CSD Outstanding Alumni Award
The CSD Outstanding Alumni Award is given annually to our alumni who have shown outstanding
achievement in the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology. Nomination
letters should detail the nominee's qualifications for the award and include their
curriculum vita. Additional letters of support are optional, but appreciated. Submit
nominations to csd@wichita.edu by October 1.
List of Previous Award Recipients
2006: James W. Montgomery, PhD
Dr. Montgomery earned his doctorate from WSU in 1988 and is a professor in the School
of Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences at Ohio University. His presentation entitled
Working Memory and Complex Grammar Processing in Children was held on April 21, 2006.
Abstract:
The comprehension of complex grammar involves the intersection of language-specific knowledge/processes and more general cognitive mechanisms, chief among them verbal working memory. Very little is known about how typically developing (TD) school age children marshal their working memory system during the processing of complex sentences. Even less is known about this intersection in children with specific language impairment (SLI), a population of children who show demonstrable language impairments in the presence of generally "intact" other abilities. A theoretical framework describing the potential role of four key submechanisms of working memory (i.e., phonological short-term memory, processing speed, attentional resource allocation, and temporal decay) on children's immediate comprehension of complex grammar will be presented. Also presented will be preliminary data addressing the issue of whether TD children and children with SLI demonstrate similar associations among the different memory mechanisms and complex grammar processing.