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Description:
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Communication skills are a vital component of educational , occupational , and social success . Research suggests that even simple misarticulations in conversational discourse may create handicaps for nonstandard speakers , especially as most normally speaking communication partners will form negative impressions about speakers with articulation difficulties . These negative impressions may subsequently have adverse repercussions and result in damaging consequences across many aspects of educational , occupational , and social -emotional interactions , particularly among adult speakers .
For individuals who have visual impairment , the ability to communicate clearly and effectively is critically important for information gathering , for establishing social connections , and for providing evidence of cognitive knowledge or task completion . When individuals with visual impairment have concomitant communication difficulties , obstacles to functional independence are increased . Presently existing data suggests that children having visual impairments show increased prevalence for articulation error . However , published opinions refuting this proposition can also be found . It is further unclear as to whether these suggested articulation differences persist into the adult lives of individuals having visual impairments . Answers to these conflicting positions are presently needed to ensure that appropriate , comprehensive , and necessary services to individuals having visual impairments are made available .
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the frequency of occurrence for articulation differences among adult university students and alumni having visual impairments from early childhood , as well as to determine if productions from adult speakers with visual impairments from early childhood differed significantly from the articulation productions of adult speakers who were sighted . Production analysis was further completed to determine if adult speakers having visual impairments from early childhood showed differences that occured in patterns or that were similar to one another . |