Gesture Production in Gahvora-Reared Infants in Tajikistan

Kristen Vonfrolio, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Psychology 

Infants develop communication skills first by relying on non-verbal means of communication. Simple gestures such as pointing and shrugging are used before they gain the linguistic skills necessary for producing spoken language. However, in Tajikistan, infants are placed in gahvora cradles for extended periods, where their limbs are tightly swaddled and bound inhibiting movement. My capstone project investigated how this restricted mobility impacts their developmental trajectory of speech and gesture production. I also explored how gestures relate to the development of speech production.

Throughout my project, I learned about various cultural practices and the relationship between gestures and language. The cultural background has a significant effect on early communicative behaviors. For instance, infants raised in a gesture-rich culture (i.e., Italian) produce gestures during communication more frequently than infants in the United States. Infants raised in a gesture-rich culture may rely on gestures more than spoken language whereas, infants raised in cultures where spoken language is the primary method of communication may rely on spoken language more than gestures. This is significant because there is a negative correlation between gesture and speech production; as one increases the other tends to decrease. If an infant relies more on gestures than spoken language, the onset of verbal communication may be delayed. If an infant relies more on spoken language than gestures, the onset of gestures may be delayed.

As anticipated, the results of my study show that with age the production of speech and gestures in Tajik infants increased from 12 to 20 months. However, gestures remained the main form of communication as speech was relatively low during this developmental period. Infants may have communicated using gestures more frequently due to increased mobility since gahvora use decreased over the second year of life.

One way I would take this project further is by addressing the limitations of this study. This study utilizes mother-reported data to gauge infants' speech and gesture production. Maternal reports may introduce biases, as they rely on mothers’ recollections of their infants’ actions. Direct observation of infants producing gestures and uttering vocalizations would have been more beneficial.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to collaborate on this project under the mentorship of Dr. Karasik and to be a member of the Verrazzano Honors Program. It has been a rewarding, enriching, and educational experience.

Treatment Efficacy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Raijan Peters, Verrazzano Class of 2024, complete major in English Linguistics and minor in Speech Language Pathology 

A review of the literature for my capstone began in the spring semester of my junior year in 2023. I felt sure that this research would make a difference in my field. I knew that I had to reach out to someone that knows a lot about the field, but who also has firsthand experience with those who struggle with all types of speech. My mentor, Lorenza Colonna is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist and offered up so much valuable information in the research and in the writing.

As knowledgeable as my classes were throughout my undergraduate degree, I realized that the field of Speech and Language Pathology is a vast profession in which I could not possibly know everything about every disorder and pathologies. Professor Colonna gave me time to research Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) so that I could know the topic thoroughly.

After researching this topic for myself, my mentor and I thought about how we wanted this topic to be unique. We decided that we wouldn’t only research CAS, but we would look into which treatments are the most effective, in the sense that the patient is able to maintain the skills that they learned well after therapy is done. Professor Colonna informed me that treatments for CAS have been researched before but what makes our research unique is that we are focusing on treatment plans that are the most effective long term. She provided me with an article entitled “A Systematic Review of Treatment Outcomes for Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech”, that outlined the population we would be focused on and each treatment plan that was used. There were six different treatment approaches that we researched, some being motor based, linguistic based, and then a treatment called AAC.

Before sifting through this research, my mentor made sure that I looked up each and every treatment that was used in this research so I would have my own background knowledge. Once this was done, I dove into the real research with the article. Each treatment plan was outlined in a very detailed and specific way how it was implemented, how long the treatment was given before it ended, and how long after treatment the patient still displayed skills learned in therapy (maintenance). My mentor and I were able to compare and contrast each treatment plan to see for ourselves which ones were maintained the longest.

As an aspiring Speech and Language Pathologist going to graduate school in the fall, this capstone has been nothing short of valuable and significant to not only my knowledge but to the research in the field. Speech and Language Pathologist clinicians make evidence-based decisions off of the most recent research, and it is important to be privy to every single discovery made in the field.

In addition, not only is it important to develop my proficiency in the field, but doing a capstone of this measure helped me to write in a professional manner. As I was writing, I had to organize all of my thoughts into sections, use clinical terms, and had to keep my thoughts as concise as possible. These are characteristics/ skills I know I will need in graduate school.

When we began this process, every time I wrote a section my mentor and I met on zoom to discuss edits. These edits were made, and I would send her the revisions. My professor provided me with notable edits every time that took my writing and understanding to the next level.

Throughout this entire process, my professor exhibited so much patience and offered copious amounts of support. Having a Speech and Language Pathologist as my mentor, Professor Colonna knew exactly how to organize and edit my thoughts which led all the way to this point.

As for how this project could be developed further if I were to continue, I would expand the years which I focused my research on. Additionally, I would expand my research to not just mono-lingual English-speaking children, but it would be interesting to do the research on children who know different languages, or children who are not English speaking. Ultimately, this experience was rewarding and memorable.

Social Media and Attachment Post Covid-19

Cheyanne Richardson, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Psychology and minor in East Asian Studies

Deciding on a topic for my capstone was the most difficult part of the process, as I am interested in so many things, such as East Asian cultures. I was originally trying to find something that related to Psychology and Korean culture. When that topic didn’t go anywhere, I thought about how we are living post Covid-19 and how that has affected how we speak and interact with people.

From personal experience, I know that it was hard for me to socialize normally since we were using Zoom and social media to stay connected. I thought about how I dived deep into social media and how it was getting harder for me to stay off of it and to be present and in the moment when there were people around. That was when my topic was born. I thought about how people had to have been experiencing the same thing as me and I wanted to know if it affected people differently based on their countries.

It was difficult to find Covid-19 related research in the beginning of 2023. I was abroad in South Korea during that time, and I found it difficult to read through countless articles when they did not give me a direct path on which to continue. Therefore, I mainly focused on the positives and negatives of how social media has had an effect on how people form attachments to others before Covid-19.

I knew it was just a waiting game for the pandemic related research to come out since it was still being investigated. I continued to check into the library and see if anything new would pop up, but nothing. I was getting discouraged and thought about switching my topic altogether. When the fall semester began, I decided to give it one last try, and I hit the jackpot. I remember being so excited that I stayed up the entire night because I was completely fascinated on what people found. I asked my professor at the time to become my mentor because she gave me so much support and encouragement even though I felt completely lost. This was my first time doing a capstone and I felt like I was failing and not doing enough. Dr. Alisha Johnson was always there for me to help me get my feelings out about this stressful process, and she taught me to believe more in myself as well as be proud of my work.

Looking back on my entire capstone experience, I can smile brightly because I did it. I considered not doing the capstone and graduating without the honor’s program, but I thought that was such as waste and a disservice to me, since I already survived four years of being in honor’s classers and doing community service and VELAs. Don’t get me wrong, the capstone itself can be a pain and stressful. There will be tears and worries and outright mental breakdowns. What I can say is, be kind to yourself and that you will get through this. I wish I had been kind on myself, but I had people to give me that support. For example, I had my best friend read my paper. I was close to vomiting because I was so worried about what she would think. She called me and said that it was an amazing topic. She is a literature major so she helped me fix my paper a bit. Overall, she said it was easy for her to understand since she has no background knowledge on the topic, and that I did a beautiful job on getting my point across. I remember feeling really proud and that was an accomplishment for me since other papers that she helped me with didn’t make sense. For her to completely keep all of my original ideas shows my sense of growth as a writer and a student.