatically for the seven-year-old children, 44% compared to 20% or lower for the other age groups. Boys had statistically significant higher scores than girls on the total NOT-S score and also for the clinical examination according to a Mann-Whitney U-test, p <.000 for both cases.

The aim of the present investigation was to study hoarseness and its perceptual, acoustic and phy... more The aim of the present investigation was to study hoarseness and its perceptual, acoustic and physiological characteristics in ten-year-old children's voices. Fifty-eight children's voices were perceptually evaluated along 15 voice parameters. The rank ordered means of each parameter revealed a discontinuity in the distribution for all parameters except pitch, breathiness and vocal fry. This discontinuity was used as an operational borderline between normal and deviant voice characteristics. Statistical analysis showed that hyperfunction, breathiness and roughness are the main predictors of hoarseness. Pitch and intensity ranges of 60 children were recorded in voice range profiles (VRP). Vocal fold status was determined by video-microlaryngoscopy and, when possible, also by stroboscopy. Six children, all boys had vocal nodules. Twentyfive children had incomplete glottal closure. The children had somewhat compressed VRP contours reflecting a more restricted pitch range and dynamics than adults. The occurrence of register transitions in children's voices was studied in an experiment. Five voice experts perceptually identified such transitions from a tape made of the VRP recording sessions. On this tape, the stimuli occurred in ascending pitch order. One transition was identified in most voices at a mean fundamental frequency (F0) of A#4. A second transition was identified in four voices at a mean F0 of A#5. SPL and subglottal pressure were measured at different pitch and loudness levels in nine children. At phonation threshold and at normal conversational loudness the children's subglottal pressures were similar to those of adult female voices. Acoustic correlations to perceptual voice characteristics were analysed in two investigations. For the first, six children representing different degrees of hoarseness were selected. The voice sample was running speech. Two perturbation measures were examined but no correlation was found between the perceptual evaluation and these two measures. For the second investigation, 50 children were chosen. The material consisted of sustained vowels. The acoustic measures were period perturbation quotient (PPQ), amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ), and two harmonics-to-noise ratio measures, NNEa and NNEb, operating in different frequencies. The results showed that hoarseness, breathiness and roughness correlated with the acoustic measures PPQ and NNEa at the p≤.001 level of significance. Hyperfunction and instability did not correlate with any of these measurements. Conclusions: Hoarseness in children's voices is a stable concept consisting of three main predictors; hyperfunction, breathiness and roughness. Children generally had somewhat compressed VRP recording as compared to adults. Register transitions could be identified in most children's voices, approximately 25% higher in F0 than for adults. Incomplete glottal closure may be regarded as a normal finding in ten-year-old children. Subglottal pressure values in these children's voices were similar to those of adult females. In children's sustained

The present perceptual investigation pursues the question wether the evaluation of a child's ... more The present perceptual investigation pursues the question wether the evaluation of a child's voice as hoarse, breathy or hyperfunctional can be correlated to the degree of non-periodical sections in the signal based on the lack of regular oscillations of the vocal folds. The results show that this is not the case: children with clearly hoarse voices produce a stable and measurable fundamental frequency. In addition, children who show a tendency toward unstable fundamental frequency are not evaluated as hoarse, neither breathy nor hyperfunctional.

A well controlled recording in a studio is the basis for voice rehabilitation. However, this labo... more A well controlled recording in a studio is the basis for voice rehabilitation. However, this laboratory like recording method can be questioned since voice use in a natural environment may be quite different. In children’s natural environment high background noise levels are common and an important factor contributing to voice problems. The noise exposure often occurs in day-care centers with the children themselves as the primary noise source (McAllister, Granqvist, Sjolander, Sundberg 2009). The aim of the present study was to compare perceptual evaluations of voice quality from a controlled recording to recordings of spontaneous speech in children’s natural environment in a day-care setting. Ten five-year-old children were recorded three times during a day at the day-care. The controlled speech material consisted of repeated sentences. Matching sentences were selected from the spontaneous speech. All sentences were repeated times three. The recordings were randomized and analyzed acoustically and evaluated perceptually by three expert listeners. Statistic analyses of all recordings showed that the laboratory sentences represent spontaneous speech characteristics regarding degree of hoarseness (r=.52) and to a lesser extent also for breathiness (r=. 401). For boys a correlation was found only for the parameter breathiness (r=.539) and for girls only for hoarseness (r=.648). References McAllister, A., Granqvist, S. Sjolander, P. Sundberg, J. (2009). Child voice and noise: A pilot study of the effect of a day at the day-care on ten children’s voice quality according to perceptual evaluation. J Voice, Sep;23(5):587-93.

Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, Oct 1, 2003

A few clinical investigations of children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s voices have s... more A few clinical investigations of children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s voices have suggested a relation between voice deviation and oral motor and sensory dysfunction. This motivated the present retrospective study of the occurrence of voice disorders in a group of children with oral motor problems. A further aim was to evaluate the effect of an oral motor and articulatory treatment programme upon voice function in this patient group. Subjects were 38 children with oral motor deficits who had received and finished therapy at the clinic. The recordings of a picture naming task, before onset of therapy and at therapy ending, were selected. The voices were presented in random order on a test tape and perceptually evaluated by an expert panel of speech pathologists. Eleven perceptual parameters were selected, based on previous investigations of children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s voices. Ten of these parameters were represented by a 100 mm visual analogue scale. Register was represented by a categorical scale with the options chest, falsetto, and child voice register. The results were compared with previous investigations of child voice function. Results indicated: 1) The occurrence of voice disorders in the present group of children with oral motor difficulties was somewhat lower than in children with normal articulation. 2) Oral motor treatment also influenced and improved the perceptual impression of voice quality in this group.

Frontiers in Neurology, 2022

Introduction: Cognitive impairments in epilepsy are not well-understood. In addition, long-term e... more Introduction: Cognitive impairments in epilepsy are not well-understood. In addition, long-term emotional, interpersonal, and social consequences of the underlying disturbances are important to evaluate.Purpose: To compare cognitive function including language in young adults with focal or generalized epilepsy. In addition, quality of life and self-esteem were investigated.Patients and Methods: Young adults with no primary intellectual disability, 17 with focal epilepsy and 11 with generalized epilepsy participated and were compared to 28 healthy controls. Groups were matched on age (mean = 26 years), sex, and education. Participants were administered a battery of neuropsychological tasks and carried out self-ratings of quality of life, self-esteem, and psychological problems.Results: Similar impairments regarding cognitive function were noted in focal and generalized epilepsy. The cognitive domains tested were episodic long-term memory, executive functions, attention, working memor...

High vocal demands and speaking in environmental noise have both been identified as risk factors ... more High vocal demands and speaking in environmental noise have both been identified as risk factors for voice disorders. Long-term field documentation of voice use might provide important information ...

Frontiers in Psychology, 2019

Background: High noise levels affect hearing, voice use, and communication. Several studies have ... more Background: High noise levels affect hearing, voice use, and communication. Several studies have reported high noise levels in preschools and impaired voice quality in children. Noise and poor listening conditions impair speech comprehension in children more than in adults and even more for children with hearing or language impairment, attention deficits, or another first language. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how children in Finland, Sweden, and Iceland describe the preschool environment in relation to noise, voice, and verbal communication; what were their experiences, knowledge and ideas in relation to voice, noise, and communication. Children's awareness of effects of noise, reactions, and coping strategies were also studied. In addition, country and gender differences were analyzed. Methods: Eighteen Icelandic, 14 Finnish, and 16 Swedish children were interviewed using a common interview-guide. Swedish and Finnish children were interviewed in focus groups and Icelandic children individually. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically by the native speaker. The interviews were translated to English to be re-analyzed for inter-judge reliability of identified themes. Inter-judge reliability was calculated using percentage absolute agreement. Results: The interviews resulted in 1052 utterances, 471 from focus groups, and 581 from individual interviews. Three themes were identified, Experiences, Environment, and Strategies with two to three subcategories. Inter-judge agreement for the themes was excellent, 92-98%. Experiences occurred in 55% of the utterances. The subcategories were bodily and emotional experiences and experiences of hearing and being heard. Environment occurred in 20% of the utterances, with subcategories indoor vs. outdoor and noise. Strategies was found in 15%, with subcategories games and problem oriented actions. The only significant difference between the countries was for the theme Strategies where the Swedish children produced more utterances than the Finnish. No gender differences were found.

Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 2016

Abstract Objective: To analyze patients with a confirmed voice disorder in order to identify patt... more Abstract Objective: To analyze patients with a confirmed voice disorder in order to identify patterns regarding age, gender, and occupation compared to the general public. To explore effects of voice therapy according to the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) score pre- and post-therapy in relation to the number of sessions, age, and gender. Design: Prospective cohort study. Materials and methods: This study was conducted as a collaborative project between Linköping University and hospitals in the south-east health care region in Sweden. Six voice clinics participated by asking their patients voluntarily to complete the Swedish version of the VHI at the beginning and end of therapy. Results and conclusions: The two most prevalent diagnoses were dysphonia (43%) and phonasthenia (25%). Among the working population, the three most common occupational fields were education, health care, and child-care. The majority of the patients were women (74.3%), and the mean age of all patients was 55 years. A significant improvement in VHI scores was found after therapy, with an average decrease of 19 median points in total score and a substantial effect size (0.55). The number of sessions did not significantly correlate with the mean VHI score difference but had a weak correlation to the start and end scores. Increasing age correlated with a higher median VHI score both at the start and end of therapy but did not affect the average decrease between the two measurements.

Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2016

This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic proc... more This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic processing abilities. Our aim was to explore whether high-level language ability would correlate to decreased activation in language-specific regions or rather increased activation in supporting language regions during processing of sentences. Moreover, we were interested if observed neural activation patterns are modulated by semantic incongruency similarly to previously observed changes upon syntactic congruency modulation. We investigated 27 healthy adults with a sentence reading task-which tapped language comprehension and inference, and modulated sentence congruency-employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed the relation between neural activation, congruency modulation, and test performance on a high-level language ability assessment with multiple regression analysis. Our results showed increased activation in the left-hemispheric angular gyrus extending to the ...

Introduction: In order to improve and clarify the demands within tutorial groups in the speech an... more Introduction: In order to improve and clarify the demands within tutorial groups in the speech and language pathology (SLP) and physiotherapy (PT) programs a joint study was conducted exploring pro ...

Journal of Voice, 2016

Objectives. Collision threshold pressure (CTP), that is, the lowest subglottal pressure facilitat... more Objectives. Collision threshold pressure (CTP), that is, the lowest subglottal pressure facilitating vocal fold contact during phonation, is likely to reflect relevant vocal fold properties. The amplitude of an electroglottographic (EGG) signal or the amplitude of its first derivative (dEGG) has been used as criterion of such contact. Manual measurement of CTP is time consuming, making the development of a simpler, alternative method desirable. Method. In this investigation, we compare CTP values measured manually to values automatically derived from dEGG and to values derived from a set of alternative parameters, some obtained from audio and some from EGG signals. One of the parameters was the novel EGG wavegram, which visualizes sequences of EGG or dEGG cycles, normalized with respect to period and amplitude. Raters with and without previous acquaintance with EGG analysis marked the disappearance of vocal fold contact in dEGG and in wavegram displays of /pa:/-sequences produced with continuously decreasing vocal loudness by seven singer subjects. Results. Vocal fold contact was mostly identified accurately in displays of both dEGG amplitude and wavegram. Automatically derived CTP values showed high correlation with those measured manually and with those derived from the ratings of the visual displays. Seven other parameters were tested as criteria of such contact. Mainly, because of noise in the EGG signal, most of them yielded CTP values differing considerably from those derived from the manual and the automatic methods, although the EGG spectrum slope showed a high correlation. Conclusion. The possibility of measuring CTP automatically seems promising for future investigations.

International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology, 2009

Compare two techniques for pediatric tonsil surgery with respect to postoperative pain and morbid... more Compare two techniques for pediatric tonsil surgery with respect to postoperative pain and morbidity and changes in sleep behavior, health related quality of life (HRQL) and benefits due to surgery. 67 children (4.5-5.5 years) with tonsillar hypertrophy and obstructive sleep-disordered breathing with or without recurrent tonsillitis were randomized to either regular tonsillectomy (TE) (n=32) or intracapsular tonsillectomy/tonsillotomy (TT) (n=35) with Radiofrequency surgical technique (ellman Int.). Before TT/TE, the parents completed a validated Quality of Life survey of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea, the OSA-18 (Obstructive Sleep Apnea-18) and a standardized assessment of their children's behavior with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Six months after surgery, the parents repeated these measurements, and assessed the health related benefits of the surgery using the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory (GCBI). In the TT group, the children recorded less pain from th...

Head & Face Medicine, 2012