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Assessments for Aphasia Outside of English: A Systematic Review
Get PDFI am writing a systematic review paper on Assessments for Aphasia Outside of English. This research examines the availability of aphasia assessments in languages other than English, focusing on identifying bilingual assessments and evaluating their norming status. Aphasia is a speech and language disorder resulting from stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological conditions, impacting individuals across diverse linguistic backgrounds. With over 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, many Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) require access to aphasia assessments beyond English to evaluate and treat their clients effectively. This systematic review compiles a comprehensive list of aphasia assessments available in languages other than English, including both standardized and non-standardized tools. A key component of this research is identifying assessments that are bilingual and examining their norming status. Normed assessments allow clinicians to compare an individual’s performance to a reference population, while bilingually normed assessments provide comparative data across language pairs, which is essential for evaluating bilingual individuals. This review highlights the gaps in available normed and bilingually normed assessments, providing SLPs with a resource to navigate assessment options for multilingual clients. The initial phase of this research involved hand-searching journals, with ongoing efforts to expand the search using library databases to ensure a comprehensive dataset. The compiled information is organized into an accessible format, categorized by language, to support clinicians in identifying appropriate assessment tools for individuals with aphasia across a variety of linguistic background
First Responder Perspectives of Interactions with Individuals with Autism: A Pilot Study
Get PDFInteractions between individuals who experience autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and first responders present unique challenges due to differences in communication, behavior, and sensory processing (Bowers-Campbell et al., 2020). These situations may be dysfunctional due to a lack of training tailored to understanding and responding to ASD related needs (Chown, 2010). Training should be informed by people who experience ASD and ASD experts can help responders build skills in communication, sensory responsiveness, and preparedness in high-pressure environments. The research team hypothesizes that first responders will report minimal training on how to work with an individual with ASD, which leads to suboptimal interactions in emergency situations.
This qualitative case study is three pronged, seeking to learn about the experiences of people with autism, family/caregivers, and first responders in emergency situations. This poster focuses on the experience of first responders, highlighting the results of a pilot study conducted to determine the acceptability and feasibility of implementing the study statewide in Montana. Summaries from first responder interviews will be presented in this poster session, along with feedback on how interview questions can be improved for use in the forthcoming full study. The overarching goal of the pilot study is to ensure that the research team has an effective and culturally responsive instrument for gathering qualitative data about interactions and experiences with first responders from their perspective
Rewilding Rattlesnake Creek
No full textRattlesnake Creek north of Missoula lacks significant in-stream structure in the form of large wood downstream of the National Recreation Area. The natural introduction of large wood from the “derecho” wind event in July of 2024 has the potential to provide much needed aquatic habitat and stream complexity.
The focus of this project is monitoring the process of “rewilding” on Rattlesnake Creek through surveys of large wood and pool habitat. The Rattlesnake has historically been subject to various forms of degradation. It was dammed in 1904, with the dam being removed 116 years later in 2020 as part of stream restoration efforts. The creek has also been heavily channelized, diverted for irrigation, and development of the riparian buffer surrounding the creek has eliminated its natural side channels. The primary goal of this project is to survey the creek post-windstorm to develop baseline data highlighting the significance of the windstorm and the contribution of fallen trees toward stream complexity and structure.
Despite such degradation, large trees that fall into the creek during events like the 2024 windstorm have the potential to positively influence the streambed morphology and create critical habitat in the form of pools utilized by fish, aquatic insects, and various mammals and birds. Monitoring the benefits of large woody structure within a stream has important implications for the future as Montana and the Intermountain West continue to search for ways to adapt to changes in climate and effects of past habitat degradation
Yield the Ghost
Get PDFThe thread of life is believed to predetermine each individual’s fate at birth, its chord ties these poems together.Yield the Ghost is a collection that examines mortality, lineage, and spirituality. A loose narrative begins before a traumatic birth, follows the speaker’s experience working in death care, and ends with the unknown. Her relationship with a bedridden mother is explored through an always evolving perception of loss. In the funeral industry, every movement is behind closed doors out of respect for the living. However, this stigmatization enhances fear of death. The included poems address a repressed intimacy with grief, aiming to illuminate that which separates the living and the lost. They divulge stories belonging to the deceased, told from their perspectives and the author’s own. At its core, the collection is about experiencing the world with gratitude despite loss and a burdened childhood. Yield the Ghost derives inspiration from the couplet and is tethered by an always present question of faith and destiny
Exploring an Endemic Species: Flower and Leaf Trait Variation in a Missoula Wildflower
No full textStudies investigating intraspecific variation in morphological traits within endemic species often determine the geographic range that a species can occupy. We quantified intraspecific variationin floral morphology and leaf traits in anendemic wildflower, Phlox missoulensis, which is only found in the North Hills of the Missoula Valley in Western Montana. We collected floral, leaf, and pistil samples from over 100 Phlox missoulensis individuals across two populations in the Missoula North Hills. We used ImageJ software to measure 7 morphological traits: floral color, floral diameter, petal length and width, corolla tube length, pistil length, leaf length, and specific leaf area. We selected these floral traits because of their potential role in pollinator attraction and the leaf traits because of their potential correlation with growth rates and water use. Our preliminary results show significant trait variation for floral color, floral diameter, petal size, corolla tube length, and specific leaf area. Future work will investigate whether trait variation is correlated with the different soil types, vegetation, and microclimate at each population’s location. We hope this data will inform conservation management strategies for Phlox missoulensis
Perceived Loneliness Among Older Adults
Get PDFOlder adults experience unique isolation, such as living alone and losing loved ones, which correlates with worse mental health. Few studies have examined how the number of close relationships impacts perceived isolation in older adults. I hypothesize the number of close relationships in an older adult’s life may predict perceived isolation; further, I will assess if depression moderates this relationship. This secondary analysis is based on a study of 153 older adults in the northeastern part of the United States (average age = 67.51, SD = 8.3180). The participants completed a measure of perceived isolation (UCLA Loneliness Scale, ULS-3), a measure of depression (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS), and answered the question “How many friends do you have?”, as well as indicated if they were in a relationship. In the current analysis, the number of relationships was significantly predictive of perceived isolation (M = 4.75, SD = 1.8), R2 = .14, F(2, 117) = 9.67, p \u3c .001. Depression (M = 4.03, SD = 1.93) significantly increased the variance accounted for by the model, change in R2 = .30, F(4, 114) = 22.78, p \u3c .001. However, it did not significantly moderate the relationship between the number of relationships and perceptions of isolation, t = -1.26, p = .21. Results indicate older adults with fewer close relationships experience greater perceived isolation. Depression may play a larger role in isolation perceptions, which warrants further study. Supporting older adults with fewer close relationships may reduce feelings of isolation
The Greatest Shame of the World: Tomás Cerdán de Tallada’s Pioneering Analysis of Sixteenth Century Spanish Jails in Visita de la Carcel
No full textDuring the 16th century, prisons as we know them did not exist in Spain nor in most of Western Europe. Jails, as a temporary place to hold criminals before their trial, did exist but were quickly filling up with a wave of new criminals and debtors. This system of jails was poorly organized and poorly understood until Tomás Cerdán de Tallada wrote his treatise Visita de la carcel, which was the first in Spain to analyze the system of jails as a whole, and one of the first to offer criticisms of the system. Core to Cerdán’s understanding are his personal experiences working as an advocate for the poor in Valencia and his insistence that jails must be a fair system for all, including the poor. Cerdán’s contribution was significant in his time as it was widely circulated and helped many to form an understanding of penitentiary law in 16th century Spain. This paper analyzes the original text of Cerdán’s 1572 treatise in relation to its historical context and Cerdán’s personal biography
BINOCULARS TO BYTES: DEVELOPMENT AND FIELD VALIDATION OF AN AI-DRIVEN SYSTEM FOR AVIAN MONITORING
No full textAutonomous camera-trap arrays coupled with artificial-intelligence (AI) vision can lift bird monitoring beyond the spatial, temporal, and labor limits of traditional field surveys. We present Binoculars to Bytes (B2B), an open-source pipeline that turns 180–360° time-lapse imagery into analysis-ready avian data. At Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area (Montana, USA) the system ran four-hour morning deployments during spring and fall migrations (2023–2024). A YOLO-NAS detector, incrementally refined with a “Specialized Localized Iterative Model” workflow, quadrupled local accuracy and, after confidence-based species-binning, cut false-positive rates in half. Daily AI species lists were benchmarked against contemporaneous eBird citizen-science checklists and recovered ≥ 70 % of the birds reported each day at lenient probability thresholds (≤ 0.25). Camera-derived counts—extracted from the peak image in each 30-s window—were compared with time-matched tallies by professional biologists at six ponds; mean absolute error was 18 birds, with undercounts concentrated in large flocks. Continuous sampling captured first-arrival dates up to two weeks earlier than field observers and tracked departure within days. A proof-of-concept monocular-depth routine yielded half-normal detection curves consistent with conventional distance-sampling theory, paving the way for density estimation. By integrating adaptive AI training, confidence-aware post-processing, and optional distance correction, B2B provides high-resolution information on waterfowl presence, migration timing, and relative abundance while sharply reducing observer bias and manual workload. The pipeline bridges computer vision and population ecology and offers a transferable template for large-scale, near-real-time avian conservation monitoring
Master of Social Work Portfolio
No full texthttps://scholarworks.umt.edu/grad_portfolios/1466/thumbnail.jp
