Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders are generally known to experience elevated levels of stress and poorer psychological well-being. To provide treatments and resources that most effectively support parent mental health, it is critical to understand how parents' connections with various networks and systems impact their well-being. This study examined the relationship between the psychological well-being of mothers of adolescents with ASD (n = 20) and their systems of support from an ecological systems theoretical framework. Findings indicated that most connections across mothers' ecosystems were strong in nature. However, the presence of strong connections was not significantly related to psychological well-being. In contrast, stressful/weak connections were significantly related to elevated levels of depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and sense of burden.

This study evaluated whether core vocabulary intervention (CVT) improved single word speech accuracy, consistency and intelligibility in four 9−11-year-old children with profound sensori-neural deafness fitted with cochlear implants and/or digital hearing aids. Their speech was characterized by inconsistent production of different error forms for the same lexical item. The children received twice weekly therapy sessions for eight weeks. Fifty target words were drilled and changes in production assessed for accuracy and consistency. Generalization of consistency and accuracy was assessed on non-targeted words. There were four assessment points: six weeks pre-therapy; immediately before therapy; immediately following therapy and six weeks post-therapy. In addition, 10 unfamiliar listeners judged the intelligibility of Corresponding author: Rosalind Herman, Language and Communication Science Division, City University London, Northampton Square EC1V 0HB, London, UK. Email: r.c.herman@city.ac.uk 561875C LT 0010.1177/0265659014561875Child Language Teaching and TherapyHerman et al. research-article2014 Article 222Child Language Teaching and Therapy 31(2) audio recordings of the children's speech before and after therapy. The children's consistency and accuracy of single word production improved following CVT. Consistency generalized to untreated words. Sentence intelligibility ratings improved and more target words were identified after therapy. These case studies suggest that CVT merits further investigation as an effective intervention approach for deaf children, enhancing consistency, accuracy and intelligibility of speech. KeywordsCore vocabulary therapy, deaf, hearing-impaired, intervention, listener feedback, speech consistency, speech intelligibility I IntroductionDeaf students' speech intelligibility is crucial for oral communicative competence (Marschark and Spencer, 2006) and social development (Most, 2007). However, few studies have evaluated specific interventions to enhance the speech intelligibility of children with prelingual, profound deafness. Some intervention approaches target impaired articulation at a phonetic level (e.g. electropalatography, Pantelemidou et al., 2003; ultrasound, Bacsfalvi, 2010). Other studies focus on phonological knowledge that underpins the acquisition of both speech intelligibility and literacy (Leybaert 2005;Thomson and Goswami, 2010). Core vocabulary therapy (CVT), designed for hearing children making inconsistent speech errors, targets both articulatory and phonological aspects of word production (Dodd et al., 2010). The case studies reported here evaluated whether the poor speech intelligibility of four children with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids would be enhanced by CVT. Characteristics of deaf children's speech production skillsSince the days of early research characterizing the effects of deafness on speech (e.g. Hudgins and Numbers, 1942), technological advances such as cochlear implants have led to significant improvements in the intelligibility an...

No abstract