Podcasts about communication disorders

  Lyssa Rome is a speech-language pathologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, where she facilitates groups for people with aphasia and their care partners. She owns an LPAA-focused private practice and specializes in working with people with aphasia, dysarthria, and other neurogenic conditions. She has worked in acute hospital, skilled nursing, and continuum of care settings. Prior to becoming an SLP, Lyssa was a public radio journalist, editor, and podcast producer. In this episode, Lyssa Rome interviews Dr. Suma Devanga about collaborative referencing, gesture, and building rich communicative environments for people with aphasia.   Guest info Dr. Suma Devanga is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, where she also serves as the director of the Aphasia Research Lab. She completed her PhD in Speech and Hearing science from the University of Illinois. Urbana Champaign in 2017. Dr. Devanga is interested in studying aphasia interventions and their impacts on people's everyday communication. Her recent work includes investigating a novel treatment called the Collaborative Referencing Intervention for Individuals with aphasia, using discourse analysis methods and patient reported outcome measures, studying group-based treatments for aphasia, and studying the use of gestures in aphasia. Additionally, she is involved in teaching courses on aphasia and cognitive communication disorders to graduate SLP students at Rush. She also provides direct patient care and graduate clinical supervision at Rush outpatient clinics.   Listener Take-aways In today's episode you will: Understand the role of collaborative referencing in everyday communication. Learn about Collaborative Referencing Intervention. Describe how speech-language pathologists can create rich communicative environments.   Edited transcript   Lyssa Rome Welcome to the Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast. I'm Lyssa Rome. I'm a speech language pathologist on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, and I see clients with aphasia and other neurogenic communication disorders in my LPAA-focused private practice. I'm also a member of the Aphasia Access podcast Working Group. Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources.   I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Dr. Suma Devanga, who is selected as a 2024 Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar, USA and Canada. In this episode, we'll be discussing Dr. Devanga's research on collaborative referencing, gesture, and building rich communicative environments for people with aphasia.   Suma Devanga is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, where she also serves as the director of the Aphasia Research Lab. She completed her PhD in Speech and Hearing science from the University of Illinois. Urbana Champaign in 2017. Dr. Devanga is interested in studying aphasia interventions and their impacts on people's everyday communication. Her recent work includes investigating a novel treatment called the Collaborative Referencing Intervention for Individuals with aphasia, using discourse analysis methods and patient reported outcome measures, studying group-based treatments for aphasia, and studying the use of gestures in aphasia. Additionally, she is involved in teaching courses on aphasia and cognitive communication disorders to graduate SLP students at Rush. She also provides direct patient care and graduate clinical supervision at Rush outpatient clinics. Suma Devanga, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm really happy to be talking with you.   Suma Devanga Thank you, Lyssa, thank you for having me. And I would also like to thank Aphasia Access for this wonderful opportunity, and the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia and the Duchess of Bedford for recognizing my research through the Distinguished Scholar Award.   Lyssa Rome So I wanted to start by asking you how you became interested in aphasia treatment.   Suma Devanga I became interested in aphasia during my undergraduate and graduate programs, which was in speech language pathology in Mysore in India. I was really drawn to this population because of how severe the consequences were for these individuals and their families after the onset of aphasia. So I met hundreds of patients and families with aphasia who were really devastated by this sudden condition, and they were typically left with no job and little means to communicate with family and friends. So as a student clinician, I was very, very motivated to help these individuals in therapy, but when I started implementing the treatment methods that I had learned, what I discovered was that my patients were showing improvements on the tasks that we worked on in therapy. Their scores on clinical tasks also were improving, but none of that really mattered to them. What they really wanted was to be able to easily communicate with family, but they continued to struggle on that, and none of the cutting-edge treatment methods that I learned from this highly reputable program in India were impacting my patients' lives.   So I really felt lost, and that is when I knew that I wanted to do a PhD and study this topic more closely, and I was drawn to Dr. Julie Hengst's work, which looked at the bigger picture in aphasia. She used novel theoretical frameworks and used discourse analysis methods for tracking patient performance, as opposed to clinical tests. So I applied to the University of Illinois PhD program, and I'm so glad that she took me on as her doctoral student. And so that is how I ended up moving from India to the US and started my work in aphasia.   Lyssa Rome I think that a lot of us can probably relate to what you're describing—that just that feeling of frustration when a patient might improve on some sort of clinical tasks, but still says this is not helping me in my life, and I know that for me, and I think for others, that is what has drawn us to the LPAA.   I wanted to sort of dive into your research by asking you a little bit more about rich communicative environments, and what you mean by that, and what you mean when you talk about or write about distributed communication frameworks.   Suma Devanga So since I started my PhD, I have been interested in understanding how we can positively impact everyday communication for our patients with aphasia. As a doctoral student, I delved more deeply into the aphasia literature and realized that what I observed clinically with my patients in India was consistent with what was documented in the literature, and that was called the clinical-functional gap. And this really refers to the fact that we have many evidence-based aphasia treatments that do show improvements on clinical tasks or standardized tests, but there is very limited evidence on these treatments improving the functional use of language or the everyday communication, and this remains to be true even today.   So I think it becomes pretty important to understand what we are dealing with, like what is everyday communication? And I think many aphasia treatments have been studying everyday communication or conversational interactions by decontextualizing them or reducing them into component parts, like single words or phrases, and then we work our way up to sentence structures. Right? So this approach has been criticized by some researchers like Clark, who is an experimental psychologist, and he called such tasks as in vacuo, meaning that they are not really capturing the complexity of conversational interactions. So basically, even though we are clinicians, our ultimate goal is improving everyday communication, which is rich and emergent and complex, we somehow seem to be using tasks that are simplified and that removes all of these complexities and focuses more on simple or specific linguistic structures. So to understand the complexities of everyday communication, we have shifted to the distributed communication framework, which really originates from the cultural historical activity theories and theories from linguistic anthropology.   Dr. Julie Hengst actually proposed the distributed communication theory in her article in the Journal of Communication Disorders in 2015, which highlights that communication is not just an individual skill or a discrete concept, but it is rather distributed. And it is distributed in three ways: One is that it is distributed across various resources. We communicate using multiple resources, not just language. We sign, we use gestures, or facial expressions. We also interpret messages using such resources like dialects and eye gaze and posture, the social context, cultural backgrounds, the emotional states that we are in, and all of that matters. And we all know this, right? This is not new, and yet, we often give credit to language alone for communication, when in reality, we constantly use multiple resources. And the other key concept of distributed communication theory is that communication is embedded in socio- cultural activities. So depending on the activity, which can be a routine family dinnertime conversation or managing relationships with your co workers, the communicative resources that you use, their motives, and the way you would organize it, all of that would vary. And finally, communication is distributed across time. And by that we mean that people interpret and understand present interactions through the histories that they have experienced over time. For example, if you're at work and your manager says you might want to double check your reports before submitting them based on prior interactions with the manager and the histories you've shared with them, you could interpret that message either as a simple suggestion or that there is a lack of trust in your work. So all in all, communication, I think, is a joint activity, and I think we should view it as a joint activity, and it depends on people's ability to build common ground with one another and draw from that common ground to interpret each other's messages.   Lyssa Rome I feel like that framework is really helpful, and it makes a lot of sense, especially as a way of thinking about the complexity of language and the complexity of what we're trying to do when we are taking a more top-down approach. So that's the distributed communication theory. And it sounds like the other framework that has really guided your research is rich communicative environments. And I'm wondering if you could say a little bit more about that.   Suma Devanga Absolutely. So this work originates from about 80 years of research in neuroscience, where rodents and other animals with acquired brain injuries showed greater neuroplastic changes and improved functions when they were housed in complex environments. In fact, complex environments are considered to be the most well replicated approach to improve function in animal models of acquired brain injury.   So Dr. Julie Hengst, Dr. Melissa Duff, and Dr. Theresa Jones translated these findings to support communication for humans with acquired brain injuries. And they called it the rich communicative environments. The main goal of this is to enrich the clinical environments. And how we achieve that is by ensuring that there is meaningful complexity in our clinical environments, and that you do that by ensuring that our patients, families, and clinicians use multimodal resources, and also to aim for having multiple communication partners within your sessions who can fluidly shift between various communicative roles, and to not just stay in that clinician role, for example.   Another way to think about enriching clinical environments is to think about ensuring that there is voluntary engagement from our patients, and you do that by essentially designing personally meaningful activities, rather than focusing on rehearsing fixed linguistic form or having some predetermined goals.   And the other piece of the enrichment is, how do we ensure there is a positive experiential quality for our patients within our sessions. And for this rather than using clinician-controlled activities with rigid interactional roles, providing opportunities for the patients to share stories and humor would really, you know, ensure that they are also engaging with the tasks with you and having some fun. So all of this put together would lead to a rich communicative environment.   Lyssa Rome It sounds like what you're describing is the kind of speech therapy environment and relationship that is very much person-centered and focused on natural communication, or natural communicative contexts and the kinds of conversations that people have in their everyday lives, rather than more sort of strict speech therapy protocol that might have been more traditional. I also want to ask you to describe collaborative referencing and collaborative referencing intervention.   Suma Devanga Yes, absolutely. So traditionally, our discipline has viewed word-finding or naming as a neurolinguistic process where you access semantic meanings from a lexicon, which you use to generate verbal references. And that theoretical account conceptualizes referencing as an isolated process, where one individual has the skill of retrieving target references from their stores of linguistic forms and meanings, right? So in contrast to that, the distributed communication perspective views referencing as a process where speakers' meanings are constructed within each interaction, and that is based on the shared histories of experiences with specific communication partners and also depending on the social and physical contexts of the interaction as well.   Now this process of collaborative referencing is something that we all do every single day. It is not just a part of our everyday communication, but without collaborative referencing, you cannot really have a conversation with anyone. You need to have some alignment, some common ground for communicating with others. This is a fundamental feature of human communication, and this is not new. You know, there is lots of work being done on this, even in childhood language literature as well.   Collaborative referencing was formally studied by Clark, who is the experimental psychologist. And he studied this in healthy college students, and he used a barrier task experiment for it. So a pair of students sat across from each other with a full barrier that separated them so they could not see each other at all, and each student had a board that was numbered one through 12, and they were given matching sets of 12 pictures of abstract shapes called tangrams. One participant was assigned as the director, who arranged the cards on their playing board and described their locations to the other, who served as the matcher and matched the pictures to their locations on their own board. So the pair completed six trials with alternating turns, and they use the same cards with new locations for each trial. And what they found was that the pairs had to really collaborate with each other to get those descriptions correct so that they are placed correctly on the boards.   So in the initial trials, the pairs had multiple turns of back and forth trying to describe these abstract shapes. For example, one of the pictures was initially described as “This picture that looks like an angel or something with its arms wide open.” And there had to be several clarifying questions from the partner, and then eventually, after playing with this picture several times, the player just had to say “It's the angel,” and the partner would be able to know which picture that was so as the pairs built their common ground, the collaborative effort, or the time taken to complete each trial, and the number of words they used and the number of turns they took to communicate about those pictures declined over time, and the labels itself, or the descriptions of pictures, also became more streamlined as the as time went by.   So Hengst and colleagues wanted to study this experiment in aphasia, TBI, amnesia, and Alzheimer's disease as well. So they adapted this task to better serve this population and also to align with the distributed communication framework. And surprisingly, they found consistent results that despite aphasia or other neurological conditions, people were still able to successfully reference, decrease collaborative effort over time and even streamline their references. But more surprisingly, people were engaged with one another. They were having really rich conversations about these pictures. They were sharing jokes, and really seemed to be enjoying the task itself.   So Hengst and colleagues realized that this has a lot of potential, and they redesigned the barrier task experiment as a clinical treatment using the principles of the distributed communication framework and the rich communicative environment. So that redesign included replacing the full barrier with a partial barrier to allow multimodal communication, and using personal photos of the patients instead of the abstract shapes to make it more engaging for the patients, and also asking participants to treat this as a friendly game and to have fun. So that is the referencing itself and the research on collaborative referencing, and that is how it was adapted as a treatment as well.   And in order to help clinicians easily implement this treatment, I have used the RTSS framework, which is the rehabilitation treatment specification system, to explain how CRI works and how it can be implemented. And this is actually published, and it just came out in the most recent issue in the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, which I'm happy to share.   Lyssa Rome And we'll put that link into the show notes.   Suma Devanga Perfect. So CRI is designed around meaningful activities like the game that authentically provides repeated opportunities for the client and the clinician to engage in the collaborative referencing process around targets that they really want to be talking about, things that are relevant to patients, everyday communication goals, it could be things, objects of interest, and not really specific words or referencing forms.   So the implementation of the CRI involves three key ingredients. One is jointly developing the referencing targets and compiling the images so clinicians would sit down with the patients and the families to identify at least 30 targets that are meaningful and important to be included in the treatment. And we need two perspectives, or two views, or two pictures related to the same target that needs to be included in the treatment. So we will have 60 pictures overall. An example is two pictures from their wedding might be an important target for patients to be able to talk about. Two pictures from a Christmas party, you know, things like that. So this process of compilation of photos is also a part of the treatment itself, because it gives the patients an opportunity to engage with the targets.   The second ingredient is engaging in the friendly gameplay itself. And the key really here is the gameplay and to treat it as a gameplay. And this includes 15 sessions with six trials in each session, where you, as the clinician and the client will both have matching sets of 12 pictures, and there is a low barrier in between, so you cannot see each other's boards, but you can still see the other person. So you will both take turns being the director and the matcher six times, and describe and match the pictures to their locations, and that is just the game. The only rule of the game is that you cannot look over the barrier. You are encouraged to talk as much as you like about the pictures. In fact, you are encouraged to talk a lot about the pictures and communicate in any way.   The third ingredient is discussing and reflecting on referencing. And this happens at the end of each session where patients are asked to think back and reflect and say what the agreed upon label was for each card. And this, again, gives one more opportunity for the patients to engage with the target.   The therapeutic mechanism, or the mechanism of action, as RTSS likes to call it, is the rich communicative environment itself, you know, and how complex the task is, and how meaningful and engaging the task has to be, as well as the repeated engagement in the gameplay, because we are doing this six times in each session, and we are repeatedly engaging with those targets when describing them and placing them.   So what we are really targeting with CRI is collaborative referencing and again, this does not refer to the patient's abilities to access or retrieve those words from their stores. Instead, we are targeting people's joint efforts in communicating about these targets, their efforts in building situated common ground. That's what we are targeting. We are targeting their alignment with one another, and so that is how we define referencing. And again, we are targeting this, because that is how you communicate every day.   Lyssa Rome That sounds like a really fascinating and very rich intervention. And I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about the research that you've done on it so far.   Suma Devanga Absolutely. So in terms of research on CRI thus far, we have completed phase one with small case studies that were all successful, and my PhD dissertation was the first phase two study, where we introduced an experimental control by using a multiple-probe, single-case experimental design on four people with aphasia, and we found significant results on naming. And since then, I have completed two replication studies in a total of nine participants with aphasia. And we have found consistent results on naming. In terms of impact on everyday interactions, we have found decreased trouble sources, or communicative breakdowns, you can call it, and also decreased repairs, both of which indicated improved communicative success within conversational interactions. So we are positive, and we plan to continue this research to study its efficacy within a clinical trial.   Lyssa Rome That's very encouraging. So how can clinicians target collaborative referencing by creating a rich communicative environment?   Suma Devanga Yeah, well, CRI is one approach that clinicians can use, and I'm happy to share the evidence we have this far, and there is more to come, hopefully soon, including some clinical implementation studies that clinicians can use. But there are many other ways of creating rich communicative environments and targeting referencing within clinical sessions. I think many skilled clinicians are already doing it in the form of relationship building, by listening closely to their patients, engaging with them in authentic conversations, and also during education and counseling sessions as well.   In addition to that, I think group treatment for aphasia is another great opportunity for targeting collaborative referencing within a rich communicative environment. When I was a faculty at Western Michigan University, I was involved in their outpatient aphasia program, where they have aphasia groups, and patients got to select which groups they want to participate in. They had a cooking group, a music group, a technology group, and so on. And I'm guessing you do this too at the Aphasia Center of California. So these groups definitely create rich communicative environments, and people collaborate with each other and do a lot of referencing as well. So I think there is a lot that can be done if you understand the rich communicative environment piece.   Lyssa Rome Absolutely. That really rings true to me. So often in these podcast interviews, we ask people about aha moments, and I'm wondering if you have one that you wanted to share with us.   Suma Devanga Sure. So you know how I said that getting the pictures for the CRI is a joint activity? Patients typically select things that they really want to talk about, like their kids' graduation pictures, or things that they are really passionate about, like pictures of their sports cars, or vegetable gardens, and so on. And they also come up with really unique names for them as well, while they are playing with those pictures during the treatment. And when we start playing the game, clinicians usually have little knowledge about these images, because they're all really personal to the patients, and they're taken from their personal lives, so they end up being the novices, while the patients become the experts. And my patients have taught me so much about constructing a house and all about engines of cars and things like that that I had no knowledge about. But in one incident, when I was the clinician paired with an individual with anomic aphasia, there was a picture of a building that she could not recognize, and hence she could not tell me much at all. And we went back and forth several times, and we finally ended up calling it the “unknown building.” Later, I checked my notes and realized that it was where she worked, and it was probably a different angle, perhaps, which is why she could not recognize it. But even with that new information, we continue to call it the “unknown building,” because it became sort of an internal joke for us. And later I kept thinking if I had made a mistake and if we should have accurately labeled it. That is when it clicked for me that CRI is not about producing accurate labels, it is about building a common ground with each other, which would help you successfully communicate with that person. So you're targeting the process of referencing and not the reference itself, because you want your patients to get better at the process of referencing in their everyday communication. And so that was my aha moment.   Lyssa Rome Yeah, that's an amazing story, because I think that that gets to that question sort of of the why behind what we're doing, right? Is it to say the specific name? I mean, obviously for some people, yes, sometimes it is. But what is underlying that? It's to be able to communicate about the things that are important to people. I also wanted to ask you about another area that you've studied, which is the use of gesture within aphasia interventions. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?   Suma Devanga Yes. So this work started with my collaboration with my friend and colleague, Dr. Mili Mathew, who is at Molloy University in New York, and our first work was on examining the role of hand gestures in collaborative referencing in a participant who had severe Wernicke's aphasia, and he frequently used extensive gestures to communicate. So when he started with CRI his descriptions of the images were truly multimodal. For example, when he had to describe a picture of a family vacation in Cancun, he was, you know, he was verbose, and there was very little meaningful content that was relevant in his spoken language utterances. But he used a variety of iconic hand gestures that were very meaningful and helpful to identify what he was referring to. As the sessions went on with him, his gestural references also became streamlined, just like the verbal references do, and that we saw in other studies. And that was fascinating because it indicated that gestures do play a big role in the meaning-making process of referencing.   And in another study on the same participant, we explored the use of hand gestures as treatment outcome measures. This time, we specifically analyzed gestures used within conversations at baseline treatment, probe, and maintenance phases of the study. And we found that the frequency of referential gestures, which are gestures that add meaning, that have some kind of iconics associated with them, those frequencies of gestures decreased with the onset of treatment, whereas the correct information units, or CIUS, which indicate the informativeness in the spoken language itself, increased. So this pattern of decrease in hand gestures and increase in CIUS was also a great finding. Even though this was just an exploratory study, it indicates that gestures may be included as outcome measures, in addition to verbal measures, which we usually tend to rely more on. And we have a few more studies coming up that are looking at the synchrony of gestures with spoken language in aphasia, but I think we still have a lot more to learn about gestures in aphasia.   Lyssa Rome It seems like there that studying gestures really ties in to CRI and the rich communicative environments that you were describing earlier, where the goal is not just to verbally name one thing, but rather to get your point across, where, obviously, gesture is also quite useful. So I look forward to reading more of your research on that as it comes out. Tell us about what you're currently working on, what's coming next.   Suma Devanga Currently, I am wrapping up my clinical research grant from the ASH Foundation, which was a replication study of the phase two CRI so we collected data from six participants with chronic aphasia using a multiple-probe, single-case design, and that showed positive results on naming, and there was improved scores on patient reports of communication confidence, communicative participation, and quality of life as well. We are currently analyzing the conversation samples to study the treatment effects.   I also just submitted a grant proposal to extend the study on participants with different severities of aphasia as well. So we are getting all the preliminary data at this point that we need to be able to start a clinical trial, which will be my next step.   So apart from that, I was also able to redesign the CRI and adapt it as a group-based treatment with three participants with aphasia and one clinician in a group. I actually completed a feasibility study of it, which was successful, and I presented that at ASHA in 2023. And I'm currently writing it up for publication, and I also just secured an internal grant to launch a pilot study of the group CRI to investigate the effects of group CRI on communication and quality of life.   Lyssa Rome Well, that's really exciting. And again, I'm really looking forward to reading additional work as it comes out. As we wrap up. What do you want clinicians to take away from your work and to take away from this conversation we've had today?   Suma Devanga Well, I would want clinicians to reflect on how their sessions are going and think about how to incorporate the principles of rich communicative environments so that they can add more meaningful complexity to their treatment activities and also ensure that their patients are truly engaging with the tasks and also having some fun. And I would also tell the clinicians that we have strong findings so far on CRI with both fluent and non-fluent aphasia types. So please stay tuned and reach out to me if you have questions or want to share your experiences about implementing this with your own patients, because I would love to hear that.   Lyssa Rome Dr. Suma Devanga, it has been great talking to you and hearing about your work. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.   Suma Devanga It was fantastic talking about my work. Thank you for giving me this platform to share my work with you all. And thank you, Lyssa for being a great listener.   Lyssa Rome Thanks also to our listeners for the references and resources mentioned in today's show. Please see our show notes. They're available on our website, www.aphasiaaccess.org. There, you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials, and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. If you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info@aphasiaaccess.org. Thanks again for your ongoing support of aphasia. Access. For Aphasia Access Conversations. I'm Lyssa Rome.       References   Devanga, S. R. (2025). Collaborative Referencing Intervention (CRI) in Aphasia: A replication and extension of the Phase II efficacy study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-24-00226   Devanga, S. R., Sherrill, M., & Hengst, J. A. (2021). The efficacy of collaborative referencing intervention in chronic aphasia: A mixed methods study. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 30(1S), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00108    Hengst, J. A., Duff, M. C., & Jones, T. A. (2019). Enriching communicative environments: Leveraging advances in neuroplasticity for improving outcomes in neurogenic communication disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(1S), 216–229. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0157   Hengst, J. A. (2015). Distributed communication: Implications of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) for communication disorders. Journal of Communication Disorders, 57, 16–28. Https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2015.09.001   Devanga, S. R., & Mathew, M. (2024). Exploring the use of co-speech hand gestures as treatment outcome measures for aphasia. Aphasiology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2024.2356287   Devanga, S. R., Wilgenhof, R., & Mathew, M. (2022). Collaborative referencing using hand gestures in Wernicke's aphasia: Discourse analysis of a case study. Aphasiology, 36(9), 1072-1095. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2021.1937919    

How can we best implement communication partner training with familiar partners of people with aphasia?In this International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders paper the authors set out to:(1) determine the perceived and/or observed barriers and facilitators to implementing CPT with familiar partners of adults with aphasia;(2) to map extracted barriers and facilitators to a common theoretical framework; (3) to synthesise extracted barriers and facilitators; and (4) to identify potential implementation strategies to address the most frequently identified barriers and facilitators. Authors Kirstine Shrubsole, Emma Power, Marie-Christine Hallé were awarded the IJLCD 2023 Editors' prize for this paper. The paper is:Communication partner training with familiar partners of people with aphasia: A systematic review and synthesis of barriers and facilitators to implementationKirstine Shrubsole, Emma Power, Marie-Christine HalléExamples of free, brief online training programs (less than 2 hours) Aphasia Institute Community Hub: Introduction to SCA™ eLearning Module, The Aphasia Institute, Canadahttps://www.aphasia.ca/health-care-providers/education-training/self-directed-elearning/ An aphasia-focused, 40 minute module centred on Supported Communication principles. interact-ABI-lity, University of Sydney and University of Technology, Australiahttps://abi-communication-lab.sydney.edu.au/courses/interact-abi-lity/An acquired brain injury focused module (Stroke, Traumatic brain injury and other neurological conditions) covering cognitive communication difficulties, aphasia, dysarthria and alternative and augmentative communication.For the article referring to online versus face-to-face here is the IJLCD article reference.Power, E., Falkenberg, K., Barnes, S., Elbourn, E., Attard, M., & Togher, L. (2020). A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing online versus face-to-face delivery of an aphasia communication partner training program for student healthcare professionals. International journal of language & communication disorders, 55(6), 852–866. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12556First published: 23 November 2022Please be aware that the views expressed are those of the guests and not the RCSLT.Please do take a few moments to respond to our podcast survey: uk.surveymonkey.com/r/LG5HC3R

Achieving Success with Olivia Atkin Episode 120 "Achieving Understanding: The Science, Stigma, And Future Of Epilepsy Care with Dr. Tracey Milligan"Olivia talks personal and professional achievements with Dr. Tracey Milligan. Dr. Tracey A. Milligan, Chair of Neurology at New York Medical College and Director of Neurology at Westchester Medical Center Health Network. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Milligan is a leading expert in epilepsy and a champion for medical education. Her impressive journey includes degrees in Communication Disorders and Speech-Language Pathology, a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and residency and fellowship training at Harvard. Dr. Milligan has been recognized for her leadership in diversity, her innovative Spanish Neurology Clinic, and her dedication to teaching, earning numerous awards for her contributions to healthcare and education. Today, we'll dive into her journey and insights on advancing neurology and fostering impactful change.Join Olivia every Tuesday as she brings on top notch guests to talk about how they are Achieving Success! Career Development Book and More at Achieving-success.comStay Connected With Us:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/achieving-success-llcInstagram: @_achievingsuccessTwitter: @_achievesuccessFacebook: @Achieving SuccessBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/achieving-success-with-olivia-atkin--5743662/support.

Guests: Jennifer Ruckner, MS CCC-SLP, and Beth Cooper, MOT, OTR/LEarn 0.1 ASHA CEU for this episode with Speech Therapy PD: https://www.speechtherapypd.com/course?name=Sensory-Detective-Part-2-A-Closer-InspectionIn this episode, Michelle is joined once again by Jennifer Ruckner, MS CCC-SLP, and Beth Cooper, MOT, OTR/L, for “Sensory Detective Part 2: A Closer Inspection”. In “Part 1” (#3660), Jen and Beth went into detail on the roles and responsibilities of SLPs and OTs with respect to “sensory” and how they can collaborate, and they were just getting started. In “Part 2”, they share why it is so critical to empower caregivers in their child's sensory journey and how to teach clinicians to do so, starting with the initial evaluation. Jen and Beth then transition to a series of case studies to highlight the impact of the “medical domain” of pediatric feeding disorder on the child's sensory systems and wrap up with recommendations on when/why taking a break from therapy can be beneficial. Remember, everyone has a role in “sensory,” and we hope that this episode continues to grow your passion for it.About the Guest(s): Jennifer Ruckner MS, CCC-SLP received her Bachelor's of Science Degree and a Master's Degree in Communication Disorders from Auburn University. She has been a speech-language pathologist since 1990 working in a variety of settings including Early Intervention, school districts, and private practice. Jennifer piloted a preschool expressive language program for Stafford County Schools. Jennifer specializes in Social/Pragmatic Language, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Expressive Language Disorder, and Feeding Disorders, and is Beckman Oral Motor Certified. She provides services through Telepractice and at home. In 2008, she and partner Patti Minicucci created Tots To Teens Therapy Services to provide speech and language resources in an interdisciplinary approach to the families of Northern Virginia. Jennifer is a Community Ambassador for Feeding Matters, a non-profit, parent-founded organization.Sharibeth (Beth) Cooper MS, OTR/L received her Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2004. She has experience working in various settings, including home-based early intervention, teletherapy, school systems, outpatient clinics, and as part of a diagnostic team for a center for autism. She is certified in the Handwriting Without Tears® program, M.O.V.E® program, and Therapeutic Listening®. She has completed advanced continuing education in MORE, Floortime/DIR, Kinesiotaping, The Ready Approach for Self Regulation®, The Alert Program®, TEACCH®, TalkTools, neurodevelopmental techniques, and assistive technology. She has been a presenter at state conferences, parent workshops, universities, daycares, and school programs. Beth also serves as the Clinical Director at Tots to Teens Therapy Services. In her spare time, Beth enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and four children.YouTube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/VrDBJufQpzo

Want to share your feedback? Send us a message!David Luterman, Ed.D., CCC-SLP joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss empowering clients throughout the therapeutic journey. Dr. Luterman highlights the importance of establishing a collaborative relationship early in the process, avoiding the pitfalls of 'miracle working,' fostering client confidence, and making the client as self-sufficient as possible. Dr. Luterman walks listeners through practical examples within stuttering therapy with the aim of supporting client-driven discovery, confidence, and independence.Related Resources:60 Years of Clinical Teaching in Counseling: Reflections with Dr. David Luterman (Season 6: Episode 5, Stuttering Foundation Podcast)Sharpening Counseling Skills Course through Stuttering FoundationParent Counseling: Conversations with David Luterman Parts 1 & 2 through Stuttering FoundationCounseling Persons with Communication Disorders as part of the Virtual Learning by Stuttering Foundation SeriesCounseling Persons with Communication Disorders TextbookWorking on the Family Level as part of the Virtual Learning by Stuttering Foundation SeriesDavid Luterman, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is a professor emeritus at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where he taught full-time for 40 years and he has continued to teach the counseling course for 20 more years beyond that (not something many people can say!). He is the author of many articles and several books, including his seminal book called Counseling Persons with Communication Disorders and Their Families, now in its 5th edition. He has done several podcasts and videos through the Stuttering Foundation called Counseling People who Stutter and Their Families and Conversations with Parents. In addition to authoring many books, he is a well-known teacher, researcher, consultant, and lecturer. Dr. Luterman is a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and recipient of the Frank Kleffner Clinical Achievement Award (2011).

  Dr. Janet Patterson: Welcome to this Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast, a series of conversations about the LPAA model and aphasia programs that follow this model. My name is Janet Patterson, and I am a research speech-language pathologist at the VA Northern California Healthcare System in Martinez, California. Today, I am delighted to be speaking with Dr. Elizabeth Madden, an Assistant Professor at Florida State University in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and an affiliate of the Institute for Successful Longevity. Liz also leads the FSU Aphasia Research Laboratory. Liz's research, teaching and clinical interests focus on rehabilitation of aphasia, and specifically on understanding the relationship between spoken and written language abilities in individuals with aphasia and developing behavioral treatments to address reading and writing disorders post stroke. Her work also addresses the impact of aphasia on the friendships and social well-being of people with aphasia and their care partners. These Show Notes accompany the conversation with Liz but are not a verbatim transcript.   In today's episode you will hear about: the power of friendship and what people with aphasia and care partners think about how aphasia can affect the ability to create and sustain friendships, the definition of literacy and its behavioral components, and behavioral treatments for reading comprehension deficit in aphasia.   In 2024, Liz was named a Distinguished Scholar USA by the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia UK. The Tavistock Trust aims to help improve the quality of life for those with aphasia, their families and care partners by addressing research capacity related to quality-of-life issues in aphasia. Congratulations on receiving this honor, Liz. Aphasia Access collaborates with the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia in selecting the awardees and is pleased to have the opportunity to discuss their work and the career influence of the Tavistock Award.   Welcome Liz, to Aphasia Access Conversations.   Dr. Liz Madden: Thank you, Janet. I'm really happy to be here today. I also say thank you to Aphasia Access and to the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia. I'm very grateful for this award and excited to have this conversation.   Janet: I'm excited to be talking to you, my friend and research partner in several endeavors that we've been working on over the last few years.   Liz, as we've said, you were named a Tavistock Trust Distinguished Scholar USA for this year, and you join a talented and dedicated group of individuals. How has receiving the Tavistock Award influenced your clinical and research efforts in aphasia,   Liz: I first wanted to extend that thank you to the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, and specifically Henrietta, the Duchess of Bedford and the honorable Nicole Campbell, and just a very gracious, sincere thank you for all the time and effort and support they give to aphasia researchers. I would say, I'm just delighted and very humbled to be recognized this year. I would say further that this award motivates my work that is focused on trying to really make an impact on the lives and quality of life and successful living for people who have aphasia and continuing my work. My beginning work was really more impairment focused, which some of that we will talk about, and I really value that. But having this award, and the more I stay in the field, it is extending that and making sure that everything I'm doing always is directly related to helping the lives of people with aphasia.   Janet: That leads right into the question I'd like to begin with Liz, which is about your recent work investigating the role of friendship for persons with aphasia. I believe in the power of friendship and community during joyful times and also during the sad times in one's life. In Aphasia. Access podcast episode number 119, Finding the person in front of aphasia, I talked with your friend and colleague, Dr Lauren Bislick, with whom I believe you collaborate to investigate friendship and aphasia. How did you become interested in this aspect of aphasia, and what can you tell us about your work in this area and your collaboration with Lauren?   Liz: Lauren and I did our Ph.D.'s together. We both were mentored by Diane Kendall at the University of Washington, so Lauren and I are Ph.D. sisters. Also, we were both at Project Bridge, led by Dr. Jackie Hinkley in 2018. That's really where my interest in friendship began. That conference brought together researchers, speech-language pathologists, people with aphasia, and their friends and family. I was the researcher at a table, and we ended up being Team Friendship. Lauren was also at this meeting, but she was at Team Yoga; Lauren does a lot of work with friendship, but also with yoga. My other colleague who does a lot of friendship work with me is Dr. Michelle Therrien here at FSU. She primarily works with children who use AAC, but her main research is friendship. She and I had already had some conversations about the importance of friendship, particularly for people who have communication disorders. The idea was we leave the conference and to take action and carry out some of the goals that were generated from that discussion. So that's when I reached back out to Lauren, because she was at that conference. Then I also reached out to my friend, Michelle Therrien, and other individuals who became part of our Team Friendship, Dr. Sarah Wallace, who's also one of our good friends and collaborators, and Rachel Gough Albritton who is one of Jackie Hinkley's former doc students and here at FSU as well. and the office of research. That is the background of some conversations before Project Bridge, but really for me, coming back and actually starting studies addressing different aspects of friendship, which I know we'll talk more about, was really brought about by the Project Bridge conference.   Janet: That is quite a story, and I can see you sitting around the table and developing Team Friendship - good for you.   We all know, Liz, that one of the unfortunate consequences of aphasia can be the loss of or the diminishing of friendships, or the disruption of the communication skills important to developing and sustaining friendship and community. What have you learned from people with aphasia about their successes and challenges in sustaining and creating new friendships.   Liz: Yes, good question. Well, at that conference that I mentioned, there were five or six people with aphasia, and initially our table was labeled something like, What happens in the long run? and we started having conversations. It was very clear after our initial conversation that the group centered on relationships and friendship, so we shifted to being friendship only. I will say, just at that table, it became very clear to me, that's what rose to the top when the group was thinking about the bigger picture of living life.   In a research project we've done there was a small sample of 15 people with aphasia, and we talked to them over time. I think the timing of a conversation is really something important to keep in mind when we're talking to people with aphasia about any topic, of course, but particularly friendship. From other studies we've noticed that responses are really different. If we're talking during the early days, maybe the acute days, versus the chronic days, we'd get really different responses. Just a quick summary, again, this was 15 people and a unique set. Most people in our study were a part of aphasia groups, and, of course, really motivated to do research. But I will say, when we looked at their responses, when asked to think back to the early days, all different aspects of friendship, how supported they felt, or how they were able to communicate, and we compared it to their responses in the now. Overall, the pattern was less satisfaction, feeling less supported or less able to engage in those earlier days, but more of a recovery pattern over time, but again, not for everybody. There were still a few people in our group that were reporting not having many friends. Our paper had a different light, a positive light about friendships. Some of the other papers out there have a more negative tone. It's a very important area we need to address. I was happy to see this group reporting, now that they had been living with aphasia for several years, their pattern of more negative responses early, and a recovering pattern now. They reported making friends with other people who have aphasia, and finding at this point, who are those good friends.   There's other great work being done by other colleagues, Brent Archer, Jamie Azios and Katie Strong, who are studying the same topic. They had a great paper that describes who stuck around, they were examining the next steps of what it takes to support the positive recovery that we know does happen for some people.   Janet: I like the positive perspective you are taking. Given that one has had a stroke, and given that the this is the situation in life, what is the positive? What can you do? Who are your friends? Look at positive ideas rather than publishing research on all the negative aspects. Kudos to you for doing that.   Liz: Thanks, all of it's important, right? We have to know that. I think we had a special group. I think we had a particularly positive outcome, and it was good to know that friendships don't disappear for everyone. But I think there's something that those people had done and that their friends had done, that we're still trying to learn more about.   Janet: Thank you for that work. Liz. It makes me think about the aphasia journey in that it involves not just the person with aphasia, but also their care partners and all the people around them. In your investigations of friendship, what do the care partners of persons with aphasia tell you about their successes and challenges in sustaining and developing friendships? These friendships could be individual friendships or partner friendships or group friendships through social, religious or professional activities or even community groups.   Liz: Thank you for this question. I think it's sometimes a forgotten group that we overlook, the care partners, and the critical role they play in the recovery of people with aphasia. I always try to have us remember we want the care partners to do well on their own as people, and so we've done a couple projects. We've just finished data collection on a much larger study of 80 aphasia care partners, and I'm just getting into those data. We did a Qualtrics survey and also did experience sampling, where we used a phone app, and four times a day for two weeks, participants got these little pings, and they had to tell us, Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? How are you feeling? When was the last time you interacted with a friend? Was it a text? I don't have the amazing outcomes for you yet. This project was a much bigger follow-up to a project a few years ago with 35 care partners. We, of course, wanted to interview them but then COVID was happening, so we settled for a really nice Qualtrics survey.   I will say that these individuals were surprised when we were reaching out to them. They kept trying to schedule their loved one with aphasia, and we said, “No, we want to talk to you about your friendships.” And they were surprised, asking, “You want to talk about me.' I will say they were very excited that we wanted to know about them. Back to the timeline I shared earlier in that very small study, the profile was opposite. We asked them about their friendships before they were caregivers, the early stages of caregiving, and then now, and their comments kind of make sense. Across the group they reported in the early stages, they felt like they had really great friends, support and satisfaction. People were rallying around them, coming to the hospital to support them. Many of them had been caregiving for a very long time when we did a comparison, and their reported friendship satisfaction and support was actually lower now. The questions were not the same and the groups were different, but as I told you a few minutes ago, the people with aphasia were more negative in the acute stage, and our small group were more positive now with how they're feeling about their friendships, and the care partners were the opposite. They were feeling more supported in the beginning, and now as time has gone on, some of them report the friends aren't there as much. Some of them felt like they were a burden, or they didn't know how to engage, being very selfless. They have dropped their own social interests to take care of their loved one. We did see in that project, that the longer, the more months a person had been caregiving, was correlated with poor self-perceived friendships and also how they perceived their loved one's health. That was just their perception. If they perceived their loved one to have more health concerns, not just a feature but overall health, they also tended to rate themselves as not as satisfied with their friendship. Bringing in that piece of information and the caregiving burden into our new projects, we did actually get scales on resilience and caregiving burden depression. In this new project we replicated some of our same questions, and we're now trying to look more at overall well-being, seeing how resilience and purpose in life and caregiving burden might play a role.   Janet: That reminds me of the commercials, when you are taking off in an airplane or when you are thinking about being a care partner, you do have to take care of yourself as the care partner before you can give the best care to the person with aphasia. Anything that we can do to focus on the person the with aphasia, and also focus on the care partner, I think, is good in terms of developing and sustaining friendships,   Liz: Yes. Care partners definitely have a lot more to say, and we haven't actually been able to do face to face interviews yet, but we did have a lot of really rich, open ended responses and surveys that we're still looking through. A piece I'm really interested in, is we have that one-time perception when they did our one-time survey, now we have their responses, we can track how people respond over a two-week period, were they always at home with their loved ones and not responding to friends? I think there's just a lot and again, trying to understand from this group what are the positives. Who are the people that have these positive responses? Then, of course, the next big steps are trying to provide more research resources and interventions for both care partners and people with aphasia. Our group has not yet reached out to friends, so that's a big part to come. I think other researchers have examined friends and a key part intervening with these friends too.   Janet: People with aphasia and care partners have different friendship styles and needs, and when aphasia disrupts communication, it can also affect the way a person approaches friendship. As speech-language pathologists, I believe that we can play a role in guiding a person with aphasia and a care partner to develop communication skills that can support friendship efforts. Liz, what are some ideas or actions that you might think of for speech-language pathologists in a busy clinical practice? What kind of actions can they take to support friendship activities, for a person with aphasia, recognizing, of course, that we are all different in our friendship activities. Also recognizing that you're at the very beginning of some of this work, I'm hoping that you have some ideas you might be able to share with us.   Liz: Yes, actually our very first friendship project addressed this topic. It was led by Michelle Therrien, and we surveyed about 40 speech-language pathologists trying to find out their view of the role that they think they should play. They find friendship to be very important. They find it to be in their scope of practice. But not surprising, were not aware of resources. They felt overwhelmed with how much speech-language pathologists have to cover, right? But it was really good to know that the group we reached out to found it to be a very important part of their practice that they want to address. I think you hit on something really important, that we teach and adopt having a person-centered care model, and we know that it's part of what we ask about. The simplest thing is asking. We don't need tools. We just need to make sure it's part of what we ask, making sure we're talking about relationships, talking about friendships.   There are some really great tools that do exist. There's the Stroke Social Network Scale by Sarah Northcott and Katerina Hillary from the UK. Katie Strong, Brent Archer, Jamie Azios and Natalie Douglas are a wonderful group who have been studying friendship. They've used the Social Convoy Model in some of their papers. It has a great visual that they have used, and therapists can also use. Basically, it is mapping out the social network of who's most important, which could be used one time, or as a pre-post measure. There are different ways, formal or informal, of trying to monitor someone's social network or how they feel supported. I don't think there's a target number of friendships and I don't think more means better, but it could be just making sure we're checking in and that we know that's an important part of therapy. We want them to be able to communicate and interact with friends. Speech-language pathologists are creative in to how to make that happen.   Janet: I agree with that view Liz, and I hope that speech-language pathologists will feel comfortable being creative and asking people about their friendships or what they might need to help maintain or sustain their friendships.   I would like to turn now to the topics of reading and literacy, which I know you have been investigating. While these terms are related, they are not synonymous. Would you please explain the difference between them and how you are investigating both in your research?   Liz: Yes. Thanks. That is a good question. To be honest, the first answer is not very scientific. When I was writing papers it was getting cumbersome to always write reading and spelling/ writing. The term came to be when I wanted to make sure that I was making it clear that I wasn't just focused on reading, but also concerned with the spelling and writing components. With my colleagues, Jessica Obermeier and Aaron Bush, we started using the term literacy for some of our work. People will have different ideas of what literacy might entail. I have been describing treatment as “literacy focused”, working on reading and spelling and writing.   My initial work was very much focused on reading, and over the past several years I became more interested in trying to also add on the spelling component. If we're working on spelling and writing it gives us a chance to inherently work on the reading. If we're only focused on reading, it doesn't bring in the writing. There's a time for them to be separate, I fully agree. There are also times where they can be targeted at the same time.   Janet: That makes perfect sense. When I think about how we discussed in the past, reading for pleasure, or reading to gain knowledge, or reading for information, or reading for safety, so many different aspects of reading, literacy also factors into how you use reading in those situations.   Liz: Yes, and so in a lot of day-to-day communication, you need both, right? It's for text messaging, right? We need to read it and respond in a written way, also emails. There are lots of instances where for the for the interaction to go well, we need to be able to read and respond in writing, such as filling out forms, email, texting, social media. For a lot of interactions we need both for there to be a successful written language exchange.   Janet: Liz, as part of our work with the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences, Aphasia Writing Group, you and I were part of the team who critically reviewed treatment approaches for reading comprehension deficits in persons with aphasia. You've also investigated, as you mentioned earlier, specific aspects of reading deficits in persons with aphasia. What are some of the insights that you have gained from this work? And by the way, it was such a pleasure doing that critical review of treatment for reading deficits, and there was a lot of interesting information that came to light in that paper.   Liz: Yes, thank you. I was going to comment that I remember we thought we were going to have all these papers to go through and really and that review, we were very much focused on papers where the main outcome was reading comprehension. When we stuck to what our aim was, there really weren't that many papers that that met the aim of that project. So that really brought to light that it really is an area of our field that doesn't have enough attention.   Some of my recent projects, as I mentioned with Aaron Bush and Jessica Obermeier, we've talked to people with aphasia and gotten their perspective of before and early days. I really like doing this research over time. Things change, but we learned just how important reading and writing are to people with aphasia, and that they really want to work on it. I think we've seen when we looked in the literature, there wasn't much there. When we've talked to people with aphasia and speech-language pathologists, they want to work on reading, and they're not sure how. That further motivates me that this is an area to work on.   In some of my beginning work, I was Diane Kendall's research speech language pathologist for a few years before I did my Ph.D., and I exclusively delivered her phono motor treatment. In that research trial, the main outcome was word retrieval, but the therapy that she designed inherently worked a lot on reading and writing. We retrained every phoneme - how to say it, what your mouth is doing, and also the graphemes that go with the phonemes. As her research speech pathologist, that's really when I got very interested in reading. I'd be in these sessions, and we'd finally bring out the graphemes that go with the phonemes. I recall telling people that this is going to get better – and it did not. That connection between the phonemes and the graphemes, for a lot of people, wasn't there. In that clinical experience as her research speech pathologist is when I realized that the treatment improved reading for some people, but not for everyone. So that's my background of really getting focused on reading.   In the last few years, I've been working on adapting that original version of treatment that was for word retrieval. I've added some components to make it more focused on reading. I've been working with Olga Burkina, who's at the Kessler Stroke Foundation, and has an NIH grant where she is pairing exercise with this reading focused phono motor treatment. It's fun to be a part of that group exploring the idea of doing aerobic exercise to improve the brain blood flow, and to see if that's going to help improve reading treatment. Again, the idea being going forward is what the treatment might change.   There are some other projects also. I'm working with Will Graves at Rutgers. He is using computational modeling to have us stop guessing which treatment. We're trying to get a really good baseline assessment, trying to find out about semantic impairment, phonological impairment, and then we're using this reading focused phono motor treatment. We also have a reading focus semantic feature analysis. I really enjoy getting to work with different researchers who have these wonderful, big questions, and that I'm getting to support it as the speech-language pathologist on these projects focused on reading and writing and phono motor treatment. So those are some exciting projects I'm involved in right now.   Janet: That's exciting, because you started out by saying there were only a few papers that we found that really address reading treatment, and you're right.  It's daunting, then how do you select the reading treatment? How do you help this person with aphasia who wants to improve their reading comprehension? I think it's exciting that you've got all these different avenues and are working with a variety of people to investigate treatment.   Liz: Yeah. And the one thing I'll add to that is part of that, that review we did, for some people those treatments are helping reading comprehension. But for some people, I've been trying to work on the next step. I have a very small dataset where I've added a semantic comprehension stage to my adapted photo motor treatment. I'm in the very early stages of this and I'm sure it's fine to say, but I've been having these really exciting conversations with Kelly Knollman-Porter and Sarah Wallace. They're also Tavistock Trust recipients, and they study reading from a different perspective, using text to speech, compensatory and very focused book reading. They're very comprehension focused, so we're at the very early, fun stages of where we are in our thinking. I think there might be a middle step we are missing, but we are talking about taking these impairment focused treatments, which I think have a role, and have a participation, functional part of it. That's another emerging, new collaboration, where we are coming to reading from different perspectives, and we're trying to see where we can get with that goal, back to this comprehension question, improving functional reading, maybe from impairment and compensatory approaches.   Janet: I think that's the right approach to take, and I think it's exciting, because we have to remember that everybody reads differently. Some people like reading, some people don't enjoy reading. They read what they have to, but they don't particularly enjoy it. So, if we all come to it from different perspectives, we all have different strengths that we bring, and different deficits as well, and different needs or designs, just as is so many things with aphasia. Start with the person with aphasia, asking What do you want to read? What problems are you having? Then use that as a guide to selecting an impairment-based treatment or text to speech treatment, or whatever. I think that's exactly the right approach.   Liz: The one thing the treatment we were talking about, phono motor treatment, in general, is a phonology treatment. The good thing is that my focus is asking, is it improving reading? I'm also extending it to writing. We do know at its core, it's a language treatment, so it is nice that it can be tweaked to serve the person's main interests. I think that's important, that we are trying to work on what people want to work on, but we want to make sure we're improving, if we can, not just one language modality, and we know that these abilities are supported by similar brain structures and underling cognitive processes. That's something else we've been trying to work on, being person centered and at the same time trying to maximize generalization - lots of pieces. I am finding now what's most motivating and exciting is trying to make sure that we're doing things that people with aphasia find important, and how also to keep the whole science moving forward in this way that's going to have functional, important outcomes. That people with aphasia are going to be able to do what they want to do to the best that they can.   Janet: Absolutely! But then there's the scientific challenge of how do you collect the data? How to best observe specific outcome data on performance measures, but also collect the person-centered data. How do you collect data that really can speak to whether you're having a success and whether this might be generalizable or transferable to another person?   Liz: I think it's important that we need both. I always say, and some of my collaborators may not like it, but if in the person reported outcome, a person with aphasia is telling us that they feel better and that they are communicating better in life, and those measures should not be optional, those measures to me, a critically important part of seeing this treatment successful. There are different ways to do that and different ways to capture their perspective. For example, if trained reading words moved this much and if the patient reported outcome change is greater, then I find that to be a success. If the reverse happens, I find treatment not successful. If my probes showed gain but the person with aphasia does not see it or feel it, then I don't find treatment to be a success. So, I think it's really important that persons with aphasia tell us different things, and we need to have many assessments in both of those categories. I think, when possible.   Janet: You're absolutely right. When you think about many of the treatments that we're doing, they are not necessarily easy, and they take time, and you have to stay the course. I think you know, I've been interested for a number of years in motivation and engagement, and what keeps people motivated and doing what they're doing. If you've got a treatment that you can see over time, small changes in your specific reading outcomes, but not so much of a change in the person centered outcomes, or person reported outcomes, how do you know the person is still really engaged and motivated and willing to slog through your treatment in order to get to the place that you hope they will? I think you're correct when you're assessing the importance of the person reported outcome.   Liz: Yeah, that's good. And then that's a whole other like measure in itself, right? The key of motivation we've talked about in some of the trials. The one person who didn't do very well, and just in our conversation, sometimes it for different reasons. That wasn't motivating for that person. There's that's a whole very important piece that a lot of us have a lot of room to improve in how we capture that and support that.   Janet: Which is a challenge when we're trying to devise treatments for, say, reading or anything that can be applicable to a wide range of persons with aphasia. Kudos to you for meeting that challenge as best you can.   Liz: We're working on it. But I do really think that it's changing. Sometimes I feel like there are impairment-based people and life participation people, and I don't think it needs to be that way. It's fine if we only study one area. We can't all study everything, but I think as a whole they complement each other very well. And so I'm just excited to see that it seems like things are moving in a really exciting way, where people who study aphasia in various different ways now seem to have the main outcome, asking is this going to help people with aphasia feel better, communicate better, and look forward to something different in life? I think we're all seeing that that's what we're supposed to be doing, and how we do it is going to look really different, and that's great. I think we're moving in the right direction.   Janet: Very well said. I think, and you obviously do as well, that literacy and reading skills are crucially important to individuals with aphasia in so many ways, such as life skills reading or pleasure reading. Acknowledging that we all have different skill levels and preferences, what are some ideas that you might have identified that speech-language pathologists can use to support the literacy and reading desires and activities for a person with aphasia?   Liz: Great question. I think my answer is very similar to the question about what can SLPs do to help support friendship? I think being person centered. You said earlier, right, we all have different interests. Somebody might say it's not one of my goals and I really don't want to spend a lot of time on this. But just having those conversations and person-centered measures and using supported conversation we can easily gather important information. There are some really good patient-reported outcome measures that ask about reading, so maybe use some of those existing tools. The Comprehensive Aphasia Disability Questionnaire has a nice scale that talks about different aspects of reading as well as other aspects of language. But at the minimum, I think finding a way, even just to draw your own scale and then trying to find out in their life, what are different activities where they want to or need to engage, right? Texting, email, restaurant. I mean, we think about it, we're reading all the time throughout life. So, I think finding the reading need is a general interest and then getting really specific is one way to do it. Another thing could be, as I mentioned before, our brain relies on similar structures and language networks when we are engaging in spoken language and written language. So oftentimes improving our reading and writing improves our spoken abilities and vice versa. So even if it's not the main goal in treatment, for example if the main outcome might be word retrieval, I really believe multimodal learning is important. If, after you've gone through what you want to do say writing it, having them repeat it, maybe copy it, even though that's not the main goal, and it's not slowing the therapy, if it's working for you and your client, then I really think, at the minimum, using written language to support spoken language has a good role. I also think the opposite can be true using spoken language to support written language. So I do think that it's important that we know we are addressing all of language, and that that language skills really do usually move up and down together in aphasia.   Janet: Well said, again. Liz, thank you so very much for joining me today in this fascinating look into friendship, literacy, reading and aphasia. And again, hearty congratulations to you on being named Tavistock, Distinguished Scholar. On behalf of Aphasia Access, I wish you well in your research and clinical efforts, and thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. At this point, I'd also like to thank our listeners for supporting Aphasia Access Conversations by listening to our podcast, including this fascinating discussion with Liz Madden.   Liz: Thanks so much, Janet, I feel like you could just chat with you all day. Thank you again for giving me a chance to highlight some of my work. Also I want to thank everyone with aphasia who has participated in my projects, all my students and collaborators, Aphasia Access and the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia. Thanks again.   Janet: For references and resources mentioned in today's podcast, please see our Show Notes. They are available on our website, www.aphasiaaccess.org. There you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials, and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. If you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info@aphasiaaccess.org. For Aphasia Access Conversations, I'm Janet Patterson, thanking you again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access. References Antonucci, T. C., & Akiyama, H. (1987). Social networks in adult life and a preliminary examination of the convoy model. Journal of Gerontology, 42(5), 519–527. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronj/42.5.519 Archer, B.A., Azios, J.H., Douglas, N.F., Strong, K.A., Worrall, L.D. & Simmons-Mackie, N.F. (2024). “I Could Not Talk . . . She Did Everything . . . She's Now My Sister”: People with Aphasia's Perspectives on Friends Who Stuck Around. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 33, 349–368. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00205 Azios, J.H., Strong, K.A., Archer, B, Douglas, N.F., Simmons-Mackie, N. & Worrall, L. (2021). Friendship matters: A research agenda for aphasia. Aphasiology, 36(3),317-336. https://10.1080/02687038.2021.1873908   Madden, E.B., Bislick, L., Wallace, S.E., Therrien, M.C.S. & Goff-Albritton, R. (2023). Aphasia and friendship: Stroke survivors' self-reported changes over time. Journal of Communication Disorders, 103, 106330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2023.106330 Madden, E., Conway, T., Henry, M., Spencer, K., Yorkston, K., & Kendall, D. (2018). The relationship between non-orthographic language abilities and reading performance in chronic aphasia: An exploration of the primary systems hypothesis. Journal of Speech Language Hearing Research, 61, 3038-3054. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-18-0058 Madden, E. B., Torrence, J., & Kendall, D. (2020). Cross-modal generalization of anomia treatment to reading in aphasia. Aphasiology, 35, 875-899. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2020.1734529   Purdy, M., Coppens, P., Madden, E. B., Freed, D., Mozeiko, J., Patterson, J., & Wallace, S. (2018). Reading comprehension treatment in aphasia: A systematic review. Aphasiology, 33(6), 629–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2018.1482405 Strong, K.A., Douglas, N.F., Johnson, R., Silverman, M., Azios, J.H. & Archer, B. (2023). Stakeholder-engaged research: What our friendship in aphasia team learned about processes and pitfalls. Topics in Language Disorders, 43(1), 43-56. https://10.1097/TLD.0000000000000302   Therrien, M., Madden, E. B., Bislick, L., & Wallace, S. (2021). Aphasia and Friendship: The Role and Perspectives of Speech-Language Pathologists. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(5), 2228-2240.   Resources   Stroke Social Network Scale reference and materials: https://cityaccess.org/tests/ssns/      Aphasia Access Conversations Episode #119 - Finding the person in front of aphasia: A conversation with Lauren Bislick

Sherri Cawn, a leading practitioner of the DIR/Floortime® model in speech and language development, explores characteristics, assessment, intervention of communication disorders in children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to share your feedback? Send us a message!Julia Kerrigan, B.A., current second year Master's student and the University of Iowa, and Shelley B. Brundage, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, Fellow-ASHA, join host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss a recent paper published in the Journal of Communication Disorders, 'Lived Experiences of Children who Stutter in Their Own Voices.' The authors begin by sharing a bit about their professional journeys into stuttering, research areas of interest, and then dive into discussing their motivation to further explore and document the lived experiences of young people who stutter where they emphasize the real need to increase this particular area of research within our field of stuttering. They proceed to walk through their design, findings, impressions, and areas of clinical consideration and application.Lived Experiences of Children who Stutter in Their Own VoicesJulia S. Kerrigan; Shelley BrundageSeptember 2024Journal of Communication DisordersDOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2024.106468FluencyBankJulia Kerrigan, B.A. is a current second-year Master's student at the University of Iowa and a Teaching Artist with the SPACE Community and Arts program.Shelley B. Brundage, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, Fellow-ASHA, is professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the George Washington University (GWU). She is a certified SLP and a board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering, and fluency. She is the co-chair of the tri-annual Oxford Stuttering and Cluttering Research Conference. Her research addresses clinical questions that enhance the lives of persons who stutter, by improving procedures for assessment, treatment, and clinical education in stuttering. Recent work has merged her expertise in assessing student learning outcomes with her expertise in the development and use of virtual reality technologies; this work has led to grants, publications, and awards for innovation. She teaches graduate courses on stuttering and research methods and is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence and mentoring. She is the co-author of two books, the seventh edition of A Handbook on Stuttering and Writing Scientific Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Welcome to the Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast! In this episode, we'll explore strategies to communicate with confidence, control your message, and remain flexible in any situation. Owner and founder, Bailey Massey brings over 15 years of experience in speech and communication training, accent and dialect coaching, and corporate communication support. Her Bachelor's degree in Speech and Hearing Science and Psychology plus a Master's degree in Communication Disorders coupled with hands-on coaching experience across industries allows for an individualized client approach with a high success rate. Bailey customizes training and coaching needs for organizations and professionals to successfully support them in meeting their goals related to speech and communication clarity, accent and dialect coaching, vocal projection, public speaking, presentation skills, non-verbal communication, internal communication, trust and relationship building, leadership development, executive communication, cross-cultural communication, and client relationships. Connect with Bailey here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/bailey-massey/ https://baileymasseyglobal.substack.com/ baileymasseyglobal.com =================================== If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends. Thanks for watching the Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com. Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers.  Request to join here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators QUICK LINKS:  APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-application GET MORE CLIENTS: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/client-acquisition-accelerator-pdf DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/ JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators

Interviewer info Lyssa Rome is a speech-language pathologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, where she facilitates groups for people with aphasia and their care partners. She owns an LPAA-focused private practice and specializes in working with people with aphasia, dysarthria, and other neurogenic conditions. She has worked in acute hospital, skilled nursing, and continuum of care settings. Prior to becoming an SLP, Lyssa was a public radio journalist, editor, and podcast producer. In this episode, Lyssa Rome interviews Elissa Larkin about her work to increase communication access within her hospital system via communication partner training programs and her dual role as a speech-language pathologist and bioethicist. Guest info Elissa Larkin, M.S., CCC-SLP, HEC-C is a Bioethicist and Research Speech-Language Pathologist at the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Elissa earned her Master of Science in Communication Disorders with bilingual certification (Spanish) at Arizona State University and completed advanced training in bioethics at Northwestern Medicine Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, subsequently earning national certification as a Healthcare Ethics Consultant. Elissa's areas of professional focus include applications of ethical frameworks to promote patient rights and shared-decision making in rehabilitation practice, Life Participation Approach to Aphasia-centered research and treatment, and interprofessional education models to increase communication access and equity for all patients. Elissa received the 2023 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement for her work in communication access education and advocacy.   Listener Take-aways In today's episode you will: Understand the theory behind implementing communication access strategies at the institutional level in a variety of practice settings. Learn about some techniques to effectively teach supported communication to colleagues from different disciplines. Describe the impact on patients and rehab professionals of communication access.   Edited Transcript   Lyssa Rome   Welcome to the Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast. I'm Lyssa Rome. I'm a speech-language pathologist on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, and I see clients with aphasia and other neurogenic communication disorders in my LPAA-focused private practice. I'm also a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group. Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources. I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Elissa Larkin.   Elissa is a bioethicist, certified healthcare bioethics consultant, and research speech language pathologist at the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. She's also certified as a bilingual English/Spanish SLP. Her areas of professional focus include applications of ethical frameworks to promote patient rights and shared decision-making in rehabilitation practice, Life Participation Approach to Aphasia-centered research and treatment, and interprofessional education models to increase communication access and equity for all patients. Elissa received the 2023 American Speech Language Hearing Association Louis M. DeCarlo award for recent clinical achievement for her work in communication access education and advocacy.   Elissa, I am so glad to be talking to you today. I'm really excited for this conversation.   Elissa Larkin Thank you so much. Lyssa, I'm very excited too.   Lyssa Rome  I thought we could start by having you introduce yourself a little bit more.   Elissa Larkin Okay, sure, as you said, my name is Elissa Larkin. My pronouns are she/her/hers. In terms of positionality, I am a white, cisgender, middle aged woman, and before we really jump in, I also want to acknowledge and describe the context I work in—as a very resourced research and rehabilitation hospital. I want to explicitly recognize that because a number of things I'll share were made possible by very generous mentors and institutional resources that I know are unique and not necessarily available everywhere. I'll try to offer examples from my experiences, and really hope there will be things people can pick and choose pieces from that may fit where they practice.   Lyssa Rome   Yeah, and having spoken with you about this, I think that there are things that clinicians in a variety of contexts will be able to take away. So you have this really interesting background in bioethics. It's unusual for people in our field, and I'm curious, how did you get there? Why did you decide to do that bioethics training, and how has that informed your practice?   Elissa Larkin    Thank you. What a wonderful question to start with, and I'm grateful for the way that path unfolded. In my clinical practice, as an SLP, I think it was often issues of justice that motivated me the most, alongside my patients and families. We have a very active and engaged ethics department within our hospital, and so I got to partner with the ethicists at times on cases where there were issues that arose for some of my patients with communication disabilities. I was fascinated by how the process worked and how much patient rights and preferences were really centered very genuinely.   At some point, I had the opportunity to do more training in a program that was designed for practicing clinicians—it was like, part time, over two years—arose, and I jumped at it. It was a wonderful grounding, kind of a broad overview and foundation of bioethics, principles and philosophies, theories, frameworks. And I felt like with each reading and class, honestly, Lyssa, I just there would be aha moments where it was like, ”Oh, there's a name for that thing that I've been experiencing.” Or, “Oh, this method of approaching a really complex, gray situation really helps make sense of it and gives you more of a place to start.” I think sometimes in clinical practice, we can feel really swept up in all of these complex things happening. And we want to do something, but it's hard to know where to start or how to even make sense of everything that's going on. I just felt like the clinically oriented ethics training program really helped me with that. And then the more I studied it, the more I wanted to do something with it.   It happened that when I finished the program, the ethics department within my hospital had someone retire from a part-time position, and so I threw my hat in the ring for that, and they hired me for the part time role. They took me on, basically, and provided me kind with an on-the-job fellowship for more of the clinical bioethics practice. And it's just been a really meaningful learning process.   Another piece I think that is important for me is that the program, the Donnelly ethics program here, was founded in 1995 by a physical medicine and rehab physician who's also a disability rights advocate. That very much informed the shape of the program and just how it was embedded in our hospital system, how it operates, and certainly how I was then trained. And so it just really aligned with my own philosophy as an SLP, and there's just been a lot of dovetailing.   As I said, the bioethicists on the team before I joined, none of them were speech pathologists. One has a legal background. There was a neuropsychologist, and then a PhD bioethicist, more academically trained. But they would partner with primary SLPs when the patient needed communication accommodations. Once I came onto the team, there was also a lot of openness. They really embraced my expertise, and I've gotten to work on most of the cases where a patient needs communication accommodations. And they've also really embraced learning these strategies themselves, implementing them. None of my colleagues go to consults now without a clipboard and a Sharpie.   Lyssa Rome Wow, which is just living the dream.   Elissa Larkin  Yeah, they're doing it. You know, they're really embracing it.   Lyssa Rome    You've talked just now about how communication access is a part of the ethics work that you do, right? And it's part of what you think about as a bioethicist. And so I'm wondering how that ties into the work that you've done in trying to broaden access within your hospital system, and maybe you could talk a little bit about what you have done to broaden that access?   Elissa Larkin     Sure. Yeah, so communication partner training has become really central to my practice, and this is a place where I think mentorship is a really important part of my story. I work in the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment. Leora Cherney is the director of the center, and she has been a mentor to me since before I joined the center, when I was a full-time clinician on the floor. She's someone who makes herself very available to SLPs throughout the organization, and so she provided guidance and support when I was learning about communication partner training and wanting to figure out a way to address things more broadly, as you said.   I think for a long time we have been giving our colleagues fish. You know, it's like we share a patient who has communication needs, and they ask us for advice and modeling to accommodate that one patient's needs. And we do that, and it helps that one patient.   And at some point I realized I wanted to teach people to fish. And so I started thinking about how to do that, and I sort of had this incremental from sort of like mini shoestring projects with a colleague on the floor. We both went to a Supported Communication for Adults with Aphasia, presentation that our colleague, Edie Babbitt, also a generous mentor, gave for our institution as a course. She had gone to the Aphasia Institute and done the Train the Trainer certification. And my colleague and I walked out of there and said, we have to do something like this on the floor. We have to do it more than how we're just doing it in a mini way, within the one hour we get for family education before someone discharges. We need to do something more dedicated.   So my colleague Julie Carpenter and I developed this one-hour training for patients and their care partners, family, friends, whoever could come. We offered a full hour just focused on that, and that sort of began my process. Once we had success with that. We could, I mean, you could see the care partners learning to fish. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn how to do it better. I wanted to learn what was behind these trainings in theory. And so I asked for support from the hospital to also go and do the Train the Trainer certification at the Aphasia Institute. And they said, “Yes, as long as in return, we'll ask you to also do a webinar for us.”   My grandmother was a career middle school teacher for over 30 years. She always said, “The best way to learn something is to teach someone else.” So I think the combination of preparing and delivering that webinar and going to the Aphasia Institute and learning just what I was looking for: the theory that was behind things, what they've learned over time, really from experts, and learning their system, helped really grow my knowledge and skills and sort of overall mindset of how to tackle this problem, this big problem, and maybe a bigger way take a little bigger chip out of it.   One of the things that in that Train the Trainer experience that really struck me was they challenged all of us to think about the communication environments where we practice and the systems they're in, and look for opportunities to embed communication partner training. And for me, when I did that, I thought about our clinical ladders program, or professional development structure. You know that clinicians kind of enroll in and take these different electives to grow their skills, but it's in this sort of structured, supported way within the hospital.   We already had a champion model, which is an implementation science model, a way of spreading knowledge and skills more broadly, sort of clinician-to-clinician. And I thought, what if we could have a champion program for communication strategies or communication accommodations? And I started working on that. And again, I went to Leora, who was very supportive and helped me think through how to structure it, and we pitched it as a pilot. In 2017 Edie Babbitt also mentored me in that program. We sort of thought through a curriculum of, how could I try to take what I learned from the smaller communication trainings I'd done and do it in a broader way and over more time.   So it's a year-long program for rehabilitation clinicians, and it started with four clinicians, a small group, but we had all allied health disciplines, represented SLPs, OT, PT, and all levels of care within our organization. We had two inpatient clinicians, an outpatient clinician, and someone from our day rehab program.   Throughout the pilot, the things that I really tried to center in the curriculum were practice—hands-on practice—opportunities to reflect: How did that go? What might you do differently? You know, we video record it, watched video recordings, discussed. And then also, opportunities for clinicians to apply it in their own practice and reflect on that too.   So, you know, the idea was kind of, I did the initial Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia training in the beginning, and that was sort of foundational. And then each time there were two months or so in between meetings, and their job was to take what they learned in the meeting and go put it in a practice with their patients. And they kept a log of just like once every couple of weeks, one example where they used communication accommodations with patients. And how did it go? What was the clinical context? What did you do? How'd it go? And that was the fuel for the discussion to start the next meeting off, we'd all come back and share. I borrowed a phrase from a community member with aphasia who runs his own community group. He always starts with thorns and roses. And so that's what we would do in Communication Champions. You know, “What's been challenging and what's going well?” And then also we would problem solve together. If someone brought a challenge and said, “I could really use help,” we would talk about it.   For me, something that was really rich about the experience was I learned a lot too, of course, especially from hearing how clinicians in other disciplines would tackle the problem. Once they have foundational knowledge, sometimes they approach something differently than I would as an SLP, in a way that I thought, “Oh, yeah, I think that'll work better. That totally makes sense.”   We all learned a lot through that part of the process. So I think the program gives that foundational knowledge. They put it into practice. Halfway through, their job changes to focus on mentoring others. So they do a case study presentation to all their teammates, and kind of launch themselves as a Communication Champion. So they're presenting about a patient, hopefully the whole team kind of knows, so it's really relevant and engaging, is the idea. And they emphasize the communication accommodations they used in clinical practice and the impact that it had. And then they tell their teammates, “I'm in this program, I'm learning these skills, and I can be a resource for you.”   And then the program really ends in helping the trainees get to a point where they're then thinking more broadly. We go from the examples of communication accommodations for patients with aphasia to other diagnoses, because people are in the program from all over the organization, we're working with very different patient populations, sometimes so accommodations for a person with locked in syndrome, accommodations for someone on a vent, all the different varieties, cognitive-communication accommodations, and then they think about the communication environment where they practice.   There's a wonderful article by Robin O'Halloran and colleagues from 2012. It's a metasynthesis of surveys done of various stakeholders, including patients with aphasia in an acute care setting and providers, as well as family members I believe, and collecting their input on communication facilitators and barriers. And then, you know, they came up with these six different categories. And so we read the article, and then the champions look at the environment where they work, because we know it can vary a lot across just one organization, which says a lot about how varied our patients' experiences can be, as well. And they break it down, what are the facilitators in my environment? What are barriers? And then we talk about it—is there any low hanging fruit? Are there any barriers that you could address that would be pretty easy to remedy, and are there any that would be really impactful to address?   And some of those trainees actually have gone on to do a project to address some of those barriers. We added a Communication Champions level two, where once you complete the program, if somebody wants to do basically an independent project, they can request support. And, you know, I provide mentorship if needed, I just support them however I can. And there have been some really neat things that have come out of that, too.   Lyssa Rome It's amazing. It sounds like you've developed a really rich program, and I'm curious about how it's been received, what kind of feedback you've gotten from the people that you've trained in the hospital.   Elissa Larkin Thank you. Yeah, every cohort I end with direct feedback from the trainees about the program, all aspects: “What went well? What could be better? Anything else we should add?” And one thing that consistently people have said is that the practice is really valuable. We have actually partnered with community members with aphasia. I've neglected to mention this is all over Zoom at this point, which makes it accessible for people from all parts of the hospital and for our community members.   So the practice, rather than role plays with each other, our community members with aphasia, Zoom in and have conversations and give direct feedback. “You did a good job speaking slowly.” “Could you write more for me?” Things like that. And the clinicians have said that is not only really helpful, it helps them build confidence, and it feels really meaningful. And the community members have been so generous with their time, and they have also said they feel like not only is it fun for them, they also find it meaningful to feel like they're training clinicians who are going to work with other people with communication disabilities and maybe make things more accessible for them. So that's been, I think, a really important part of the program, and I'm so thankful that our community members are always up for being a part of it and giving their time that way and expertise for that matter.   Lyssa Rome    What about other examples of how this has played out for the people who you've trained?   Elissa Larkin  Yeah, I have to say, clinicians have shared some really powerful examples of what this has changed in their practice, and some of them might seem kind of simple like I had an occupational therapist inpatient who worked on a primarily neuro rehab unit, mainly with stroke survivors. She told me about this bathing session that she had with a patient with aphasia, and she was so excited to show me all the communication supports that she had created ahead of time, to walk the patient through what to expect, what the steps were, what her expectations were, to leave room for questions, all ahead of time. And then she said they had this extremely successful session.   I said, “What made it so successful? What did that look like for you?” And she said, “Well, the patient did what I knew she could do. The communication didn't get in the way. It felt really accurate. And it was an important piece of her getting ready to go home, which was also really important to this individual. And so that, to me, was really meaningful.”   I've actually had some prosthetist orthotists join the program as well. So, you know, they're making braces for patients and other kinds of things, and they have had some great stories about just really getting it right. One clinician said that he was working with this patient with aphasia, and he was writing all these options down, and he brought all these examples to show her, and he said she was really particular. She was a very put-together person, and she ended up choosing this, like, hot pink brace. And when he confirmed, like, “This is what you want?” She was just all lit up like, “Yes, this is exactly what I want!” You know, that is meaningful in his practice. He was so proud and excited to tell me that.   And actually, a couple of other people from the P&O department did the program last year, and this year, they're working on making the documents that they use in their department more accessible. So they've taken this on. Their manager totally is supporting it, and I'm kind of just supporting them. So to me, those are the signs that make me feel really hopeful, that the champion part of it is working. You know, I wouldn't even know that those barriers are there. That's not my field of practice, and for them to not only identify these issues, but start to feel like they can address them and improve things for their patients, and then have examples where it works. It's just been really exciting and rewarding.   Lyssa Rome It's amazing to think about, sort of the ripples out from the work that you're doing within the hospital, and then also, ultimately, to patients and people who are in very vulnerable… I mean, you give the OT example choosing a brace, those experiences are so central for patients, and to be able to have such a broad impact by training people from so many different departments is really amazing.   Elissa Larkin    Thank you. And you know, just listening to how you put that, it made me think about again, some of the ethics terms that now bubble up for me are dignity. There was so much dignity preserved there and even uplifted for that patient during her bathing session. The personhood.  The autonomy. And getting your brace exactly how you want it—if you're going to wear this every day, that's a big deal. I think, to be seen, to feel like you can advocate for yourself and your own care, because you're working with a provider who knows how to accommodate your needs.   I think in our field, there have been leaders who have planted these seeds of talking about communication ramps, really looking at the parallels between physical accommodations and communication accommodations. That's another thing in the Communication Champions program: Clinicians have said, “That really makes sense.”   A PT shared—she practiced in day rehab—and she said, “One day, it just dawned on me that the paper and the marker that is my patient's least restrictive device for communication, right? I would never ask them to walk without their walker. Why am I asking them to have a conversation with me without their tools?” And those are the times where it feels like, “Okay!”   I love that word ripples. I feel like there's a lot of empowerment happening in all directions. That's my hope, that the clinicians feel empowered, that when patients are interacting with providers who have this knowledge and these skills, and it's that the patients feel empowered too. And we know that it's complex. It requires ongoing adaptation. And so I hope that in talking about communication partnership, when clinicians are using the knowledge they have and they're trying, patients can partner with them. That's what we want. That's how we want it to be. You know, we're working for them. And we're working together, hopefully.   Lyssa Rome  Well, as you're describing that, it becomes so clear to me how ethics, how justice, and how access, are so deeply intertwined. So it's really clear that in both the ethics programs, and your work as a bioethicist in your hospital system, and the Communication Champions program, you're implementing those ideas, those sort of foundational values that I also hope are central to my practice. I mean, I think it's definitely something that I aspire to. And it's really impressive to me how you've put them into practice.   Elissa Larkin     Oh, thank you. I aspire to them too. Every day. All of this is nothing if not humbling, which is where we want to operate from anyway. Yeah, I'm thinking of one more little story. It might make me emotional to talk about it.   Lyssa Rome Take your time.   Elissa Larkin Yeah, thank you. It's a happy story. It's just… We have a program in our hospital for patients with locked-in syndrome, who've had brain stem strokes and the majority of whom are totally dependent communicators, mainly communicating with their eye movements, right? And I got to meet a patient with locked-in syndrome somewhat recently, who had a complex situation where he hadn't appointed a power of attorney for finances, and at that point he really needed someone to be able to help with those things.   We were asked to do a capacity assessment to see if he could appoint someone. Normally, we don't actually do financial power of attorney, but this was a disability rights issue. It was like, if we can't do it here, then he's not going to probably have another opportunity where the resources are there to complete it. So I partnered with a neuropsychologist who hadn't worked with people with locked-in syndrome before, but she was very familiar with the assessment process, and we were really careful about how we planned the questions and the structure and the flow to give this person his best shot at demonstrating capacity.   In the beginning, I was doing all of the communication with him and the spelling and the choices. But the neuropsychologist—we met with him three times—and by the third time, she held the board and was asking questions directly and helping spell things out. She actually, at times, I think, had a better angle for his eye movements. And it was just, he was just right on. They were in sync, and he totally demonstrated capacity. He indicated who he wanted, and had very clear rationale.   And so when we told him it was clear and he was going to be able to complete this and our team would help him do this and put it in place, he just let out the biggest sigh. And you know, in terms of communication that said so much. You can imagine all the other ways that could have gone, and what an impact that would have on that individual's life, who absolutely deserves to be able to choose who they want to help was such an important thing. And you know, we thanked him for working so hard to communicate with us and being so patient as we learned his communication system. And then he also had a smile, like he was able to just do this spontaneous smile.   You know, those two pieces of communication were just really meaningful. And after a debriefing with my colleague, she said she felt like she learned so much. She feels empowered to use communication accommodations, to reach out if she's working with someone who has different needs and she isn't sure. And that's how I want it to be. That's what I hope for. I hope everybody in the hospital, at some point, has access to training like this. Our security guards, they totally want to be able to do the same thing, right? Admissions folks. Everybody, wants to get to know our patients, to communicate with them in an equitable way. And I do think that having access to training is the answer, and having it tailored.   Lyssa Rome    What a moving story and how fulfilling that must be—both for the clinicians in other disciplines and SLPs too, I guess, who have learned how to provide access. It makes me wonder, as you think about what you've learned from having done this work, what would you like listeners to take away from having heard about the work that you've been doing?   Elissa Larkin    Well, my first thought is you're probably already doing more than you are giving yourself credit for. I think advocacy is kind of built into our practice in some beautiful ways. And I also think everyone should maybe do that same exercise that the Aphasia Institute folks suggested: thinking about the communication environment where we work, and thinking about the systems that are in place, and where there might be opportunities to offer our expertise.   I think that there have been a number of times where colleagues of mine have been so receptive. And, you know, I think there's a lot of trust already between us, the folks that we work with. And so I think if we can find opportunities to offer communication, accommodation, mentorship.   I also think the other piece that I've learned that is so important is—and this is in literature, too, I just have found it to be very true in practice—is tailoring. I have done communication partner training for our campus security, campus safety team. And I used very different examples for them. I talked to them first about when this comes up, what it looks like. It's got to be relatable. And I think that part of the brilliance of the SCA model and other models too, that include role play, is giving people a chance to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who has a communication disability makes all the difference. Then you get it, “Oh, that was really hard. And if I can make that easier for someone, I want to.” And then you got them. Then they're listening. Then they want those strategies. They want to learn the accommodations.   So I think offering our expertise, tailoring, and I think also, thinking about what scope feels reasonable. I talked about teaching people to fish. I also think giving people fish is really important—don't get me wrong.   I worked with a chaplain team also, and one of the chaplains said to me… I asked him, “Do you have any advice if colleagues of mine want to provide communication training to their spiritual care colleagues?” And he said, “You know, I would start with a shared patient and one chaplain, and then get that person to convince their colleagues to listen. And, you know, maybe you can give them some certain tools, or you could just even meet with them.” But I think all those small steps of bridge-building can be really impactful.   I've been thinking a lot about just disability rights history, and I think communication access is at a certain point in its evolution in terms of awareness. And I think all of us can contribute to raising that. It's going to take time and just a whole lot of us chipping away as we can, growing, learning, along with people with lived experiences, and advocating together.   Lyssa Rome    Well I hate to stop the conversation, but that's a really great note to end on. I just really appreciate your sharing these really powerful stories with us, knowing that, I think clinicians in a really broad variety of clinical settings can take some of this and put it into practice so that we can also bring justice and access to the people that we're working with.   Elissa Larkin    Thank you. I agree.   Lyssa Rome Elissa Larkin, it has been so great to talk with you. Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us.   Elissa Larkin     It's been a pleasure to talk with you, Lyssa. Thank you for the opportunity.   Lyssa Rome  And thanks also to our listeners. For the references and resources mentioned in today's show, please see our show notes. They're available on our website, www.aphasiaaccess.org. There, you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials, and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. If you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info@aphasiaaccess.org. Thanks again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access. For Aphasia Access Conversations. I'm Lyssa Rome.   SRAlab Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment link: https://www.sralab.org/research/labs/center-aphasia-research-treatment SRAlab Donnelley Ethics Program link: https://www.sralab.org/services/donnelley-ethics-program Leora Cherney was awarded the 2023 Aphasia Access (inaugural) Sandra O. Glista Mentorship Award (alongside the amazing Robin Pollens) Aphasia Institute Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCA) training Dr. O'Halloran's article: O'Halloran, R., Grohn, B., & Worrall, L. (2012). Environmental factors that influence communication for patients with a communication disability in acute hospital stroke units: a qualitative metasynthesis. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 93(1), S77-S85. Dr. O'Halloran's related tool: https://www.pluralpublishing.com/publications/inpatient-functional-communication-interview-screening-assessment-and-intervention The Communication Environment Survey Tool (CEST) The CEST is Copyrighted. You are welcome to use, copy and distribute the CEST for clinical and/or academic purposes, with the following restrictions: You may not retitle the tool or remove or obscure the SRAlab name or logo, copyright notation or the reference information. You may not state or imply ownership or authorship of the CEST, apply your organization's name or logo to the tool, or charge fees for access to the tool. You may not modify, enhance or otherwise create derivative works of the CEST without the written permission of SRAlab. If you wish to post the CEST on a clinic or academic intranet, please contact our legal counsel at econway@sralab.org for permission to do so.

Welcome to the  Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast! In this episode,  we'll dive into the financial lessons that aren't always taught but are crucial for success. Sharon grew up without much, as the oldest of five kids, which still influences her maternal thinking. She attended community college for two years while working two jobs to afford it. Sharon then transferred to Fresno State in California, managing to continue her studies with the help of two jobs. She graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication Disorders and moved to Oregon for graduate school, where she earned credentials as a speech-language pathologist. After a decade, Sharon started a staffing company in pediatric therapies, growing it to 100 employees and a multi-state operation before deciding to sell. Now retired, Sharon focuses on her passion for personal financial education and child development, promoting her book and taking occasional stand-up comedy classes. Despite being voted the funniest girl in 1987, she prefers a quieter life and enjoys being in bed by 11. Connect with Sharon here:  https://www.facebook.com/sharon.soliday.rolin.author.speaker https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-soliday-rolin-6a6aa210/ https://www.sharonsoliday.com/       https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-soliday-rolin-6a6aa210/ Grab the freebie here: https://www.sharonsoliday.com/journal/the-power-of-buying-a-car =================================== If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends. Thanks for watching the Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com. Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers.  Request to join here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators QUICK LINKS:  APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-application GET MORE CLIENTS: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/client-acquisition-accelerator-pdf DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/ JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators

Dr. Mary Barbera reviews new research and gives a critical analysis of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP), going over its definition and implications for children with autism. Dr. Barbera discusses what she has learned about the Natural Language Acquisition Protocol (NLA) teaching methods for GLP and evaluates whether these are the best approaches. 

PhD Platform:Innovative Evidence-Based Assessment and Treatment of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia and Communication Disorders in Infants and Young Children at High Risk of Cerebral Palsy.Recorded live at AusACPDM from the main exhibition hall - the pod is a little noisier than the regular episodes but it does make it feel like you're right here with us in Cairns North Queensland!

Welcome to this Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast, a series of conversations about aphasia, the LPAA model, and aphasia programs that follow this model. My name is Janet Patterson. I am a Research Speech-Language Pathologist at the VA Northern California Healthcare System in Martinez, California, and a member of the Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast Working Group. Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their efforts in engaging with persons with aphasia and their families through a variety of educational materials and resources. I am the host for our episode that will feature Lauren Bislick, in which you will hear about friendship, yoga, mental imagery and aphasia. These Show Notes accompany the conversation with Lauren but are not a verbatim transcript.   In today's episode you will hear about: the value of friendship in our lives and Mission SPEAK, ideas for creating an accessible yoga program for person with aphasia, and the value of mental imagery.  Dr. Janet Patterson: Welcome to this edition of Aphasia Access Conversations, a series of conversations about the LPAA model and aphasia programs that follow this model. My name is Janet Patterson, and I'm a research speech language pathologist at the VA Northern California Healthcare System in Martinez, California. Today I am delighted to be speaking with Dr. Lauren Bislick, a newly minted Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Lauren is also the director of the UCF Aphasia House, and the director of the Aphasia and Related Conditions Research Lab. Across her work efforts, Lauren investigates the diagnosis and treatment of acquired apraxia of speech and aphasia, the value of mindful body practices such as yoga, friendship development, and interprofessional education and practice.    In 2023, Lauren was named a Distinguished Scholar USA by the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia UK. The Tavistock Trust aims to help improve the quality of life for those with aphasia, their families and care partners by addressing research capacity related to quality-of-life issues in aphasia. Congratulations on receiving this honor, Lauren. Aphasia Access collaborates with the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia in selecting the awardees and is pleased to have the opportunity to discuss their work and the influence of the Tavistock award.    Welcome Lauren, to Aphasia Access Conversations.   Dr. Lauren Bislick: Thank you, Janet, and thank you Aphasia Access for having me. Also thank you to the Tavistock Trust for the review team for nominating me and for selecting me. I'm truly very honored to be a recipient of this award.   Janet: It's a well-deserved award. Lauren, as we said, you were named a Tavistock Trust, Distinguished Scholar USA for 2023. You join a talented and dedicated group of individuals in this award. How does receiving the Tavistock award influence your clinical and research efforts in aphasia?    Lauren: First, I'll say again, I was truly honored to receive this award and was definitely surprised. The nomination announcement occurred at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference, and they didn't give us a heads up that the announcement was coming through, so I was very surprised. I think in terms of how this has influenced my clinical and research efforts as an academic, and as a clinician. I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling of imposter syndrome, and so receiving this award has helped me push that feeling to the side a little bit in some aspects of my work and of what I do. It's also allowed me to feel very proud about what I've been able to do. but more so through my collaborations and my students and the community that we have at UCF. It's allowed me to grow connection. Since receiving this award, people have reached out to me to talk about collaboration or wanting my help in terms of more of a consultant role. It's allowed myself and my lab to reach a larger group of people and has definitely supported that emphasis on quality-of-life work, which is not necessarily the training that I focused on when I was in my doctoral program. That's been something that I've come into in my time as an assistant faculty member or a junior researcher. It feels very good to be acknowledged for that and for these lines of work being supported.   Janet: And well deserved, for certain. Lauren, I would like to begin by asking you about your recent work investigating the role of friendship for persons with aphasia. I believe in the power of friendship and community during joyful times, and also during sad times in one's life. One of the unfortunate consequences of aphasia can be the loss or diminishing of friendships, or the communication skills important to developing and sustaining friendship and community. How did you become interested in this aspect of aphasia? And what conclusions have you drawn from your research?   Lauren: Thank you for this question. One of the things that I talk about frequently in both my aphasia course and the motor speech disorders for our graduate students, is how individuals with acquired communication disorders, whether it be linguistic, or motor based, is that their social circles get smaller, and we know that's a problem in life. Friendship is an essential component of quality of life, and as you said, whether celebrating the good things or you're going through a hard time you need those friends. This is an important area that I believe gets overlooked although now we have a couple of different groups looking at friendship and aphasia, which is wonderful. I actually have to thank Dr. Elizabeth Brookshire Madden for pulling me into this work. She is at Florida State University, and I like to call us aphasia sisters. We went through the same doctoral program, and she was one year behind me. We became very close during that time, both as friends, but also in the work that we do. [Aphasia Access note: Elizabeth Madden was selected as a Tavistock Distinguished Scholar USA in 2024.]   One of the other faculty members at Florida State University, Michelle Therrien, does work on friendship, but in the pediatric world. This grew out of conversations between Liz and Michelle, where they started talking about how we can look at friendship and aphasia. Clearly, we all believe it's an issue, but it hasn't been well investigated. That was shortly before the team Project Bridge Conference, which is really what helped initiate this kind of area of research for our group. Liz and I met at the 2018 Project Bridge conference and started facilitating a friendship group; she took the lead in this area. I got pulled to the yoga group, which we'll talk about later. Liz talked with a number of care partners of individuals with aphasia, and started discussing their social groups, and then friendship. Leaving that conference, she had some really great ideas about where to go next and what was needed in the area of friendship. From there grew her team of myself, Michelle Therrien, Sarah Wallace, at the University of Pittsburgh and Rachel Albritton, who's also at FSU.    In our first study, we did a survey with SLPs trying to ask if SLPs see friendship as being an issue? You know, is this us projecting, or is this something that clinical speech-language pathologists are seeing as an issue? If so, are we addressing it in the field? What that initial study showed us was that, yes, SLPs report that their clients are experiencing loss or difficulty with friendships. They also reported that there are barriers, there aren't assessments that ask about friendships, and there aren't interventions. So, while they see this as an important thing, and something that SLPs believe that this was within our scope of practice, they need a little more guidance as to how to support people with aphasia in terms of maintaining friendships, and then also developing friendships.    Following that study, we then spoke to people with aphasia and also spoke to caregivers of people with aphasia to get their perspectives and their lived experiences. What happens to friendship, immediately after a stroke? In that acute phase? What happens to friendship during that chronic phase? And then where are they now? What we found through these conversations is that many individuals reported that their friendships had changed after they acquired aphasia, both in the acute phase and the chronic stages. The same could be said for caregivers as they are navigating this world as caregivers. They are experiencing changes in their friendships. With aphasia being a chronic condition, this is something that people are living with for the rest of their lives. Friends can kind of be there in the beginning, and that acute care phase where they send messages or come by to say hello and show their support. As they realize that the communication impairment isn't going away, they don't know what to do and may get a little uncomfortable, feeling bad that they don't understand their friend with aphasia, or they don't know how to support them in their communication, or this problem isn't disappearing. This is me projecting, but I believe that's what's happening and what we're seeing is that people with aphasia, and their caregivers are reporting this loss. They also are reporting gaining new friends as they become ingrained in social groups. They meet other people with aphasia or care partners of other individuals with aphasia and develop friendships that way. They are also reporting smaller social groups, smaller groups of friends from their pre-aphasia life, dwindling for a lot of people. We think from our research what we're finding is that we really need interventions that target friendship maintenance and development. Some of that may be as simple as providing education, inviting friends into the therapy room. We do this with care partners, we can also offer this to friends to see how we are interacting with your loved one with aphasia. We can provide key tools to support communication; I really think a big piece of it is education. We've got to find the best way to navigate this in the clinical world. I think that's the next step not only for our group, but for the other groups that are looking at Friendship.    Janet: Lauren, you make some very good points in those comments. I wonder, do you have some brief thoughts or very specific ideas about how as clinicians, we can act in ways to optimize the friendship activities of our clients, or their care partners, recognizing though, that everyone has different styles and needs for friendship? It's like you say, we should not be projecting our desires and our styles and our needs onto our patients, but rather listen to them and figure out what their needs and desires are?   Lauren: Number one, right there, is listening to our clients, listening to their loved ones, what do they need? As I mentioned before, I think education is a really big piece of this. That may mean just having some materials as a speech-language pathologist that you can send home with family members that they can give to friends, right, so not just materials for that care partner, or the person with aphasia, but materials for friends. Here's something that will educate you a little bit on what aphasia is, there are some ways that you can successfully communicate with your friend with aphasia, here's what to expect. I think some of it is people just don't understand. They don't live in our world clinically, working with people with aphasia, working with people with communication disorders. For some, it's that they've never been exposed to, and so there's a discomfort with the unknown. I think education is huge. Also inviting friends. If you're going to have a counseling session with a care partner, and a person with aphasia, and their loved one, would they like friends to be at that table? Ask them. They may not, they may want it just for them and to be quiet and personal, but they may have some really close friends that they know they're going to lean on and want to be there. Opening the opportunity to invite other individuals and also inviting friends to support groups. Bringing friends to support groups, I think, would also be a space where friends then can observe interactions among people with aphasia, as well as their loved ones, and can have an opportunity to interact with other people with aphasia. So those are a few things that I think we can do right now. There are through many of the different resources like ARC [Aphasia Recovery Connection], for example, there are opportunities for education, communication partner training, and those are things that we can also plug friends into   Janet: Those are some very good ideas, Lauren, very good ideas. You have also worked to address the isolation felt by people with aphasia, and severe acquired communication impairment through your lab's Mission SPEAK program. Can you tell us more about this program, please?   Lauren: Absolutely. Mission SPEAK stands for Mission to Promote Socialization, Participation, Engagement, Advocacy and Kindness, for people with severe acquired communication disorders. This grew out of a lack of participation among some of our community members who had more severe communication impairments. They felt that they were just unable to be successful in a group setting, and tried some of the aphasia support groups, but didn't feel like they were being heard, or that they had equal opportunity, or were just frustrated by it. It didn't feel right for them. And so, I started thinking about, well, how can we provide an opportunity for individuals who feel this way, or maybe they're just more introverted which could be another piece to why they don't want that large group. How can we provide opportunities where they're still getting to practice communication in a safe space, develop friendships, and just be able to interact to combat those feelings of isolation that people with aphasia and other acquired communication disorders report. Mission SPEAK is a program where the students in my lab, both undergraduate and graduate students, some are CSD, some pre-med, some in their med programs, where they have the opportunity to meet with an individual with aphasia or another acquired communication disorder on a weekly basis to have a conversation. It's all via Zoom. These meetings can take any shape that the person with aphasia or the communication impairment and the student want to go with it. We have some individuals that meet to actually practice what they're learning in therapy and so the clinician has connected with my students to say ‘Hey, can you go over this homework with them or allow them opportunities to practice' and sometimes the clinician will hop on to Zoom as well. We also have opportunities such as one of my students and one of our friends with aphasia are reading a book together and so they do shared reading. In another pair we have a young man who really just needs interaction, so he meets with two different students, and they just have conversations over shared interests. Sometimes his mom is there to help support communication. We see as time goes on that as the individuals are getting more comfortable with each other, and the students are getting more comfortable, there are emerging areas where there are overlapping interests, or maybe the student is learning from the person with aphasia say, about sports, for example. We have one group where our friend with aphasia is a huge sports fanatic. He was meeting with two young women in our undergraduate program who knew very little about some of these sports and so he's taught them. It's really fun. Again, they meet at least once a week. We have one individual that at one point was meeting with three separate students three times a week. The friendships that form from these smaller groups are something special. For some of these folks it's intergenerational, for others they are peers. What you see is that the students don't want to give up this opportunity. I have some students who have been meeting with their friend with aphasia for over two years now. They've gone from their undergraduate programs through their graduate programs, and they've just developed a friendship and don't want to let go of it, which I think is phenomenal. This is something that I would like to see open up as chapters across different universities. Students want these interactions so badly and there are so many people with acquired communication disorders that need an outlet, and that would benefit from this safe space to work on their skills to just have fun. It really can be whatever they want it to be.   Janet: What a great idea. You've got my brain spinning. And I've been making notes about some clients I've been thinking about who would benefit from exactly what you're saying, just the opportunity to have an interaction and conversation. Wonderful.    Lauren, another avenue that you've been interested in is the practice of mindfulness, especially yoga practice. How do you see yoga practice supporting the LPAA philosophy of living well, with aphasia?   Lauren: Love this question. I have to backpedal just a little bit to answer it to say, I was never a yogi until I started my doctoral program. If you know me, I'm 5'11”. I'm tall and I grew up playing all the tall-person sports and pretty much was of the mindset that if you're not huffing and puffing and soaked in sweat, then it wasn't exercise or it wasn't beneficial. Well, I was wrong. In my doctoral program, I was dealing with imposter syndrome. I'm also a first-generation college student. Being at that level, and with all the different hurdles that a doctoral program offers, I was really feeling that imposter syndrome and anxiety that surrounds it. Somebody suggested starting yoga, and it's what got me out of bed in the morning, and really grounded me to face my day and feel as confident as I could in my skin during that time. After doing it for a few years, I just had this aha moment of, wow, I would love to bring this to the aphasia community. It's helped me with my anxieties and my areas of self-doubt and has just allowed me to also be present. I can only imagine for some folks with aphasia the anxiety that they may have surrounding communication, or just feeling okay with where they are in this part of their journey and that acceptance piece. Then I pushed it off. I said, well, I can't do that now I have to wait until I get tenure, I've got to focus on this very systematic treatment development program. I can't do more things.    Then in 2019 when I was an assistant professor, just my first year at UCF, I went to Project Bridge again thank you, Jackie Hinkley. While I was there, there was a small group that consisted of Dr. Amy Dietz and her friend with aphasia, Terry, who were at a table, and they were promoting yoga for aphasia. I was walking around, and I saw that table and I thought it was amazing. I went over there to have a conversation with them. Amy Dietz had just finished a small pilot project looking at methodology of how we make yoga accessible. And so I talked with Amy and I talked with her friend with aphasia, Terry, about their experience, and then more people started coming to that table; Susan Duncan, who is aphasiologist and a speech-language pathologist and a yoga practitioner, and then also a person with aphasia, Chase Rushlow and his mom, Deanna Rushlow. All the whole rest of that conference, we hung together, and started planning out the trajectory of how to bring accessible yoga to people with aphasia and to the aphasia community. Chase had experienced yoga, post stroke, and as a person living with aphasia with his mom, they shared their story about how it brought them together, and how it grounded him, how he found Zen. It was so fruitful being able to have these conversations with people with aphasia, and also their care partners, and them telling us what yoga has done for them. Not only did we all have our own experiences with yoga from myself, Amy and Susan, but then we also were getting this feedback from the rights holders, right from our patient stakeholders. And so this group moved forward.    Sorry, I had to backpedal there a little bit. Since that time, I'm so proud of what we have done as a team and what has unfolded. I was very fortunate to meet a yoga therapist named Karen Cornelius here in the Orlando area and together, we've been able to build an accessible adapted virtual yoga program for people with aphasia. It started as kind of this feasibility study with our own aphasia community group here in Orlando, getting feedback from them, figuring out how to make the language accessible, what visuals are helpful? What do people with aphasia want from a yoga practice, were there things that they liked, or things that they didn't like. We've had this really long but very informative process of delivering yoga from a yoga therapy perspective, caring experience, and then figuring out what to spend more time on and how to present things verbally and visually. Now I feel like we have this ongoing, strong, adapted yoga community that we're able to offer. We offer it every Friday at 11am. And we have participants from all over the US. We still have a strong group from Florida, from the Orlando area, but we've got people that participate from California, we've got folks from in the middle of the state, we've got people from Kentucky, we've got people from Pittsburgh, we have people from up north. And we also have a participant from Bermuda. It's amazing to see all of these individuals who would have never met each other otherwise come together so that they can have a yoga practice. For some of these folks, they participated in yoga before their stroke, and then had a really hard time getting back into it afterwards because of the language impairment, the language barrier really. Yoga is a very language heavy practice. The modifications that we've made have been really helpful in making it accessible. But then we've also brought in others that never looked at yoga before and experienced it for the first time and have heard their report that they reap the benefits of it. What we're seeing in both our qualitative research, and also in our quantitative research is that people are reporting reduced stress after participating in at least eight weeks of yoga, better sleep quality, and increased resilience. Some have discussed better pain management, so they feel like their pain, although it's not gone away, that they are able to go about their daily life without pain taking as much in terms of resources from them as it did prior. The biggest thing to I mean that sticks out is people are talking about self-acceptance. Yoga has helped them accept where they are right now in their journey. The last thing I'll say along these lines is there is something so powerful about having individuals come together in this group and there's conversation that happens at the beginning and at the end, just like you would if you walked into a yoga studio. I think it's that they're all working on a common goal, in this hour, and very little of what's being done is focused on communication, the effort is taken away. They're really just sharing a space with each other, enjoying that space, doing something that's making them feel good. And they're not having to think about their impairment. There's something really special with this group.    This work has now been funded by Orlando Health, which is our one of our big hospitals in the area. We're working with an interprofessional team and actually bringing yoga therapy into the inpatient rehabilitation program. This has been really neat, because Karen, the yoga therapist, and I are working with an interdisciplinary team of speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and recreational therapists. We'll have a group of individuals and all of these different professionals in the same room, and we're getting feedback from the professionals about what they like, what's facilitating this program for them, and what are the barriers. At the end, they will be the ones running this program, and they are very committed to keeping it up and running. We're also of course, getting the feedback from the people with aphasia and other brain injury survivors in this group, as well as their caregivers that are coming in and participating. I think now I can say I've done a good chunk of research in my life, and this area is the most fun and the least amount of work. Everything has happened organically. There has not been a moment where it feels like this really is work, or I don't want to do this. It's all just unfolded so beautifully. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this, I'm so thankful that Project Bridge pushed me into this, in a sense, when I thought I had to put it off for years and years to come. It's been a lot of fun. For our listeners, we have an ongoing yoga program on Friday mornings at 11 am EST, that is run by a yoga therapist who is amazing, and well versed in aphasia. I welcome people to join us.   Janet: I am moved by your story, Lauren, both your individual journey through your doctoral program and finding yoga to help your own self, and then taking that into the aphasia community. Several times you've used the phrase, ‘your journey through life' or ‘your journey of life'. And isn't that true? We're all on a journey, and it changes year to year, or decade to decade, if you will. It's exciting to know that you're finding a way to connect people with aphasia to a larger community that focuses on yoga, for example, rather than focusing on the impairment that they have living with their aphasia. Thank you for that. It sounds like it's a great success, and I hope it will continue to be so good for you.   Lauren: Thank you.   Janet: Lauren, another area of investigation, you're examining the benefit of motor imagery and home practice, for enhancing treatment outcomes in persons with apraxia of speech. This is a little bit different from yoga and mindfulness. But yet at the same time, it's about what people can do in their own selves, I think to improve their communications and improve their interactions with others. Will you describe this work and your current findings, please?    Lauren: Absolutely. And you really did hit the nail on the head because it does overlap a lot. It's different in that we are working on the impairment here, but the motor imagery piece grew out of what I was seeing with yoga. Many of our participants have hemiparesis, for example, or they might have apraxia of speech or more severe aphasia. When they are unable to produce a certain movement, or unable to say a certain mantra, we tell them just to visualize. If you can't move that arm that is fine, or if you can't move it to the extent that you want to that is okay, just imagine that arm moving. Just imagine or hear yourself saying this affirmation.    Based on what we were doing with the yoga I started digging a little deeper into the research on motor imagery and mental imagery, and that's where this idea arose. Surprisingly, there hasn't been a whole lot of work using motor imagery for rehabilitation of apraxia of speech. There's been a little bit of work in the area of stuttering, and motor imagery is used significantly in sports medicine, athletic training for professional sports, and musical training, and also rehabilitation of limb and gait, but really very little about speech. And so, I found a hole. My thought was maybe this motor imagery piece is a start, it's something that people can do at home without much support, and maybe it will impact their performance, either that day or in a therapy session a few days later. I wrote a grant and it was funded through the National Institutes of Health. The grant focused on looking at the impact that motor imagery has when combined with behavioral speech treatment. My thought moving forward was that I got my Ph.D. not only because I wanted to know more and wanted to create treatment programs, but I wanted to prove to insurance that healing the brain post stroke, or rehabilitation of speech and language post stroke, is not the same as healing a broken bone. It takes a lot more time. It's ongoing. In my time, I have not seen a change in insurance. In fact, I think it's gotten worse. So my thought into this is we've got to give clinicians and people with communication impairments the opportunity to work more from home. What can they do on their own to bolster the impact of those few treatment settings that they actually are getting, if they are treatment seeking individuals. The idea is, the hope is, that through motor imagery, what we're doing is priming the neural network. Patients can go home with targeted stimuli that they're working on, for example, and just imagine themselves saying it accurately, thinking about how the articulators are moving, visualizing themselves being successful. Hopefully, we're priming those networks. Then when they go into that treatment session, those networks are primed and perhaps we see a boost in performance. The hope, the long-term goal, of this is to build a home practice program that can be accessible to people in the comfort of their homes, easily and free of charge. The speech-language pathologist can also interface with the program to put stimuli into it, for example, so that it can support what they're working on in therapy. We're still in the early phases, but we just completed our first qualitative interview after somebody has completed the whole program, and they really liked it. I thought people were going to be bored with motor imagery because we're not yet allowing them to say anything. In the motor imagery piece, we really want to focus on what does imagery add, but they really enjoyed it. Our first participant, what he said was that at first he didn't like it, he thought it was weird. After we went through practice for a few weeks, he would come into the therapy session and we would do a probe and afterwards if I commented that he did really well on that today, or in the treatment session itself, or if I was seeing a lot of success with certain targets, he would say ‘the homework, the homework'. My thought was that he felt like the homework is helping. He was encouraging and felt like it was helping. We've only run a few people through, so right now, it's preliminary findings, but what I'm seeing is a benefit when they are going home and having this opportunity to practice. Even though it's not verbal practice, it's motor imagery, I'm seeing a change when they come into the session. The study itself is funded for three years, and we have the opportunity to provide free therapy for 18 individuals with co-occurring apraxia of speech and aphasia. I'm excited to see what that group data look like, but right now, and with just the conversations that we're having with the folks that are coming through, I feel very optimistic about this program. It will definitely need to grow, I don't want it to be only motor imagery forever. It's a good first step.   Janet: That is very exciting to hear. I look forward to reading the results as you have more and more individuals with apraxia of speech move through your program.   Lauren, as we draw this interview to a close, I wonder if you have some lessons learned that you would share with our listeners, as well as some Monday morning practices, that is actions that we can take on Monday morning to improve our interactions with persons with the aphasia or apraxia of speech.    Lauren: So I think first, and this is reflecting on what I do, I know many individuals out there, whether you are clinically working with the population, or you're doing research, you're in an area where you are giving. We are giving to support a community. The same thing that I tell our caregivers is to do something for you first, that will allow you to continue to give to others. What is something can you identify, something every day. When there's a little bit of something that you can do for yourself that just fuels you to be the best clinician, the best researcher, the best partner, parent, the many hats that people wear, to your community. That may look different for everyone. For some people, maybe it is meditation, for others maybe it's yoga, maybe it's running, maybe it's baking, everybody has their thing, but identify that certain something that gives you the energy and maybe the groundedness to serve your community.    One thing we've touched on, and if you're listening to this podcast, you know this, but listen to our friends with aphasia. Their perspectives give us so much more than we could ever pretend to know. I've learned so much from my friends with aphasia, even moving forward and in my research - thinking that I know what people want, talk to them, and then the realization this actually isn't an issue, this other thing is. Seek better understanding, otherwise, we're going up the wrong ladder and putting our efforts in the wrong area.    Building community through shared interests, that's what I'm trying to do a bit, and also incorporate student involvement; use your resources. With Mission SPEAK we really are trying to build community through shared interests. It's really neat to see how this unfolds. Even when you have a person with a communication impairment or a person with aphasia, who is maybe 30 years older than the student that they're meeting with, there are shared interests. And it's so neat, what they learn from each other and how this partnership grows, and this friendship grows. Then you also have peers, folks who have acquired communication impairments that are close in age with our students, and that takes on a life of its own as well. Try to match people up based on shared interests, or at least having someone that is really eager to learn. Also being open. Building community through shared interests supports what we've done with yoga. Here are folks that are finding peace and community and enjoying this activity together. It could be anything doesn't have to be yoga.   One other is interdisciplinary practices. When we're thinking about our friends with aphasia, not just thinking about the aphasia or stroke, when we're working with our more acute care friends, or those that are still on that rehabilitation trajectory. Stroke Survivors are dealing with more than aphasia, and I think sometimes we can lose sight of that. Making sure that there is an interdisciplinary team or you're offering interdisciplinary supports, asking what else do they need. I find that I've learned so much from my colleagues in physical therapy and occupational therapy. I work closely with an assistive technology professional who has just unlocked for me the world of supports that are out there that help people live well with aphasia, and also with hemiparesis. Supports such as for cooking with hemiparesis, supports for a computer adapted need, supports many things, such as positioning, seating, getting out there and playing sports, again, in an adaptive community. There are so many things that have happened, I think, over the last decade to make things more accessible for people post stroke. Educate yourself on what's out there.   Janet: Those are great ideas. Thank you so very much. And thank you, Lauren, again for taking the time to speak with me today about the Tavistock Distinguished Scholar Award, and about your work in aphasia.   Lauren: Thank you very much for having me.   Janet: You are so welcome.    I would also like to thank our listeners for supporting Aphasia Access Conversations by listening to our podcasts. For references and resources mentioned in today's show, please see our show notes. They are available on our website, www.aphasiaaccess.org. There, you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. If you have an idea for a future podcast episode, please email us at info@aphasiaaccess.org. For Aphasia Access Conversations, I am Janet Patterson, and thank you again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access.   Lauren, thank you for being with me today and congratulations on being named a Tavistock Distinguished Scholar on behalf of Aphasia Access and the Tavistock Trust. I look forward to learning about your future accomplishments, and seeing how you help people with aphasia and apraxia of speech on their journey of life. References   Madden, E. B., Therrien, M., Bislick, L., Wallace, S. E., Goff-Albritton, R., Vilfort-Garces, A., Constantino, C. & Graven, L. (2023). Caregiving and friendship: Perspectives from care partners of people with aphasia. Topics in Language Disorders, 43(1), 57-75. https://doi.org/10.1097/TLD.0000000000000301    Therrien, M.C., Madden, E.B., Bislick, L. & Wallace, S.E. (2021). Aphasia and friendship: The role and perspectives of Speech-Language Pathologists. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(5), 2228-2240. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00370  Resources   Aphasia Recovery Connection (ARC)        https://aphasiarecoveryconnection.org  Aphasia and Related Conditions Research Lab and Mission SPEAK https://healthprofessions.ucf.edu/communication-sciences-disorders/aphasia-and-related-conditions-research-lab/  Project Bridge     Project Bridge - Research Community in Communication Disorders

Welcome to The Relatable Voice Podcast. Today, we're heading to Central Pennsylvania to chat with Dr. Keith Nelson, an esteemed scholar whose journey began at Harvard College and continued with a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. Dr. Nelson's career bridges Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Communication Disorders, Linguistics, Art Education, and Cognitive Psychology. Find out more at: http://www.bemorekreative.com/

Join host Sarah Launchbaugh and special guest Jami Harl as they discuss speech-language pathologists' role in Aphasia treatment and advocacy. DISCLAIMER - The content of Studio 151 podcast and TU Communication Disorders Connection podcast do not represent the views and beliefs of The University of Tulsa and the Mary K. Chapman Center

Is it functional to work on parts of speech?Is sentence diagramming useful? How do we improve word-retrieval in kids with developmental disabilities, and is it similar to what we'd do for an adult with a brain injury?How can we make therapy academically relevant and functional beyond just getting a good score on a standardized test? I invited speech-language pathologist and Language Therapy Advance Foundations student Katy Wyatt to the show to share answers to these questions. I'm always excited to connect with people who are using the frameworks I teach; because I'm always amazed at some of the creative ideas they come up with to expand on what I've given them.If you're a Language Therapy Advance Foundations student, and you want some practical ways to use the tools I've given you, you'll really enjoy this interview. And if you've been lurking and considering whether the program is for you, this will give you an idea of what you'll learn if you do decide to join. Katy Wyatt graduated from California State University, Los Angeles in 2017, with a Masters of Arts in Communication Disorders. After moving to North Carolina, Katy has worked in head starts, homes, schools, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living facilities with clients ages 11 months to 99+ years. Katy is a board-certified cognitive specialist, and has also been certified in the SOS approach to feeding. Katy currently works in the schools full time with Kinetic Physical Therapy and Wellness; she works with students to improve their language, articulation, and fluency skills, develop alternative means of communication, and improve their social and academic functioning. Katy also serves as the compliance coordinator and SLP-Assistant supervisor with Speech Inspirations PLLC.In this conversation, we discuss:✅The parallels between therapy for aphasia and child language disorders.✅Why therapy focused on vocabulary and background knowledge can ALSO address executive functioning skills like the ability to self-question, generate and evaluate ideas, and plan/executive them. ✅Parts of speech and sentence diagramming: How to embed this kind of work into structured but contextualized activities.✅Syntax as a vocabulary skill: How to help kids understand what words MEAN and what words DO.✅Why it's impossible to define what vocabulary skills are “age-appropriate” at each grade level; and how to reframe the way you think about scaffolding across grade levels and varying student needs. ✅Generalization: How to focus on explicit instruction of content and strategy in direct therapy while ALSO giving students retrieval tools they can use outside sessions. You can listen to the entire conversation here. The Language Severity Rate Scale and Classroom Communication and Learning Checklist from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) can be found here: https://www.dpi.nc.gov/documents/ec/speech-guide/downloadI mentioned this conversation in this interview: EP 148: Unlocking success through sensory processing and team collaboration (with Maude Le Roux) Link here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-148-unlocking-success-through-sensory-processing-and-team-collaboration-with-maude-le-roux/Katy is a member of Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that gives SLPs and other service providers create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about the program here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/

Welcome to the thirty-third episode of Talk Spirit To Me. This week Jess welcomed Stefanie Ruth to the podcast. Stefanie Ruth is a #1 best-selling author who obtained a Master of Science in Communication Disorders in New York. She is a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist, Karuna Reiki® Master and Usui Reiki Master, ordained minister, spiritual life coach, EFT Tapping Practitioner, Akashic Records Reader, and intuitive psychic medium. She is a guest writer for Reiki Rays, Spirituality + Health Magazine, and Tiny Buddha and she has been featured in several magazines, including Medium, CanvasRebel, Nashville Voyager, BoldJourney Magazine, Shoutout LA, and Authority Magazine. Her book, ''Your Sacred Journey: The Ultimate Guidebook to Align Your Mind, Body, & Spirit," will help you cultivate calmness in yourself and your life. Since 2011, Stefanie has used her intuitive healing and psychic gifts to help people world-wide unlock inner peace, discover mind-body-spirit balance, activate their intuitive gifts, and elevate their energy on their spiritual wellness journey. In this episode, we discuss Stefanie's struggle with an eating disorder and how Reiki played a crucial role in her recovery when conventional therapy proved to be ineffective. We delve into the significance of energy on your health, emphasizing how factors such as diet, environment, and relationships can greatly influence your overall well-being. Make sure you listen until the end for our segment “Jade's Questions”, where Jess throws the most RANDOM hilarious questions at Stefanie! To connect with Stefanie and see how she can change your life, visit her on Instagram @live.and.breathe.reiki or on her website, www.liveandbreathereiki.com If you like this sh*t, follow Jess on Instagram⁠ @jessicalynnemediumship⁠ OR if you would like to book a Psychic Medium Reading you can do so ⁠⁠HERE⁠ **Please note: we do not own the rights to this music; featuring Infraction, Toys.

Join co-hosts Sarah Launchbaugh and Chloe McEachern as they discuss speech-language pathology and research with alumna, Maria Bustos. DISCLAIMER - The content of Studio 151 podcast and TU Communication Disorders Connection podcast do not represent the views and beliefs of The University of Tulsa and the Mary K. Chapman Center.

Kelly Smith-Vernon is a speech language pathologist with Next Level Speech Therapy in a hybrid role as a provider and supervisor for SLPAs. Kelly resides in rural, southeast Ohio with her husband on the family farm. She enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and caring for animals in her free time.   Kelly's education began with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Disorders from Marshall University. She furthered her studies at The Ohio State University, earning a Master of Arts in Speech and Hearing Sciences in 1998. She continued her education with Concordia University where she earned a Master of Arts in Educational Administration in 2023.    Kelly has worked in a variety of settings including public schools, outpatient clinics, hospitals, home health, long-term care, and telepractice during her career; however, has spent much of her time serving public schools both in-person and via telepractice. She possesses an enduring passion to ensure students and families receive excellence in instruction.Her expertise lies in treating children with articulation, phonology, child language, and alternative/augmentative communication needs, as well as mentoring and supervision. Kelly is certified in LETRS and offers extensive experience in incorporating students' speech language needs into system-wide MTSS programming.   NEXT LEVEL WEBSITE: https://nextlevelspeech.com/ KELLY'S EMAIL:  KellyV@nextlevelspeech.com   ___________________________   You can listen to this episode wherever you stream podcasts and at www.3cdigitalmedianetwork.com/telepractice-today-podcast   If you would like to be a guest on Telepractice Today or have a guest recommendation, please contact Todd Houston at todd@3cdigitalmedianetwork.com.    

Newly Erupted host Dr. Joel Berg is joined by Karen Masters, a speech pathologist with almost 40 years of clinical experience related to orofacial myology to discuss orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs), treatment plans, and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to patient care. Masters specifically delves into the importance of pediatric dentists and dental hygienists being familiar with OMDs and understanding ways to promote individualized care plans. Guest Bio: Karen Masters is a speech pathologist with almost 40 years of clinical experience. Karen attended Ithaca College where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Pathology and then Emerson College where she completed her Master's degree in Communication Disorders. Karen is also a Certified Orofacial Myologist through the IAOM and completed the requirements through NeoHealth Services to be awarded her QOM. Karen quickly realized that signs and symptoms of orofacial myofunctional disorders were seen in many of the patients being treated in her practice and as a result encouraged all the speech therapists working for her to pursue training and all have completed a 28-30 hour course in the assessment and treatment of Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders. Karen's practice, Chatham Speech and Myo (www.chathamspeechandmyo.com) in Chatham, NJ is thrilled to collaborate with otolaryngologists, orthodontists, dentists, pediatric dentists, oral surgeons, occupational therapists and other speech pathologists to provide the best treatment sequence for the patients they see.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the TU Communication Disorders Connection podcast! Join co-hosts Sarah Launchbaugh and Chloe McEachern as they introduce the podcast, explore the field of speech-language pathology, and share what to expect in future episodes. DISCLAIMER - The content of Studio 151 podcast and TU Communication Disorders Connection podcast do not represent the views and beliefs of The University of Tulsa and the Mary K. Chapman Center.

Today, we're digging into the complex and often challenging world of parenting emotionally intense children. I'm thrilled to introduce our special guest, Samantha Moe, a certified parent coach and speaker who brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. Samantha's work is nothing short of amazing, providing invaluable support and guidance to parents navigating the complexities of raising emotionally intense children. In this episode, Samantha sheds light on the intricacies of parenting emotionally intense children and shares practical strategies to help parents navigate this often overwhelming journey. From understanding the underlying reasons behind behavioral dysregulation to fostering a supportive home environment, Samantha offers actionable advice, including exercises and reflection questions, that will resonate with parents facing similar challenges. So, if you're a parent seeking support and guidance in raising emotionally intense children, you won't want to miss this conversation. Get ready to gain a deeper understanding of your child's needs and discover effective strategies to support them on their journey towards emotional regulation and wellbeing. Show Notes: [2:41] - While there are a lot of resources out there to help parents and families, that doesn't make it easy. [3:48] - Samantha shares a bit about her background and how she realized that she had not been prepared to help emotionally intense children. [5:24] - Oftentimes when parents see behavioral deregulation, they want to make it stop. But we have to understand why children are behaving this way. [6:59] - Samantha takes a look at the parent-child relationship from the parent's side of things and the home environment. She demonstrates an exercise. [10:41] - We have mirror neurons that reflect the state another person is in. If a child is emotionally intense, we feel their stress. [12:16] - If you want to lower your child's stress, you have to also lower the fight and flight in your own brain. [14:51] - If you can label a child's emotion in the moment, it helps them feel seen and heard. [16:50] - There are variations in acknowledging an emotion based on the situation and the age of the child. [18:40] - Parents make mistakes, but there are some common mistakes with emotionally intense children. Samantha provides some reflection questions. [22:07] - Parents need to also practice changing their own behavior to help calm their children. [25:00] - Reflect back on your own upbringing. Were your emotions labeled and regulated? [27:10] - Emotional intensity is not exclusive to autistic children. [29:40] - Samantha describes the pillars she uses to teach and support parents. [31:41] - Parents need to feel supported. A parent's mental health and well-being impact that of their children. About Our Guest: Certified parent coach and speaker Samantha Moe has coached parents on how to help their children calm, connect, and cooperate since 2004. She now provides continuing education, advanced training, and parent coach certification for family service professionals who support intense kids and their families. Samantha is the creator of the Mad to Glad Blueprint, a revolutionary brain-and-nervous-system-based approach to positive communication and parenting that soothes and even prevents intense kids' most challenging behaviors. She holds a Master's degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Minnesota and has interdisciplinary training in sensory integration, play therapy, and emotional integration.  Connect with Samantha Moe: Samantha Moe's Website Email: hello@samanthamoe.com  Links and Related Resources: Episode 72: Prioritizing Co-Regulation and Self-Regulation in Communication with Danielle G. Kent Episode 45: How Sensory Processing Impacts Communication with Jessie L. Ginsburg Episode 140: 10 Ways Parents Can Support Their Child's Mental Health Over the Summer Connect with Us: Get on our Email List Book a Consultation Get Support and Connect with a ChildNEXUS Provider Register for Our Self-Paced Mini Courses for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Anxiety The Diverse Thinking Different Learning podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or legal advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Additionally, the views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are not considered treatment and do not necessarily reflect those of ChildNEXUS, Inc or the host, Dr. Karen Wilson.

In this episode of the podcast, I am grateful to have two fantastic guests join me, Professor Louise Cummings is a professor at the Hong Kong polytechnic university, she conducts research on language and communication disorders and is the author and editor of over 20 books in this area. Kerry Davies is a returning guest, a fellow advocate and nurse who lives with Long Covid and the language and communication disorders associated. We discuss language and communications disorders, the research Louise is undertaking, how communication effects the person, their working life, personal life and how adaptations can support an effective return to work. We discuss the research Louise has undertaken to date, her findings and ongoing research in this area. I hope you enjoy this episode, take care and as always #onedayatatime Links from this episode: Office of national statistics:Number of economically inactive people due to long-term sickness in the United Kingdom from May 1993 to July 2023 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1388245/uk-sick-leave-figures/Full study article: Cognitive - linguistic difficulties adults with Long Covid: A follow up study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949903823000325Infograph: Cognitive - linguistic difficulties adults with Long Covid: A follow up study https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ymz_yNrwyQrcoE7lGRwfN_QC7D_6kKwX/viewMy Links:https://linktr.ee/joulesthttps://twitter.com/julieTa58407536https://www.facebook.com/livingwithlongcovid/https://www.instasgram.com/julietaylor9545https://amzn.eu/d/9v9MP4vhttps://amzn.eu/d/1QVK8zn - Return to work plannerhttps://amzn.eu/d/a1Safxc - well-being planner https://www.julie-t.com/ - Julie Taylor life coaching websiteLong Covid Clinic (Julie Taylor & Dr Binita Kane - contact; longcovidclinic@howellmedicalgroup.co.uk for more information

In this episode of the Ideas on Stage podcast we spoke with Nicole Lowenbraun. Nicole offers a unique perspective on why what you say and how you say it matters, because she’s equal parts speech-language pathologist and business communication expert. Nicole has coached and written for thousands of clients, most of whom top the Fortune 100, with a focus on helping clients find their most authentic and powerful voice. After decades of helping others master their expressive communication skills, Nicole realized the business community (herself, included) was widely neglecting the receptive side of communication – listening. She’s now committed to teaching the world the value of improving both sides of the communication equation and continues to nurture her own skills as a writer, speaker, and listener. With a Master’s in Communication Disorders, Nicole is passionate about fostering more inclusive communication in the workplace, especially with neurodiverse populations. Nicole believes that acceptance of communication differences and a commitment to constant progress is the key to a happier future of work, regardless of industry, role, or experience. Nicole lives in Brooklyn with her plants and is a proud “pizza bagel”: half Italian-Catholic, half Polish-Jewish. She puts the Star of David on top of her Christmas tree. In this episode we talked about how to improve our listening skills. Key takeaways: - The Vital Role of Listening- Roadblocks to Becoming Great Listeners- Why Active Listening isn't Enough - The Art of Adapting Listening to Others- One Question to Improve Your Listening We hope you enjoy it! ———————Links: - Adaptive Listening by Nicole Lowenbraun and Maegan Stephens: https://amzn.eu/d/fIjY3kv- Adaptive Listening website: https://www.duarte.com/resources/books/adaptive-listening/ - The S.A.I.D. Listening Style Finder™: https://su.vc/adaptivelistening Nicole Lowenbraun’s social bios:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicole_lowenbraun/?hl=en - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.lowenbraun - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-lowenbraun-ms-ccc-slp-22016432/ Maegan Stephens’ social bios:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maeganstephens?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maegan.stephens - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maeganstephens/ Recommended books: - Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B Rosenberg- If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? by Alan Alda ———————IDEAS ON STAGE RESOURCES Want to inspire your audience, increase your influence, and make a bigger impact? - Read the Confident Presenter book: https://amzn.eu/d/bKswMEe - To make the most of the book, take the Confident Presenter Scorecard to assess you presentation skills in less than 3 minutes, for free: https://ideasonstage.com/score - Attend the next Ideas on Stage web class: https://www.ideasonstage.com/uk/masterclass #IdeasOnStagePodcast #listening #ListeningSkills #AdaptiveListening #CommunicationSkills

This week we will discuss a topic that is of concern for millions of people: "Long Covid" and our guest this week is Grace Miller.  Grace is 20 years old, and lives in Iowa. Currently attending college, where she is president of the honor society and finishing up her gen eds. She plans on pursuing a degree in Communication Disorders and become a speech pathologist. Some of her hobbies include crocheting, singing, playing the piano, and learning.  Some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 can experience long-term effects from their infection, known as Long COVID or Post-COVID Conditions (PCC). Long COVID is broadly defined as signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue or develop after acute COVID-19 infection. This definition of Long COVID was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in collaboration with CDC and other partners. ​People call Long COVID by many names, including Post-COVID Conditions, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, long-term effects of COVID, and chronic COVID. The term post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC) is also used to refer to a subset of Long COVID. (Credits: CDC)

Join us on a reflective journey with Dr. David Luterman, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, professor emeritus at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. In this episode, hosted by Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, Dr. Luterman delves into his remarkable 60-year clinical teaching career. Starting with his own educational journey, he shares profound lessons and euphemisms that have significantly influenced his teaching philosophy.Discover the evolution of Dr. Luterman's teaching framework as he discusses his immersive approach to empowering students in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology to develop counseling skills in a way that empowers them to take control of their own learning, mitigates against the development of self-consciousness, and prioritizes non-judgmental, active listening.In the concluding moments, Dr. Luterman reflects on the legacy he aspires to leave in our field and the impact he hopes to be remembered for. This conversation will leave you reflecting on your own teaching styles, educational journeys, and (hopeful) legacy in a wonderful way.Related Resources:Sharpening Counseling Skills Course through Stuttering FoundationParent Counseling: Conversations with David Luterman Parts 1 & 2 through Stuttering FoundationCounseling Persons with Communication Disorders as part of the Virtual Learning by Stuttering Foundation SeriesCounseling Persons with Communication Disorders TextbookWorking on the Family Level as part of the Virtual Learning by Stuttering Foundation SeriesDavid Luterman, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is a professor emeritus at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where he taught full-time for 40 years and he has continued to teach the counseling course for 20 more years beyond that (not something many people can say!). He is the author of many articles and several books, including his seminal book called Counseling Persons with Communication Disorders and Their Families, now in its 5th edition. He has done several podcasts and videos through the Stuttering Foundation called Counseling People who Stutter and Their Families and Conversations with Parents. In addition to authoring many books, he is a well-known teacher, researcher, consultant, and lecturer. Dr. Luterman is a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and recipient of the Frank Kleffner Clinical Achievement Award (2011).

Interviewer info Lyssa Rome is a speech-language pathologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, where she facilitates groups for people with aphasia and their care partners. She owns an LPAA-focused private practice and specializes in working with people with aphasia, dysarthria, and other neurogenic conditions. She has worked in acute hospital, skilled nursing, and continuum of care settings. Prior to becoming an SLP, Lyssa was a public radio journalist, editor, and podcast producer. In this episode, Lyssa Rome interviews Teresa Gray about creating equitable services for people with aphasia who are bilingual, non-English speaking, and historically marginalized groups.   Guest info Dr. Teresa Gray is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Francisco State University, where she directors the Gray Matter Lab. Teresa's research aims to improve aphasia health care outcomes for historically marginalized populations. Her research interests include bilingual aphasia, the mechanisms of language control in aphasia, and the role of language rehabilitation and its short-term and long-term effects on functional communication. Her team is working to develop evidence-based treatment methods for non-English speaking persons with aphasia, as well as bilingual persons with aphasia. In addition, the Gray Matter Lab hosts identity-based conversation clubs. The goal of these groups is to increase quality of life for the participants, and the lab is starting to examine why these groups are so meaningful to the participants.   Listener Take-aways In today's episode you will: Understand why careful listening is important when working with bilingual and non-English-speaking people with aphasia and their families. Describe how speech-language pathologists can tailor their treatment to meet the needs of bilingual people with aphasia. Learn about identity-based aphasia groups. Edited transcript Lyssa Rome  Welcome to the Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast. I'm Lyssa Rome. I'm a speech language pathologist on staff at the Aphasia Center of California, and I see clients with aphasia and other neurogenic communication conditions in my LPAA-focused private practice. I'm also a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group.   Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources. I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Dr. Teresa Gray, who was selected as a 2023 Tavistock trust for aphasia Distinguished Scholar, USA and Canada. In this episode, we'll be discussing Dr. Gray's research on aphasia treatment for bilingual and non-English speakers with aphasia, as well as identity-based aphasia conversation groups.   Dr. Teresa Gray is an associate professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Francisco State University, where she directs the Gray Matter Lab. Teresa's research aims to improve aphasia health care outcomes for historically marginalized populations. Her research interests include bilingual aphasia, the mechanisms of language control and aphasia, and the role of language rehabilitation and its short-term and long-term effects on functional communication. Her team is working to develop evidence-based treatment methods for non-English-speaking persons with aphasia, as well as bilingual persons with aphasia. In addition, the Gray Matter lab hosts identity-based conversation clubs. The goal of these groups is to increase quality of life for the participants. The lab is starting to examine why these groups are so meaningful to the participants. Theresa Gray, welcome to the Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast. I'm really glad to be talking with you.   Teresa Gray Thanks so much, Lyssa. It's great to be here today.   Lyssa Rome So I wanted to start by asking you what led you to study bilingualism and aphasia?   Teresa Gray Sure, that's a great question. So, you know, really it was about curiosity. And so when, when I finished my master's in speech language pathology, I was working in Los Angeles at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. And I was working alongside a phenomenal group of speech language pathologists and a rehabilitation team, and it was just a wonderful experience. And a lot of our patients were bilingual. Some people were monolingual, non-English speakers. And it was just a situation where I was learning more and more about how to treat this population that may not speak English, even though a lot of our aphasia materials are based on English speakers. And in addition to that, I was curious to know more how does language present after stroke? If someone is a simultaneous bilingual versus a sequential bilingual, does that affect life after stroke? What about proficiency? What about language dominance? What about age of acquisition, all of these issues that go into language presentation—I was very curious about, and there wasn't a lot of research out there. And so, of course, as SLPs, we read the literature, and we really want to know, what is best practice.   So when I decided to go back for my PhD, I decided I wanted to go study with Swathi Kiran, who is a leader in the field working with bilingual adults with aphasia. And so I had that opportunity. And I moved from Los Angeles to Boston to go study with Swathi. That's when I really dove into learning more about cognitive control and what that looks like as far as like language control, and how that interacts with cognitive control and how that's represented in the brain, and what that means for our patients.   Lyssa Rome    And since then, I know you've moved into treatment. Can you say a little bit more about that?   Teresa Gray    Yeah, absolutely. So after it, yeah. So after Boston, I accepted a faculty position at San Francisco State University. And I continued with the cognitive control work. But that's when I realized, yeah, that's fascinating work. Because it's really better. It's getting to know it's learning more about the brain. And I think that's so important. It's so fascinating.   But I think what's also important with our patients is how does the rubber hit the road? How are these people, our patients and their families and caregivers, and the stakeholders, how are they affected by the aphasia? And what does that look like? And so that's when I started, I expanded my research agenda and the program, and I teamed up with Chaleece Sandberg. She was already working on ABSANT, which is abstract semantic associative network training. And that's a treatment that if you train concrete words, they get better. But if you train abstract words, they get better, they improve, but we also see generalization to the untrained concrete words.   So when she and I started talking about it, and you know, I bring the bilingual piece. And so we really wanted to develop a bilingual version of ABSANT. And the idea here is that when you treat the dominant language, it improves. But if you treat the non-dominant language, it improves, but you also see cross-language generalization to the untrained dominant language. And as we progressed through these this work, we really we started to realize that it's not just spreading activation that supports the cross-language generalization. There's this level of cognitive control.   So to achieve the cross language generalization, we're seeing that not only do you treat the non-dominant language, but patients also need to have intact cognitive control mechanisms at play. So the direction we're moving in is that if we have patients that come to the lab for bilingual ABSANT, we also make sure that we administer some of the nonverbal cognitive control tasks to get a sense of how they're processing that information, because that informs how we interpret the ABSANT performance.   Lyssa Rome It sounds like really interesting and important work. And we we've interviewed Chaleece Sandberg on this podcast. I'll put that link in the show notes. Can you can you say more about bilingual ABSANT and what you've learned?   Teresa Gray Yeah, sure. So what we've learned, like one aspect that we've come across is that just like, one size doesn't fit all is the same with therapy. And it wasn't before too long that we realized that this bilingual therapy isn't a great fit for all patients. And I'll tell you what I mean, like most bilingual therapies, we're treating patients within monolingual contexts. So you'll treat English and then you treat Spanish.   In my lab, one of our goals is we're really trying to be as inclusive as we can. And if a patient comes to us and speaks a language combination, let's say Russian and English, we think about do we have resources? I mean, do I have students available to administer the intervention? Can we norm the stimuli and I've been fortunate enough to have many bilingual students who speak a variety of language combinations. And being in California, most of my students speak English and Spanish, but I've also had Polish-English combinations Chinese-English, Russian-English and a few others.   What I'm getting to is that a few years back we had a Tagalog-English English speaking patient, and a very motivated student who wanted to administer bilingual ABSANT. And what we found was that during the English phase, it went as usual but during the Tagalog phase, both patient and clinician reported that it was just, you know, quite frankly, it was weird not to code switch, and it felt constrained and unnatural. And so really the logical next step was to think about, well, really to question, why are we delivering a bilingual therapy in a monolingual context, we shouldn't be doing something where it's more of a code switching based therapy that really fosters the communication that the patient needs.   So this was a few years ago, and at the time, we didn't have the bandwidth or resources to address this. And unfortunately, that's how research functions—it's really about capacity and resources. But now here we are, and last summer in 2023, we did start norming our Tagalog data set, and to really move forward with this, a truly code switching, or as some folks are calling it translanguaging, like this new, another phase. So we can actually look at what is most beneficial for these patients who are code switching in their natural environments. And so thus far, we have run one patient who has who has gone through this translanguaging experience. And we're quite fortunate to have two more patients on deck. And so we're pretty excited about this.   Lyssa Rome  Yeah, that's really exciting. And I think on this podcast, we talk a lot about life participation, the life participation approach is about making therapy as real to life as possible, and I think what you're describing is targeting therapy to the way that people actually use language. Whether you call it code switching, or translanguaging, the way we deliver therapy to people who are bilingual or multilingual should mirror in some way, their experience of speaking more than one language. Am I getting that right?   Teresa Gray  Yeah, absolutely. And I think it also touches on you know, I think it's important that we listen to our patients, other clinicians, family members, and if you're working with students, listen to your students. For quite some time, my students have been asking about non-English interventions for aphasia. And we all know that the majority of aphasia interventions are based on English speakers. But the thing is, if we're simply adapting English aphasia interventions for non-English languages, does that create treatment resources that are culturally and linguistically appropriate?   Now, regarding the cultural piece, oftentimes you can choose stimuli to be culturally appropriate. But what about the linguistic aspects when you take a treatment and simply adapt it to another language? And I think it's important that we stop and think about this issue. And I'm in a situation where my students are thinking about social justice issues within the field of speech pathology, and we're thinking about patient access to services, and what those services are, and are they equitable across diverse linguistic populations?   Lyssa Rome It seems like you're talking about really listening to and understanding and asking the right questions of all of the stakeholders—the students, the clinicians, and, of course, the people with aphasia. And, as we were preparing for this podcast, you talked with me a little bit, and I was really interested in what you had to say about, the importance of understanding client's language history and how they use language. And you had some ideas for how to elicit more information about that. Would you mind sharing that for a moment?   Teresa Gray Well, one thing I've learned to ask, and I learned this from Maria Muñoz, who's down in Los Angeles. One thing I think it's really important is how we ask questions to our patients and their families. And so rather than asking someone if they're bilingual, which can be a loaded question, and people interpret it in different ways, because some folks think, well, to be bilingual, you need to be highly proficient in both languages. But really, that's not the case, right? Like, we want to know if people have exposure or if they use a language other than English. And so rather than asking you, if someone's bilingual, you can say, “Do you speak another language other than English?” Or “Do you understand another language?” And then people really start to open up.   Another important way to ask questions is, you know, who are you directing your question to? Are you asking the person with aphasia about their needs and what they want to do, versus the families? Sometimes families will say, “Our 24/7, caregiver is speaking Tagalog.” Let's say you're Spanish, so they really need to speak Spanish, but maybe the patient wants to get back to their, you know, a club or something, you know, some social group that they're a part of, and they want to practice a different language.   So again, you know, the language history, the way we ask questions, I think it's quite important when we're gathering information so that we can develop, you know, these rehabilitation programs for patients.   One way that we're addressing equitable services in my lab is that we've thought with my students and I we've thought about going back to the original ABSANT. So original ABSANT was developed for English monolinguals. And we decided to push ahead with a Spanish monolingual version. And this is quite important in the United States. This population, Spanish speakers, are growing, especially in certain areas, of course, in California. We really wanted to see we're assuming that ABSANT can be adapted to various languages. And theoretically, it should make sense. But I think it's important that we have the data that shows it. And so we've in this past year, we've started collecting data to actually show that yes, it is effective, because I think as conscientious clinicians, and in our profession, we talk about best practice. It's important that we show it. And so, moving forward, this is what we're doing and we're quite thrilled that we have the resources and the opportunity to move forward with this type of a project.   Lyssa Rome It sounds like you're describing how equitable services starts with research that's more inclusive and is itself more equitable.   Teresa Gray Absolutely. And I think it also it reminds me of how do we capture improvement? How do you measure success? Because right now, when we're doing research, or right now, when we're doing research, and also clinicians out there in the field, we talk about data collection, right? How are you measuring improvement? And for us in the lab, we're looking at effect sizes, but sometimes these effects sizes aren't significant. However, the patient reports that they feel more comfortable, and they're more confident at family gatherings, or out in the community, and that maybe they won't ask for help at the grocery store, but if they need to, they're not scared. And I think that is so I mean, that's invaluable. But how do you measure that? And how do we incorporate that into our data collection? And how we report improvement to the funding sources? Right? Because all of us I, you know, you can't get very far when without talking about insurance dollars and how we measure improvement to get more services for our patients.   Lyssa Rome I think that that's, that's absolutely true. And I think we have to measure what's important to the person that we're that we're working with. I, I also wanted to talk with you about the identity-based conversation clubs that you have been working on at San Francisco State. Can you say a little bit more about those?   Dr. Teresa Gray Yeah, sure. So we do have a few different groups, conversation groups, through my lab. And one group, it started out as just a service to the community. And so we started an English-speaking group. And at first a few years back, we were in person, but we transitioned to Zoom once COVID hit, I was very impressed with my team, because here in California, when things shut down in mid-March, within three weeks, the group was online.   Around that time, maybe a few years ago, we started talking about a Spanish-speaking group, we do have many bilingual patients who are Spanish-English bilinguals, a few of these folks are more comfortable speaking in English. That's their emotional language, and it's their human right to use that language to communicate. So my lab put together a team to start hosting a Spanish-speaking group. And what we've seen is that there's just a different dynamic, when you're speaking in the language that you're most comfortable using. Jokes are different. Chit-chat is different. And we found that patients report a great appreciation for the Spanish-speaking group. In addition to the Spanish conversation group, we also have a Black conversation group that's facilitated by Black student clinicians. This group was started back in January of 2022.   Lyssa Rome And we spoke with some of the members of that group on this podcast and I'll again, I'll put the link to that in our show notes. And they were the people who participate in that group. Some of the members of that group had a lot of really positive things to say about how meaningful is had been to them to be amongst other Black people who share their experience. So maybe you can say a little bit more about that group?   Teresa Gray  Yes. So this group, it was started based on public interest. So one day in 2021, I received a phone call from a woman whose father had suffered a stroke. And she said to me, my dad is Black. He frequently attends aphasia groups. But the majority of people are white, where's the diversity? She was essentially asking, Where's the diversity? We know Black people are having strokes. But where are they? And what resources are there for people of color who have strokes? And of course these are important points that she's raising. And, in fact, leading up to this woman's call, my students and I were, we had been talking about starting this type of a group, but I wasn't sure if there was interest.   But that being said, we know when we look at health disparities, and we look at the data, we know that Black people have as much as a fourfold higher incidence of stroke than their white counterparts. But Black people are less likely to receive rehabilitation services. And that's just not right.   I have, you know, in this group, like you were saying, lists of people are so appreciative, and they're so interested, and they just really value this group. And I've had some of these patients who have said to me, Look, it was the summer of Black Lives Matter, people were getting murdered in the streets, people were rioting, and there was this national discourse going on about it. And they wanted to talk about it. But their aphasia conversation groups, were talking about the weather, or sports or the things that just seemed inconsequential at that time in their lives. And I think this just gets back to the importance when we think about identity groups—what they are for these people with aphasia, and how do we facilitate and coordinate them? And especially, you know, when the majority of SLPs are white and monolingual? How do we step into this arena? And how do we support and how do we, how do we move forward with these, you know, with these groups that are so valuable and meaningful for people with aphasia? Yeah.   Lyssa Rome I mean, I think it's incredibly important work. What have you learned about some of the best practices?   Teresa Gray  Sure, yeah. So I think it's all about, you know, being open and listening, but also learning how are you an ally? How do you ask questions? How do you make yourself vulnerable? Because if you're not sure about something, you want to ask. And, you know, sometimes with these groups, we've all left groups or situations where we reflect upon like, “Oh, I said, I said something—was that appropriate? I don't know.” But again, it's making ourselves vulnerable, and asking you to going back to the group next week and say, “Hey, I heard this, or I said, this, was that appropriate?” I think it's just being comfortable with this kind of discourse. To get there, it just takes practice, which just is, you know, going through the motions and doing the work and going through it and experiencing it.   Lyssa Rome It seems like that's something that you've really prioritized within your lab and with your students and in your work.   Teresa Gray  Yeah, and you know, and we make a point to talk about it, we talk about what it looks like, how it feels, and sometimes those are hard conversations to have. There's literature out there. There's different resources to lean on. But it's definitely I mean, we're all learning as we going as well as we're going and I think it's about having just being reflective, which which can be challenging. But I think that I think as we come through to the other side, we're growing and it's this bi-directional growth, whether it's me and my students, us and the patients, the caregivers, just having these honest conversations because I think our goals are the same, right? Our priorities are to improve quality of life. And and that's essentially what we're doing.   Lyssa Rome  Coming back to bilingualism, I'm wondering if you have any additional thoughts or advice about use of interpreters, or thoughts for bilingual clinicians? How can they best work with and support people with aphasia? Who are also bilingual? Or who are non-English speaking?   Teresa Gray  That's a great question Lyssa, because many of us, many of SLPs are not bilingual. And quite frankly, even if you are bilingual, you may not speak the language of that population where you are working.   So it's so important that we partner with our interpreters. And know knowing who they are at your site. And this is tricky, because when we talk about this, one recipe isn't for everyone, because all sites are different. The way interpreters are set up in one hospital differs from the next hospital. So you need to know your system and then figure it out. Because if you want to start a conversation group, and you don't speak that language, you're gonna have to team up with the interpreter. And, and I think my advice now is, you know, it's not just about asking the interpreter about that culture or language, it's about doing your homework.   So for instance, if you have Spanish-speaking groups, it's important to know what countries your patients come from. And this is valuable because holidays vary across countries, and even within countries holidays and traditions will vary. So you know, when these and these variations can feed into your group discussions. So for instance, around the holidays, people can share what they do with their families, what foods do they eat, how do they celebrate? Last year, we had a Spanish-speaking group, and it was around the Fourth of July. And so rather than talking about the US Independence Day, each participant shared what their country's independence day looked like, and growing up what their traditions were. And people really enjoyed that type of activities.   As clinicians, learning about cultures, is so important. I know SLPs, you know, your time is so valuable, right? Like, our caseloads are high, but we can learn bits of information, talk to interpreters, explore topics, and then have activities. And if we go into it with open, you know, just creating a safe space where we're all learning, I think it creates this environment where people feel welcome, and they're comfortable. It's a positive environment when you have an SLP, who may not speak the language, but you have an interpreter who does. And then the participants, of course, they speak that language as well.   Lyssa Rome  It reminds me of what you were saying earlier about the importance of careful listening to the people that we're working with, including interpreters, right, but also particularly the people with aphasia, who we're serving. Are there any other best practices that you want to share for SLPs who are working with historically marginalized populations of people with aphasia?   Teresa Gray  Well, I think at the end of the day, it's important that when we go into these environments, thinking about what materials are we using? How are people responding? And creating a space that if we have open eyes, we're open to suggestions. It creates an environment where people are comfortable to share, and, and then even when people give feedback, we can also improve our practice.   Lyssa Rome I think that that's at the heart of what we aim to do as, as people who believe in the life participation approach. So thank you for that. I'm wondering as you look ahead, what's on the horizon for you in terms of your research in terms of your work in your lab? Can you tell us a little bit about, about what you're working on now, or what you're looking forward to working on?   Teresa Gray  Well, one thing on the horizon that we're quite excited about is with our Black conversation club, it has had such a great reception, and the participants are so thrilled to be there, that we really want to dive deeper, and take a look at what makes this group so special. And so we're ramping up now, hopefully we'll be starting soon. I'm partnering with Jamie Azios, who's in Louisiana, and her expertise is in conversation analysis. And so we're teaming up to start looking at the Black conversation club, to look at the discourse and try to figure out well, what are the themes? What is the secret sauce? What is the special sauce that makes this group so powerful?   Because I think, you know, when when we have the when you know, when you have data that shows that, and we can write about it and share it with our colleagues, I'm hoping this will inspire and give more of a foundation platform for our colleagues to start groups like this. Because if you have a research paper out there, it's something to hold on to. And it's something to really say like, look, this is effective. And it's worth it's, you know, it's so meaningful and valuable that we should be starting groups like this and other places as well.   Lyssa Rome   Absolutely. I agree. And I really look forward to that research. I think it's so important. So thank you for doing that work. Dr. Teresa Gray Thank you so much for your work, and for coming on the podcast to talk to us about it. I really appreciate it. It's been great talking with you.   Teresa Gray  Great, thanks so much.   Lyssa Rome And thanks also to our listeners. For the references and resources mentioned in today's show, please see our show notes. They're available on our website, www.aphasiaaccess.org. There, you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. If you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info@aphasiaaccess.org Thanks again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access. For Aphasia Access Conversations, I'm Lyssa Rome.   Links Gray Matter Lab at San Francisco State University Jamie Azios — Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast episode (Second episode) NAA Black Americans with Aphasia Conversation Group — Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast episode Chaleece Sandberg — Aphasia Access Conversations Podcast episode Article: Beveridge, M. E., & Bak, T. H. (2011). The languages of aphasia research: Bias and diversity. Aphasiology, 25(12), 1451-1468. Article: Gray, T., Palevich, J., & Sandberg, C. (2023). Bilingual Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (BAbSANT): A Russian–English case study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-17. Open access: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/bilingual-abstract-semantic-associative-network-training-babsant-a-russianenglish-case-study/9B7FD1EDBDAB6FD042CD4714E1548005 Article: Sandberg, C. W., Zacharewicz, M., & Gray, T. (2021). Bilingual Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training (BAbSANT): A Polish-English case study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 93, 106143. Article: Gray, T., Doyle, K., & Rowell, A. (2022). Creating a Safe Space for Black Adults With Aphasia. Leader Live. Open Access: https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2022-0614-black-aphasia-group/full/    

In this episode, we start our 5 Part Series on managing problem behaviors.  This can be a major pain point in your parenting journey but with the right resources and guidance, you can learn to navigate the challenges effectively. There are 5 reasons that provoke problem behaviors in children that I focus on in this series…Communication Challenges, Environmental Influences, Neurodevelopmental Factors, Social and Emotional Learning Gaps, and Trauma or Adverse Experiences. In this episode, we are going to start with taking a deep dive into communication challenges and what you can do to support your child if they are exhibiting problem behaviors due to this area of concern.  Listen, learn, and grow.Resources Mentioned In This Episode:Visual Schedules and Pre-made Materialshttps://mightyandbright.com/*EMAIL LIST*Click here to join my email list for more free content to help you on your parenting journey!or go to strongermindsstrongeryouth.com/jointhelist*REACH OUT & SHARE*Email me your stories to share with others parents just like you @ jessika@strongermindsstrongeryouth.com *CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!!* & *TAG ME IN YOUR STORIES!!!*#jessikashields or @strongermindsstrongeryouthGet Social to Stay Connected!!!FB: @StrongerMindsStrongerYouthInstagram: @StrongerMindsStrongerYouthLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessikashieldsTo access more Podcast resources, visit strongermindsstrongeryouth.comThank you for listening!

Join Ocean House owner, actor, and bestselling author Deborah Goodrich Royce for a conversation with New York Times and USA Today best selling author Victoria Christopher Murray. Victoria Christopher Murray is the best-selling author of more than 30 novels, including the New York Times Instant Best Sellers, The Personal Librarian, and The First Ladies. In both novels, Victoria co-wrote with Marie Benedict. A native New Yorker, Victoria Christopher Murray attended Hampton University, where she majored in Communication Disorders. After graduating, Victoria attended New York University's Stern Business School, where she received her MBA in Marketing. Victoria spent ten years in Corporate America before she tested her entrepreneurial spirit. She opened a Financial Services Agency for Aegon, USA, where she managed the number one division for nine consecutive years. However, Victoria always dreamed of writing and in 1997, she pursued her dream. Find out more about Victoria Christopher Murray and her books at victoriachristophermurray.com. For more information on Deborah Goodrich Royce and the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com.

Adrienne Wallace, MBA, MS, CCC-SLP is the owner of Online Speech Services LLC, which provides online communication coaching, speech therapy, and resources for parents and SLPs through direct services and websites, www.TheInteractionCoach.com and www.TelepracticeTools.com. She provides consulting, webinars, online courses, and materials to help others add telepractice to their service delivery offerings. She has done several presentations at the ASHA Convention on effective telepractice service delivery and has served on the ASHA Convention Telepractice Topic Committee. Adrienne has a Master's in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Penn State University and a Master's in Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In addition to providing regular training seminars and consultation with other SLPs, she is an Adjunct Instructor at Montclair State University where she teaches courses in management and entrepreneurship. She is also the co-author of The SLPEntrepreneur: The Speech-Language Pathologist's Guide to Private Practice and Other Business Ventures, and is co-founder of TheSLPEntrepreneur.com and The Communication Collective.   Sonia Sethi Kohli, MS, CCC-SLP is a multilingual Speech-Language Pathologist, Communication Success Coach, and Cultural-Linguistic Diversity Consultant, who has served in a variety of settings/roles with extensive clinical and corporate experience. She currently owns and operates her private practice in the greater Chicago area which has two distinct divisions—a clinical division, Global Speech and Swallow, LLC, which provides speech-language/cognitive-communicative/feeding-swallowing/voice-airway diagnostic and therapeutic interventions to culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations ranging from infancy through geriatric, and a corporate SLP/professional communication training division, The Global Speech Suite, which offers individuals and organizations customized training programs focusing on presentation skills/public speaking, accent modification, leadership communication/executive presence, cross-cultural communication, interview skills, and more. She is also the co-author of The SLP Entrepreneur: The Speech-Language Pathologist's Guide to Private Practice and Other Business Ventures, and is co-founder of TheSLPEntrepreneur.com and The Communication Collective. Beyond presenting on SLP/communication-related topics through speaking engagements at local, national, and international arenas, she is a past President and continues to serve on the Executive Board of The Corporate Speech Pathology Network (CORSPAN), and serves as a business advisor for individuals and organizations. Sonia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology with a Minor in Spanish from Illinois State University and a Master of Science degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences (Speech-Language Pathology) from Rush University.   Adrienne & Sonia can be reached by email at hello@TheSLPEntrepreneur.com or on FB and IG @TheSLPEntrepreneur.    The SLP Entrepreneur website: www.TheSLPEntrepreneur.com and the direct link to the book: https://www.pluralpublishing.com/publications/the-slp-entrepreneur-the-speech-language-pathologists-guide-to-private-practice-and-other-business-ventures or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SLP-Entrepreneur-Speech-Language-Pathologists-Practice/dp/163550385X/.  _______________________________________ This episode is brought to you by Presence. Presence provides solutions to empower all who serve children with diverse needs. Professionals can expand access to services and engage students in new ways with our award-winning technology and network of expert clinicians. With 6 million+ sessions delivered, more than 2000 clinicians in the Presence network, and nearly 10,000 schools supported – Presence continues to set a new standard in teletherapy services. With Presence, you can work on your own terms and reach the students who need you most. We are here to empower you. As the leading provider of live, online therapy and evaluation services in PreK-12 schools, Presence offers more income opportunities, a large community of support, and flexible scheduling options. To learn more, please visit:  www.presence.com _______________________________________ You can listen to this episode wherever you stream podcasts and at: www.3cdigitalmedianetwork.com/telepractice-today-podcast If you are a content creator and would like to develop new webinars, courses, blogs, or podcasts, we want to work with you at the 3C Digital Media Network. To get started, contact K. Todd Houston, Founding Partner & CEO, at todd@3cdigitalmedianetwork.com

In this episode, I am joined by Sydney  Bridenstine. Sydney founded Olive Branch Speech Therapy, LLC in 2015 as a solo practitioner, and she now leads a team of amazing speech-language pathologists. She grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been practicing as a pediatric SLP in Nashville since 2009 in the public school and private therapy settings.  Sydney earned her undergraduate degree in Communication Disorders from Auburn University and her Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Memphis. She enjoys exploring new cities and countries, devouring fiction, and chasing her three wild boys.

Your voice is your unique indicator on how you wish to inch forward towards the idea of collective progress. It allows you to advocate for your passions, priorities and purpose.  Your unique identity in life is your competitive advantage to win. Because you see the collective diversity of thought endorses the idea of a robust debate of ideas.   Ones which are welcome with open arms and propels the notion of inclusion and acceptance of all.  According to the American Speech Language Hearing Association, approximately 9.4 million adults report having a problem using their voice that lasted one week or longer. Approximately 2 million Americans suffer from aphasia. Meanwhile in the case of children 5% of U.S. children ages 3-17 have a speech disorder that lasted for a week or longer during the past 12 months. The prevalence of speech sound disorders (namely, articulation disorders or phonological disorders) in young children is 8 to 9 percent, according to the National Institute  of Deafness and other Communication Disorders.   For  Dr. Denise Moore Revel she's a CEO, founder, an award-nominated, best-selling author, speaker, and personal development coach. For over 25 years, she has literally helped people find their voices. As a speech-language pathologist (therapist), her job has been helping her clients discover their voice. Dr. Denise founded The Own Your Amazing Movement has an extension of the message of finding your own voice and living your worth out loud. Through coaching, mentoring, and workshops, Dr. Denise empowers women to find their unique voice, live their worth out loud, and create amazing lives they love.  She joined me this week to tell me more.     For more information: https://www.ownyouramazingnow.com/ Facebook:  @Dr.DeniseMooreRevel Instagram: @dr.denisemoore  

I'm Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, Program Specialist and Director Emeritus for the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay and a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group. AA's strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources. I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Dr. Kelly Knollman-Porter, who is a 2023 recipient of a Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar Award, USA and Canada. She will discuss how her interest in auditory comprehension and severe aphasia led to her work on reading comprehension.   Guest bio Dr. Kelly Knollman-Porter is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Miami University. She directs the Neurogenic Language and Cognition lab, where her clinical research focuses on the development of supports and strategies for adults with aphasia to facilitate reading and auditory comprehension. Her research also explores the subtle reading processing differences exhibited by adults with aphasia through eye tracking technology. Dr. Knollman-Porter directs the Miami University Concussion Management Program, where her secondary research focuses on the development of assessment measures and treatments to manage the cognitive and communication challenges often associated with mild traumatic brain injury. She has over 30 years of experience working directly with adults with acquired brain injury. Listener take-aways In today's episode you will: Learn about how wanting to help clients with severe auditory comprehension challenges motivated our guest to pursue her doctoral degree after 15 years in clinical practice   Consider some of the challenges SLPs face in assessing reading in clinical practice using current standardized measures and learn about some advantages of incorporating a reading questionnaire and close observation for getting a better understanding of your client's individual reading style, preferences, and needs.   Explore the contribution of text to speech (TTS) to the dual modality model for supporting reading success at the book level and some of the critical factors to consider when implementing this strategy with clients.   Investigate how eye-tracking technology can help us gain insight to an individual's reading strengths and patterns. Show notes edited for conciseness and clarity Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  00:10 Kelly, let me just pause and say welcome! Thank you for being here. Kelly Knollman-Porter  01:02 Thank you for having me on the podcast. I'm so happy to be here. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  01:05 I am so excited you're here today. And as we talked, we always have a pre-meeting where we get to plan what we want to talk about in these podcasts, and as you know, I'm so excited to talk about book clubs and reading strategies. Thank you so much for being our guest today. Kelly Knollman-Porter  02:23 Thanks again, Ellen. And I have to thank you for your foundational work in the area of reading.  You can look back at a lot of the articles that myself or my research team have published and we reference you quite a bit. So thanks for your work also. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  02:39 Thank you for that kind, kind mention. I was very fortunate to partner with Dr. Roberta Elman to create the Book Connection at the Aphasia Center of California and be part of that body of work. We like to start with an icebreaker to give our listeners a chance to get to know you. I will open by asking you to share how the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar Award has or you think will impact your work? Kelly Knollman-Porter  03:06 First of all, I'd like to just take a moment to thank the Duchess of Bedford and Nicole Campbell from the Tavistock Trust for giving me this honor. I was just so surprised and excited to hear when I was given this award. I had the lovely opportunity a couple of years ago at a Clinical Aphasiology Conference to meet both of these amazing women. I've been so impressed by the work of the Tavistock Trust. It's not just work in the UK, they have spread this out across the globe. They really have done so much to not only help people with aphasia, but also help educate the public about aphasia, help us as clinicians get connected, and as researchers get connected in order to stay abreast of more recent research that's coming out in terms of helping people with aphasia. I am just so thankful and appreciative of receiving this honor from this great organization. But how will it help me? I can honestly say that right now we're in the process of starting a new study  and through the support at the Tavistock Trust, we are going to be able to provide funding to help support these research studies and hopefully get some of these funds back into the hands of our participants. I'm excited to keep that research moving through their support. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  04:42 That's great. That was a really nice and gracious recognition. Yes, we're so appreciative of the work the Tavistock Trust has done. How about if we open by sharing a little bit about your professional journey? I think you considered yourself a non-traditional doctoral student.   You said you returned to get your doctorate after about 15 years of practice. Tell us a little bit more about what you were doing when you decided to return to your doctorate. And what were your passions that inspired you to return to school? Not an easy decision, I would guess. Kelly Knollman-Porter  05:19 No, it wasn't. I can honestly say I wasn't looking for it. I was very happy in clinical practice. I worked in a hospital for 15 years before coming to academia. I loved working in the medical field. I loved collaborating with other rehabilitation professionals, dieticians and physicians. I was very happy working in these environments. But Miami University actually reached out to me. They were wanting to further develop their adult program and they said, “Hey, will you come to academia and share some of your clinical knowledge and also lead the Miami University Aphasia Support Group?” They knew I had always had a long interest in working collaboratively with people with aphasia and clinically. So they asked me to come. I have to admit, I turned them down a couple times. And then finally, I made the big plunge and said, “Why not try it?” I wasn't really seeking it out. Originally, however, I was reaching a point where I was becoming frustrated with some of the reimbursement issues we were facing clinically. When working with people with aphasia, I sometimes felt like insurance was dictating how much treatment I could provide and how long I could provide it, even though I felt like many people could continue to make progress. I just felt like my hands were tied, and I was restricted. That was frustrating to me. I have to admit, when I came to academia, I was thinking, what can I do in order to explore this further? How can I potentially contribute to the research base in order to provide evidence to show that people with aphasia can continue to make progress, not just months after diagnosis, but 5, 10, 15 years? Because as a clinician, we've all seen it, absolutely. We know that people with aphasia want to continue to actively participate in life activities. And they can, if given the opportunity and the support. So, when I made that transition to academia, I quickly made the decision to go back and get my PhD. Primarily focusing on clinical research, specifically with people with chronic aphasia, Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  07:52 I am sure that there are listeners out there who may be sitting on that fence as well thinking, Should I do it? Should I pursue this doctorate? I just want to acknowledge and honor the challenges of being a doctoral student, especially while also being the parent of young children, but I just think it should be recognized. I was wondering, what was the best advice you got from your mentors? Because I'm sure you reached points in that process where you wondered, was this the right thing? And I want to support listeners who are out there thinking, “Can I do this? Should I do this?”  Kelly Knollman-Porter  08:30 It definitely required a team. When I decided to go back get my PhD, I had a 10 year old and a five year old. That just requires a lot of work, going to things after school for them and keeping your family a priority, but yet still working full time getting your PhD while commuting. And coming back, a special shout out to my spouse, who helped me keep all the balls up in the air. My family came along. I had amazing support from my in-laws and my parents, in terms of helping pick up the kids when needed. But I'm not going to lie, it was a challenge. And there were times when I wanted to throw in the towel. I wanted to say, “You know what, this is just too much for me to do right now.” But I did have people that came alongside me, that kept encouraging me, saying “It's okay, stay the course, what you're doing is good, and don't lose faith.” I have to give credit to Aimee Dietz. Dietz was my dissertation chair and she was very encouraging, supportive, and understanding that I was a mother and I had a life outside of PhD and work. She respected that. It was funny. She ended up getting pregnant at the same time and had her child. So I think we kind of supported each other through that. But one thing she said to me that I always remembered because she knew I loved clinical practice. I was like “Amy, maybe I should just go back to clinical practice?” And she said, “Kelly, you realize that your research is going to touch more people then your clinical practice.” Not downplaying clinical practice at all. But she said, “Your research has the potential of spreading information not only across our small geographic Midwest area, but also across the country and across the world.”  Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  10:35 What a wonderful piece of advice. No surprise, what a lovely mentor to have. Kelly Knollman-Porter  10:39 Absolutely. I think I told you this before, there was one very difficult day that I was having. My family was sitting around the dinner table and the house was a mess. I had grading to do and I said to my husband, “I'm going to quit, I'm not going to get my PhD.” And my 10 year old daughter was sitting there and her name's Anna. And she said, “Mom, what would you say to me if I told you I was going to quit something?” Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  11:11 What a wise 10 year old. Kelly Knollman-Porter  11:13 And at that moment, I realized that people were watching and other women might be watching and saying, “Hey, stay the course, persevere.” I am proud enough to say that that same daughter just recently graduated from vet school with her DVM and I hope that my perseverance helped her persevere also. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  11:36 I love that story. Thank you for sharing it with our listeners today. Your doctoral work originally focused on the treatment of auditory comprehension in severe aphasia. I know that was one of your clinical loves. I want to recommend to our listeners since we can't cover everything today, your 2018 article,  we'll put it in the references of the podcast show notes, about intensive aphasia auditory comprehension treatment. Why don't you share how you became involved in reading comprehension? Because you started out in this auditory comprehension world, right? Kelly Knollman-Porter  12:13 Absolutely. Well, again, I really feel like comprehension is instrumental. There's been some work done that says people with auditory comprehension deficits, the more severe the auditory comprehension deficits, the greater risk of decreased success in rehabilitation outcomes. So I always had a passion for exploring auditory comprehension and different potential treatments to facilitate comprehension with people with chronic aphasia. But Aimee Dietz gave me that opportunity to do that. But it was interesting. During my dissertation process, I actually found out that my son had a pretty significant dyslexia. We kind of suspected it with him growing up, but then when you hit kindergarten, you really start to see the reading challenges kind of surface. And I remember talking with Amiee about reading. During that time, we were able to get my son connected to a great reading program that explored different compensatory supports to help facilitate any reading process, one of which was text to speech technology. And at that time, Amiee was collaborating with Karen Hux from the University of Nebraska on a potential reading study. And she says, “You're so interested in reading right now and you're interested in aphasia? How about combining those two loves, and getting involved with a reading study?” And the rest is history, that kind of landslide into a lot of research collaborations over the past 12 years that I've been involved with. But my son Eric did inspire that because seeing his success with text to speech with dyslexia, it made me think, why not text to speech with people with aphasia? What about that dual modality presentation?  Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  14:15 That's great. I also think you're showing us yet again, how often our personal journeys inform our research and clinical paths. I think that's a beautiful example. Reading has been repeatedly shown to impact quality of life for individuals with aphasia. They tell us that so often, but it's often challenging for clinicians to allocate the limited clinical time to assessment and treatment. Reading treatment takes a while to do so. I feel like I'm asking you to address the million dollar question here. But what are your recommendations on how to manage this challenge? And what are some of the challenges in assessing reading? I've alluded to the time, but why don't you elaborate? You've done a deep dive here. Kelly Knollman-Porter  15:06 Absolutely. And it is challenging because first and foremost, I find that a lot of our standardized assessments will try to tap into assessing the reading challenges, but it really only scratches the surface. I haven't found a really great standardized assessment that I can use and rely on that really helps direct my treatment course, You have to use a variety and you have to do some that you just make up on your own based on how exactly that person is responding. But generally, if I'm going to assess, I first have to start by having a really in-depth conversation with the person with aphasia or their care partner. First of all, you have to find out if reading is of interest to them, of course,and the types of reading materials that they like to engage with. I think about people in our Miami University aphasia support group. I have one individual who would read a novel a week prior to her stroke. I had another person in our group who said to me, “Kelly, you know what? I never read books.” It was not something of interest to him. You have to treat those two people very differently. You have to find out what their interests are. That's always where I start--with just an interview and talking with them about aphasia. And then I talked to them about their interests in terms of “Are you comfortable with technology? Are you not comfortable with technology?” I actually give them reading tasks. When I assess reading, I of course, start at the word level, and then creep up to the sentence level and add more complexity and length. But when I give them a paragraph to read, I don't just look at, did they get the answers correct or incorrect? I'm not only looking at accuracy per response, but how long does it take them to process that multi sentence information? So for example, if I gave them a four sentence paragraph to read, I watch them very closely to see how they're attacking that reading task. And that doesn't take that long out of your assessment time. I watch where their eyes are moving. I watch to see if their eyes are regressing back within a sentence while they're reading. And if I notice that they're really struggling, I also say to them, “Tell me, what are you having difficulty reading right now? Can you point to the words that you're struggling with? Can you point to the words potentially that you're skipping? Tell me about this process, and try to tell me how it's different from the way you read before.” And sometimes we underestimate what people with aphasia can tell us about their reading experiences. I have found that a lot of the people that I have worked with can be very specific about what they're having difficulty with. Now, there's always that small population that might not have the awareness. But it's still the majority of them that can. I was just working with a gentleman last week, and I was like, “Show me what you're having difficulty with.” And he pointed to the words that he struggled with, and that helped me understand. Are you having more difficulty with content words? Are you having more difficulty with verbs? Are you having more difficulty with articles? What is it about this process that's  making it hard? Because many times people with aphasia can read that paragraph very slowly and very carefully and end up with a high percentage accuracy in terms of performance, but if it's taking them five minutes to read a four sentence paragraph, it is too fatiguing, it's too much. And they're going to end up avoiding getting back to reading things that they want to read for pleasure. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  19:18 Right, because the burden is too high. Kelly Knollman-Porter  19:21 Because the burden is too high. I really feel like if we can look at these things clinically, we just need to take a little bit of time to talk to the people and actively watch how they're attacking that reading task. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  19:37 If I circle back briefly to the impact reading has on quality of life, your 2015 article does a beautiful job of describing the contribution of access to reading to the quality of life. This was a qualitative study that interviewed six individuals with aphasia to hone in on their individual reading preferences and supports. But before you describe these results, I'd like you to share with the listeners your reading assessment survey. You just talked about listening carefully and asking questions. I think that's harder than you're making it sound. But you've given us this tool that is an amazing springboard. Many of us probably have just informal tools, lists of questions that we've developed on our own over time. But in that article, you actually attach this beautiful, clinical tool. How did you go about developing this initial reading survey that you do? Thank you for including that in the article. That was wonderful. Kelly Knollman-Porter  20:46 Oh, absolutely. A special shout out again to my research team, Karen Hux, Sarah Wallace, and Jessica Brown. We spent many hours of our meeting time creating this questionnaire. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  21:02 But that's great, these great clinical minds all coming together, embracing this questionnaire, planning to put it together, that's beautiful.   Kelly Knollman-Porter  21:10 Absolutely. I have to encourage everybody to try to get to be a part of a research team. We're stronger together than we are in isolation. I have the utmost respect for each of these women. They have taught me so much. We each brought to the table unique strengths. All four of us are unique in our own special way. And like I said, I've learned so much from them. But we bring that when we're creating our research studies. We always start with a rough draft. And then we question each other. We say, well, I've seen this clinically, or I think about this from a research perspective. I definitely brought to the table my clinical experience in working with people with aphasia, but then Sarah did also, so too Jessica, and so too Karen. Just working through what we saw were challenges that people with aphasia might experience and what we've found clinically to develop that questionnaire. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  22:11 So, you created this questionnaire with a variety of sections that helps someone systematically go through understanding that person's reading preferences and strengths and try to get a sense of what their profile is, right? That's your starting point. And then you take it from there. Kelly Knollman-Porter  22:28 Exactly. What do you like to read? Do you like to read text messages? Do you like to read novels? Where do you like to read? How do you like to read? Do you like to hold a book versus do you like using technology? What are all the different ways that you personally like to read? I can honestly say one thing that we learned from the qualitative study, I know I'm jumping to that, was everybody has their own unique reading experiences. There's not going to be a one size fits all approach to the assessment or the treatment of anyone with a reading challenge. You will not find a cookbook approach to this. You have to do it on an individual basis. And if you do, I think the outcomes are going to be stronger. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  23:20 Let's circle back to that 2015 article, we'll jump back and forth. Could you describe some of the key takeaways from that study? Maybe you could explain why you think that dual modality model, which we started to allude to earlier with text to speech, is so important to supporting reading success? That's part of my takeaway from that 2015 article.     Kelly Knollman-Porter  23:45 I wish I could tell you that in 2014, when we were initially planning this qualitative research study that we were thinking about TTS. I was from a distance, but we weren't actively looking at text to speech (TTS) at that time. But one thing that my colleagues and I felt we had to do first, if we were going to explore reading research more, we had to go to the people with aphasia to learn what they wanted. So, before we took our own personal opinions about what we thought people with aphasia needed in terms of reading, we thought we should start with a qualitative study and find out what they wanted and what they needed. And you know what, that was such an important starting place for our research. Because again, we found each of the people that I interviewed had their own unique needs, but yet every single one of them passionately wanted to read. They wanted to get back to reading and they wanted to read books. They wanted to read books about romance and they wanted to read about horror stories. I'll never forget one of our participants. She told me that she liked to read Stephen King novels. She laughed and says, “Kelly, you couldn't handle that.” And it's true. I don't like those scary stories. But, they wanted to read. They want to learn more about aphasia, but they just want to read what everybody else is reading. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  25:23 You want to read what your peers are reading.  I will always remember this story where one of our book club members at the Aphasia Center of California was so excited at a book club meeting because he had taken the book that we were reading, I think it was Shadow Divers at the time, to the golf course. No one usually approached him and chatted with him. But he actually had a couple guys come up when they saw the book and engage with him in discussion. So it became this beautiful bridge of connection. I can't communicate as well, but they had this awesome commonality to share. It was just what they were interested in. So that example of just wanting to do what your peers are doing because there's such joy in being part of that reading community. One of my favorite parts of that 2015 article is also the clinical reading framework that's on page 19. It helps a clinician start to think about how to implement reading supports and strategies. I think that is a beautiful contribution. Could you describe that model for our listeners?  Kelly Knollman-Porter  26:30 Sure, of course, you start with the questionnaire, you start with asking them what they want to read and what they like to read. And then you do an informal assessment. And then, as we walk through that framework, you establish personally relevant goals, based on their unique reading needs and experiences. But then as you're considering treatment, you have to think about lots of different avenues that you can potentially go down. And that's going to be based again on their needs. Specifically, are they interested in technology? If they're not interested in technology, then that's going to take you on one route, but if they are interested in technology should you consider text to speech? If they're not interested in technology, will picture support facilitate their understanding of the written text? So basically, looking at personalizing the treatment approach. And going through a process of trial and error, looking at the length of the reading that should be used, or the complexity of the reading materials, and again, gearing treatment towards their unique personal needs. That's kind of what it's all about. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  27:50 You really provide a very clear framework, and I think that always helps us with our clinical thinking-- to know what questions to ask and how to break it down. A wonderful follow up to that 2015 article, is the 2022 article that compared comprehension, processing time and modality preferences for individuals with and without aphasia when reading books using text to speech. Could you start by explaining or describing what motivated your work to be at the book level?  So often, we start with words and then sentences, but here, you took this big, big leap and started at the book level. Kelly Knollman-Porter  28:31 I'm going to swing back to my 2015 article real quick, if that's okay. Because I have to admit, one of the participants in that study gave us direction to go the TTS route first. So, of those people that we interviewed in that initial qualitative study, only one of them was reading more after his stroke than before his stroke. And this gentleman, he was in his mid 40s at the time, and very into technology. I remember when we were doing the interview with him, he was adamant. He was like, “Kelly, text to speech works!” So of the six people that we interviewed, he was the one that inspired us to start looking at text to speech more-- that eventually led to all these other studies. Because he said, “I've read a novel.” He laughingly told me that he read Fifty Shades of Grey, and he also was able to get online and, through text to speech, order things through Amazon or different mechanisms like that. We started exploring text to speech technology and the degree to which it could help from a dual modality presentation. So that kind of got us on that track. My colleagues and I explored the use of text to speech at the sentence and paragraph level to see if it helped. We really had mixed results, I have to admit. We were finding that sometimes it helped some people, but it didn't help all people. And we were almost getting a little frustrated with what we were finding, and we were feeling that we were hearing from clients. I have to admit, I've run into clinicians all over the country and they're like, “Yeah, text to speech works.” But we weren't seeing those strong outcomes with our research. It was right around the pandemic time. I said to my colleagues, “We're gonna have to take a big leap here with our research, instead of just looking at the sentence and paragraph level, why don't we just jump to books?” We know that people with aphasia want to read books. We have a feeling that the text to speech might help them at the book level. We know that this research is going to get a little muddy, there's going to be a lot of variables that we can't control for, but let's try to do a study based on what people with aphasia want. So we took this big leap of faith and did this book study. And this one was where we decided to control many factors in terms of having them read a certain section and then using text to speech and then read another section and then use text to speech for another section. There was a lot involved in it. But that's ultimately why--because people with aphasia told us that they want to read books. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  31:45 I know we're going back and forth. But these topics are all integrated. Let's take a moment and ask you to talk a little bit more about text to speech and what you've learned about using it for individuals with aphasia. You started to again allude to some of the things, particularly the variability across people. There are pros. And there's cons. Before we dive in, I want to refer our listeners to this nugget, this beautiful little gem, that I found just last week. It was in the March 2023 ASHA Leader, and it's with your co authors Sarah Wallace and Karen Hux. The article lays out some of the considerations to take when introducing a client to text to speech technology, like how to do it in a systematic way, how to explore and allow for the individualization that is necessary, that practice is necessary. It's a great clinical perspective article. We'll put the link in our show notes. But what do you want to say about the lessons learned with text to speech? Kelly Knollman-Porter  32:47 Absolutely. It takes practice when you're considering using text to speech with a person with aphasia. First of all, you have to see if they're interested in using technology. If they have access to technology, that's your first question. And then, can they access the device physically? So lots of things have to be taken into consideration. If they show interest in using the technology, you need to sit down with that person with that technology that they choose. If that's an Android device, if that's Mac device, if it's a laptop, if it's an iPad, if it's a smartphone, you have to bring their device to the table and see to what degree they can access the necessary text to speech applications that are needed in order to use it successfully for reading tasks. If they cannot access it, then you need to take a step back and create an instruction manual to help with pictures and aphasia friendly formatting, in order to give them a step by step method to access that technology. So often, we start to use technology intuitively. We think everybody else should be able to use it that easily. But we have to make sure that the person can turn the device on. A lot of older people also have decreased circulation in their fingertips and sometimes when touching the app, they can't get it to trigger, so they have to warm up their fingers before accessing it. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  34:33 I'm so glad you mentioned that because I can actually personally relate to that one. Because these nuances are so important. , I don't know if they're nuances, these challenges that you may not realize until you actually sit down and work with the person. Kelly Knollman-Porter  34:48 Absolutely. So when I know someone is interested in this, I always start with pictures--a detailed instruction book that shows you step by step what you have to touch in order to access that TTS system. I put it in a binder with a plastic coat covering over the top, so that they can have that manual sitting right there by their device. And then we practice with it. We say, “Okay, now I'm going to show you how to access this text to speech technology. Now you show me if you can do it using your manual.” And we go back and forth. We're not even to the reading part yet. You have to first access the system. If they show that they can then access it, then we actually get into playing with the different TTS features. So anything, from the speed of the voice presentation on TTS is crucial. You have to find that ideal speed for that person that's not too fast, and not too slow. That's going to help their processing. So, playing around with the speed. Also playing around with a voice. Do they want a male voice? Do they want a female voice? Do they want one with an accent? You'd be surprised people are very particular about the voice that they want. And then, also exploring the use of highlighting. Do they want to have highlighting? At the single word level? Do they want each word highlighted as it's read? Or do you want the full sentence highlighted? Or do you want no highlighting, because some people don't like the highlighting. So there's a whole sequence of steps that you need to go through in order to determine if someone is going to be able to access the TTS system, and then, if they're going to be able to use it successfully. And that does take time. And it takes experimentation and setting up a system for a person, letting them try it on their own. And then having them come back and ask, “Okay, what did you like? And what did you not like? Can we change this at all?” So it can be adaptive, it might change over time. We don't want to just give one structured TTS system to all people. It won't work. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  37:17 I think that dovetails beautifully with my next question, which is, if we circle back to that 2022 article, I was struck by some of the variability across participants and that you were able to embrace that as a researcher and look at what that means.  The variability across people reinforced your approach of taking a strength-based model approach when assessing reading performance for your clients. Are there other outcomes you want to highlight from that study? Kelly Knollman-Porter  37:49 Absolutely. One thing we found overall, is that for the group as a whole, TTS technology helped them process the written materials faster, without compromising comprehension. I'm gonna say that again, so they could access and process the written information faster, without compromising comprehension. For some of them, that was huge, right? Because they were able to read that book with less time, and hence less fatigue-- Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  38:27 ---that reduces that burden we were talking about earlier, right, that sense of fatigue and burden.  However, so keep going. I'm sorry. Kelly Knollman-Porter  38:34 So we found it helps process the information faster. But as a group overall, we found that it did not improve their comprehension. And that's been kind of the thorn in our heel, more like, why is this text to speech not facilitating comprehension? Because if you look at the theory on dual modality, if you're presenting something auditorily and through writing, that should facilitate comprehension, right? But we weren't seeing that with all participants. Now, some of that could be the varying degrees of complexity of their unique type of reading problem that they had.  Then we did have a couple people that actually did show improvements in comprehension.  We had one participant that had a 20% increase in comprehension with TTS compared to the read only condition. We had another person with like a 10% increase. So this works for some people, in terms of facilitating comprehension, but not all. So we felt like we're getting close, but we're still not quite there. And that's why we're needing to continue to do more research.   Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  39:50 I just want to take a pause.  This research was all done during COVID. I want to thank you for how clearly you describe the training and materials needed for this study in that article. I have watched some of my colleagues trying to do research during COVID. They did some incredible things. Looking at that article made me wonder how did you do that?  I want to shout out your tenacity in accomplishing this during COVID. I think you mentioned that it gave you multiple “front porch opportunities” to solve tech challenges, because you had to go to the house of your participants, literally sit on the porch and try to fix the iPad, or the Kindle, or the whatever, and hand it back to them. So thank you for just hanging in there during a time when it was really hard to do research. I'm looking at the time, and I want to make sure that we get to your eye fixation behaviors and processing time in individuals with and without aphasia article. I've just covered a lot at the moment. Was there something you wanted to reflect on in terms of your “porch moments”  before we jumped to the eye fixation study? Kelly Knollman-Porter  41:11 I think as a speech language pathologist, it's kind of in our blood that we have to be very adaptive and flexible. Sometimes you have to jump in the car and drive and sit on the porch, especially. This is another challenge with using technology, if an update happens, and it totally changes the formatting of an application you're using all the time. Now, if a person with aphasia cannot always adapt to that, I would get a call, “Hey, Kelly. Something's popping up here. And I can't get rid of it.” So I would just hop in the car, and I'd say, put everything on your front porch. I will be there. I'm just going to sit on your front porch, and I will deal with the update. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  42:02 That could be cold in Ohio. I'm picturing you sitting there with gloves and in a coat trying to fix things. Kelly Knollman-Porter  42:11 Yeah, that was about it. But that's our skill as speech language pathologists. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  42:17 You showed a lot of dedication. You keep giving a shout out to your team and your lab.     Kelly Knollman-Porter  42:24 I have a special shout out to Mackenzie Pruitt, who worked on that study. She was a masters level student, and she was right there in the trenches with me. I have a great team. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  42:35 I want to go back to this eye fixation behaviors study. While we're not likely to be able to assess eye fixation in daily practice because the equipment and technology is beyond what we would have in our clinics or private practices, but your results really hold clinical significance for understanding reading, processing strengths and challenges. Do you want to describe some of the highlights from that study? Kelly Knollman-Porter  42:59 I think one of the biggest frustrations when you work with someone with reading challenges is you really are not 100% sure how they're processing the written text. We're assessing them, we're watching them, we're seeing their response to the questions. But what are you having difficulty with? You can ask questions, you can watch their eyes clinically. But one thing that eye tracking technology has that I'm grateful for is, it showed me how people with aphasia process written text. And we wanted to specifically not just look at the word level, there's some great research out on word level processing and sentence level processing. But we wanted to take a big leap and look at multi sentence processing. So what are those eyes doing? What did they fixate on? What are they regressing to, and again, I'm going to give another shout out to Drew Bevelhimer. He was also a master's level student that was working in my lab at the time, who, again came alongside me to help get this eye tracking technology going. This really did show me how unique the reading challenges that people with aphasia have when reading multi sentence information. We specifically looked at how often they had within word regressions, like within a longer word within sentence regression--so when their eyes look back to another word within the sentence, and then how often they look back to a previous sentence. And one thing that that really showed us is with the use of text to text to speech technology, their numbers of regressions significantly decreased. So they did not have to regress as much while reading, which again, resulted in a decrease in processing time. Another thing that this study showed, which I and my colleagues thought was really interesting, we actually brought in a group of neurotypicals to do this study also. When we used the default text to speech voice rate,  we actually found the opposite results with neurotypicals. When using text to speech, set at that default speed, like right around 150 to 180 words per minute, they actually had more regressions with text to speech than in the read only condition. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  45:39 So, you have to match the speed with the person. Is that where this is headed? Kelly Knollman-Porter  45:43 That is exactly where that's headed. It really reinforced to us how you have to consider the speed of that text to speech voice. Because if you do not have the appropriate speed, it can actually have some detrimental effects in causing more regressions. That's one thing, looking to the future, that my colleagues and I are going start looking at-- exploring how to get that synching better in terms of the eye movements with the rate of speech. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  46:17 So is that is next in your research, where you're headed, Kelly Knollman-Porter  46:21 That's where we're headed., Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  46:23 I'm going to look forward to that. I just want to say that your body of research on reading and reading comprehension, and supporting and using strategies and understanding the patterns and challenges that people with aphasia have and how they get them back in the game to support them. I just think it's such a valuable contribution. I really appreciate this beautiful body of research. And there was another March 2023, ASHA Leader article, besides the one on text to speech, that describes how reading impacts return to work. It's an article that tells a story about your efforts to support a teacher who was working to return to the classroom. I'll put that link in the show notes too, because it's a beautiful collaborative, “we're going to do this as a team” story. And it wasn't easy. But it was very much supporting the individual goals and journey of your client. Do you have any parting advice as we wrap up for clinicians who are going to assess and work with reading with their clients? That's what this whole show has been about. But what else do you want to add we end?     Kelly Knollman-Porter  47:36 Don't be afraid to explore reading. I know it seems intimidating and overwhelming, because it is challenging to figure out what's specifically the problem, but I can honestly say that if you invest some time in it, the outcomes are going to be worth it for your clients. I look to some books studies that I've done here within our Miami University aphasia support group and, and I have many members that prior to the book club study that I did, had not picked up a novel for 15 years since their stroke, and through adaptive materials, and again, shout out to Roberta Elman's work in the Book Connection materials that her and her group have created. We've used them a lot here at Miami University. But through those adaptive materials that she's created, she's opened up a world of opportunity for people with aphasia to be able to access books. Giving people that opportunity to get back to reading materials that they'd like to read is just really rewarding. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  48:55 Thank you so, so much for this conversation and for all the work you're doing. And we'd like to close with one kind of broader, big picture question. Kelly, if you had to pick only one thing that we need to achieve urgently as a community of Life Participation providers, what would that one thing be? Kelly Knollman-Porter  49:23 When we talked about this question, I was slightly discouraged because my ultimate reason for going and doing research was to provide research that will lead to greater reimbursement of services for people with chronic aphasia.  I hate to say it, but here are 15 years later, that's still my big takeaway point. We need to find better ways of helping people with aphasia in the chronic phases get reimbursement for services that they so desperately need. We also need to talk to clinicians across the country. We have to be very careful in terms of how we give services to this population. They can still make progress. They can still make gains. We just need the support in order to make that happen. I'm just going to throw one other thing out there. This pertains to the ASHA Leader 2023 article for the teacher that was trying to get back to work. We need to find more opportunities for people with aphasia to still have part-time jobs without losing their benefits, because they're caught between a rock and a hard place. If I go back to work a little bit, I'm going to lose my benefits. I remember in that article, Christine Bowles, who we interviewed, shared working full time is too hard, but I still have more to give. I still have more to give. I'm not done yet. I'm only in my 40s. Why can't we give people with aphasia more opportunity to work without losing benefits?  Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  51:09 Thank you for that message. I think it's critical and one that a lot of people face and think about. So thank you for bringing that up. And for participating today. It's been a wonderful opportunity to talk about your work. Your passion and excitement comes across so much. And I'm going to thank our listeners for listening today. And I just want to remind that our references and resources mentioned in today's show, just see our show notes. They're available on the website, www dot aphasia access.org. And there you can also become a member of our organization and support the podcast and all the other great work that's being done by aphasia access, and you can also browse our growing library of materials and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy. And if you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info at Aphasiaaccess.org. For Aphasia Access Conversations. I'm Ellen Bernstein-Ellis. And thanks again for your ongoing support aphasia access   References and Resources The reading intake questionnaire discussed in this interview, is accessible here: https://aphasiaacc.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Reading%20History%20Questionnaire-Knollman-Porter-AphasiaAccessPodcast.pdf   To see examples of adapted book club materials mentioned in this episode, go to: The Book Connection on the Aphasia Center of California website: https://aphasiacenter.net/the-book-connection/   Hux, K., Wallace, S. E., Brown, J. A., & Knollman-Porter, K. (2021). Perceptions of people with aphasia about supporting reading with text-to-speech technology: A convergent mixed methods study. Journal of communication disorders, 91, 106098. Hux, K., Knollman-Porter, K., Brown, J., & Wallace, S. E. (2017). Comprehension of synthetic speech and digitized natural speech by adults with aphasia. Journal of Communication Disorders, 69, 15-26. Knollman-Porter, K. (2023). Navigating a Job's Language Demands After a Stroke. Leader Live. The ASHA LEADER, 28(2), 42-46. Knollman-Porter, K., Bevelhimer, A., Hux, K., Wallace, S. E., Hughes, M. R., & Brown, J. A. (2023). Eye Fixation Behaviors and Processing Time of People With Aphasia and Neurotypical Adults When Reading Narratives With and Without Text-to-Speech Support. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(1), 276-295. Knollman-Porter, K., Brown, J., Hux, K., Wallace, S., & Crittenden A. (2022).  Reading comprehension and processing time when people with aphasia use text-to-speech technology with personalized supports and features.  American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 31, 342-358. Knollman-Porter, K., Dietz, A., & Dahlem, K. (2018). Intensive auditory comprehension treatment for severe aphasia: A feasibility study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(3), 936-949. Knollman-Porter, K., Hux, K., Wallace, S. E., Pruitt, M., Hughes, M. R., & Brown, J. A. (2022). Comprehension, Processing Time, and Modality Preferences When People With Aphasia and Neurotypical Healthy Adults Read Books: A Pilot Study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 31(6), 2569-2590. Knollman-Porter, K., & Julian, S. K. (2019). Book club experiences, engagement, and reading support use by people with aphasia. American journal of speech-language pathology, 28(3), 1084-1098. Knollman-Porter, K., Wallace, S. E., Brown, J. A., Hux, K., Hoagland, B. L., & Ruff, D. R. (2019). Effects of written, auditory, and combined modalities on comprehension by people with aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(3), 1206-1221. Knollman-Porter, K., Wallace, S. E., Hux, K., Brown, J., & Long, C. (2015). Reading experiences and use of supports by people with chronic aphasia. Aphasiology, 29(12), 1448-1472.   Wallace, S. E., Hux, K., Knollman-Porter, K., Patterson, B., & Brown, J. A. (2023). A Mixed-Methods Exploration of the Experience of People With Aphasia Using Text-to-Speech Technology to Support Virtual Book Club Participation. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 1-24.   Wallace, S. E., Knollman-Porter, K., & Hux, K. (2023). How Text-to-Speech Aids Reading for People With Aphasia. Leader Live 28(2), 52-53. Wallace, S. E., Hux, K., Knollman-Porter, K., Brown, J. A., Parisi, E., & Cain, R. (2022). Reading behaviors and text-to-speech technology perceptions of people with aphasia. Assistive Technology, 34(5), 599-610.  

Keith Nelson's academic foundations include a B.A. from Harvard, Ph.D from Yale, and stimulating experiences as a collaborative faculty member at Stanford, Graduate Faculty of New School for Social research, and the Developmental Psychology mecca called Penn State University. His teaching includes courses on Fostering Creative Breakthroughs.Basic theory-based research has been translated widely into new procedures for helping to accelerate developmental progress in children with autism, language delay, dyslexia, and deafness. Publications have included 12 volumes in the book series, Children's Language, as well as over 100 journal articles and book chapters. Very few peers have attempted and achieved impressive causal experimental results across fields as diverse as Art Education, Language Delay, Poverty, Dyslexia, Deafness, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Basic Language Acquisition, Creativity, Preschool Education, Communication Disorders, Environmental Stewardship, and Adult Learning. In addition to publications Keith regularly gives papers and workshops at conferences all around the world. For example, presentations have included Vienna, Vancouver, Austin, Madrid, Stockholm, Istanbul, Madeira, and Tokyo.Here's a bit more about his book, BREAKTHROUGHS... Everyone gets STUCK sometimes. Perhaps you have recently been Stuck in some important way--not making progress with a child, a business project, a creative endeavor, a community project?Stuck Now? BREAKTHROUGHS is here to inspire and help. In short, fun chapters you will explore a remarkable variety of ways that others have been really STUCK--and then found a way to Break Through, to Leap Forward. Your thinking and planning and real-life exploring will open up and feed in strongly to your own Breakthrough Successes.Breakthroughs : Realizing Our Potentials Through Dynamic Tricky Mixes - Keith NelsonShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future' – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Mentioned in this episode:NAPE Al Kingsley Summit PromoWatch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley about 'Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' as part of the Primary Education Summit 2023 - Visions for the Future - presented by National Association for Primary Education (NAPE) https://www.educationonfire.com/creating-digital-strategies-for-schools/NAPE Al Kingsley Summit Promo

Marie Halpin, BSc (Hons), CertMRCSLT, HCPC, a Senior Speech and Language Therapist in Ireland, joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss effectively working with autistic individuals who also stutter (stammer). Marie walks us through terminology and emphasizes the importance of language and the words we use within therapy. She explores neurodiversity affirming zones of practice as foundational to our work, the importance of learning and taking the lead from the autistic community, and general considerations for best supporting autistic clients in a total communication, strength-based manner. Finally,  Marie discusses Palin PCI considerations when working with autistic children, as well as walking us through a research study (linked below). Article discussed:'Palin parent-child interaction therapy with children with autism spectrum disorder and stuttering' in the Journal of Communication Disorders, 2022.Resources mentioned:Recent Virtual Learning  by Stuttering Foundation,  'Working with Young Autistic Children who Stutter' with Gemma ClarkeStammering Plus training at MPCMarie on Twitter @MariechalpinThe Therapist Neurodiversity CollectiveThe Autistic Self Advocacy NetworkEm Hammond @Neurowild_, Elaine McGreevy, Emily Price (Lee)Divergent PerspectivesMarie Halpin has over 11 years of experience working as a SLT. She has a wealth of expertise working with children and young people in health, education and specialist services. Her areas of clinical expertise include Autism and Stammering, and with a particular interest in neurodivergent-affirming support. Her background includes a number of specialist SLT roles in the UK,  which lead to being trained in a range of related therapies, including LevelUp Energy Meters, Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction, TalkingMats, SCERTS, Hanen More Than Words and TalkAbility, Makaton, Lámh etc. This role included working within an integrated neurodevelopmental autism diagnostic team, delivering therapy within mainstream schools and autism classes/special schools, as well as delivering trainings to families, school staff and other professionals. She also worked as a specialist at the Michael Palin Centre for many years. This involved specialist consultations and clinical work with children, young people and their families. She is trained in a wide range of therapies for people who stammer, including Palin PCI, Family Communication Skills Therapy, The Lidcocmbe Programme, The Camperdown Program, CBT, ACT, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy etc. Marie regularly presents training on the intersectionality of autism and stammering and has co-authored research on autism and stammering, as well as having contributed to other related publications. She developed and continues to deliver the training ‘Stammering Plus' which runs at the MPC since May 2019, and she has presented on this at international levels, including at the Oxford Dysfluency Conference 2021. In recent years, Marie has been working in Ireland, leading on national training for teachers related to SLCN and provision of sustained in-school support to build capacity of education staff in supporting all students (implementing universal design for learning). She continues to work in Ireland in 

Gina Baldwin, is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist and Founder of APP2Speak. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, IL and her Bachelor's Degree in Speech Language Pathology from Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL. Gina has over 40 years of experience as a speech language pathologist. Her early years of practice were in the schools working with individuals with mental and physical challenges, ages 3 to 21 years. For the past 30 years Gina has practiced in a variety of settings including, home health, skilled rehab and outpatient. Her areas of interest include augmentative and alternative communication, speech, communication, and dysphagia. Gina is also the founder of APP2Speak. She designed, created and self-funded APP2Speak, a photo-based app for mobile devices helping individuals who have difficulty speaking and communicating. https://app2speak.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-baldwin-m-s-ccc-slp-a59940137/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/app2speak/ https://twitter.com/APP2Speak https://www.facebook.com/APP2Speak/ https://www.instagram.com/app2speak/ https://youtube.com/APP2Speak _________________________________________ This episode is brought to you by TheraPlatform. If you're a therapist in private practice looking to spend more time with clients and less time on admin tasks, it may be time to consider automation software. TheraPlatform is an all-in-one EHR, practice management and teletherapy software built specifically for therapists and it's designed to automate day-to-day tasks.  TheraPlatform offers a free, 30-day trial with no credit card required. Visit theraplatform.com today. For TheraPlatform: www.theraplatform.com For 30 day trial: https://www.theraplatform.com/freetrial?utm_source=telepracticetodaypodcast&utm_medium=telepracticetodaypodcast&utm_campaign=FreeTrialHeader    Visit TheraPlatform today: https://www.theraplatform.com/freetrial?utm_source=telepracticetodaypodcast&utm_medium=telepracticetodaypodcast&utm_campaign=FreeTrialHeader  _______________________________________   You can listen to this episode wherever you stream podcasts and at www.3cdigitalmedianetwork.com/telepractice-today-podcast   If you are a content creator and want to produce webinars, courses, blogs, or your own podcast, please join us at the 3C Digital Media Network. To learn more, visit our website at www.3cdigitalmedianetwork.com and email todd@3cdigitalmedianetwork.com!  

Keith Nelson's Dynamic Systems work crosses boundaries between Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, Communication Disorders, Linguistics, Art Education, Dynamic Systems, Cognitive Psychology, Creativity, Environmental Toxins, and Evolution. I have been honored by two Fulbright Research Fellowships. His academic foundations include a B.A. from Harvard, Ph. D from Yale, and stimulating experiences as a collaborative faculty member at Stanford, Graduate Faculty of New School for Social research, and Penn State University. He is the CEO of Eagle Spirits Creative Breakthroughs, which concentrates on books, software, workshops, courses, and consulting on Fostering Creativity in any field. Keith has written a book called "Breakthroughs: Realizing Our Potentials Through Dynamic Tricky Mixes" and includes simplistic strategies and tips to move on to their own creative breakthroughs. To get more information about his book, click https://www.amazon.com/Breakthroughs-Realizing-Potentials-Through-Dynamic-ebook/dp/B09LTSFMXD/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=books+breakthroughs+%22keith+nelson%22&qid=1639668693&sr=8-7&pldnSite=1.

Robin Carey Boyd,  president of the East St Louis NAACP sits down with Dr. Dudley.Sometimes leadership finds you, you don't find it.  in those moments you have to be prepared and ready to seize the moment.  It's not whether opportunity will knock but will you be ready, willing and able.  Robin gives you the 1, 2, 3's of humility, vulnerability and how to step into your leadership moment. Robin's Bio:Email Address: robin.careyboyd@gmail.comA native of East St. Louis, IL, Robin is married to Michael A. Boyd. She is the proud mother of 2 children, Ashley E. Carey and Austin R. H. Carey and Nana to 4 beautiful girls, Autumn, Aubrey, Addison and Alyssa.Robin is a member of St. Augustine of Hippo Catholic Church where Fr. Carroll Mizicko is Pastor.She is a 1984 graduate of Lincoln University of Jefferson City, MO where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication Disorders; two Master of Science Degrees: Speech Pathology and Education Administration, both from Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville.She is the decedent of Lincoln University – MO Alum, where her Mother, Dr. Edna Rowery Allen, 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awardee. As a member of the 2011 L.U. Family of the Year the Allen Family collectively they have 14 members that have attended Lincoln University-MO.Robin is the Past President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. where she has over forty year of uninterrupted membership.She is a Past President of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., East St. Louis Chapter.She is a Past President of Lincoln University –MO Alumni Association, great St. Louis Chapter.Robin recently finished her term as a member of the Violence Prevention Center Board of Southwestern Illinois where she served for the past eight years. She has volunteered with the American Heart Association with the Minority Council to promote Healthy Lifestyles particularly for people of color.Currently, she is serving her eighth year as the president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) of East St. Louis, IL. She serves as the chair of the NPHC for her Chapter and has been a delegate for over 25 years working on various community service projects (Juneteenth, Clothes Drives, food drives, Relay for Life Cancer Drive). During her tenure as president of the NPHC the Council has held 5 week long summer enrichment camps for youth in the metro-east area promoting, academic, social, cultural enrichment and S.T.E.M. activities and served as host to the Annual Halloween Trunk or Treat in conjunction with the City of East St. Louis serving over 500 people.If that is not enough, Robin has added an additional commitment to her service record in her most recent position as president of the NAACP, East St. Louis Branch 3013 where she leadsover 200 members to promote, advocate and increase opportunities for people of color, specifically Black People. Robin is the First Female President since 1966. Under her administration, she has reignited the Branch and activated ten committees into action in an effort to motivate the community into utilizing the power of the people. Under her leadership, the Branch has hosted multiple Political Forums, food drives, shoe drives, Black Business initiatives, Covid Clinics, Health fairs, and Blood Drives and voter registration drives. The Branch members advocate for issues that adversely affect the community.Professionally, Robin has been employed by the East St. Louis School, District #189 for the past 21 years, first as a Speech Pathologist and currently as a Special Education Administrator. She was previously employed by the St. Louis Public Schools for 16 years as a Speech Pathologist. She serves as a membSupport the showDevelop the Leader in YOU - Enroll in Classes on www.ileadacademy.net IG @BishopDudleyPHDFB @BishopDudleyPHDhttps://linktr.ee/bishopgvd

Are you tired of working in settings that don't serve you and your clients the way you need? In this episode of Private Practice Success Stories, I sat down with Kelsey Brown, a Start and Grow Your Private Practice student, to talk about her journey as an SLP and why she decided to do things differently and start her own private practice. Kelsey shares how she started to lay the groundwork for leaving her job, exactly how she's making more money and working less, and how she's built stability into her income by filling a school contract and doing sessions while she builds her private pay caseload. Kelsey is a great example of a young and talented SLP who refused to get caught up in working in settings that didn't serve her or her clients and is instead creating her own systems and life through her private practice.Kelsey Brown (she/her) is a DC-based speech-language pathologist by day and children's book author ("Come On, Calm," 2019) by night, weekend, and summer. She has undergraduate degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Theatre from The University of Georgia and a Master of Science in Communication Disorders from Emerson College. Kelsey's love for speech therapy started when she was 14 years old and she's been interested in working with individuals with complex communication needs since her first introduction to assistive technology her freshman year at UGA (she later completed a certificate program in Instructional Design and Technology). Kelsey's experience includes working with and learning from the folks at St. Coletta of Greater Washington, Boston Children's Hospital, the Access Champions podcast, Imagination Stage, Soaring Starts Early Learning & Arts, and Camp Twin Lakes. Her theatre and teaching artist background help to inspire fun and motivating client-centered sessions in a naturalistic environment: your home or community space. While she was leading school-based teletherapy sessions during the first year of the pandemic, Kelsey enjoyed the close relationship she built with her students' families. In both in-person and virtual speech, language, and literacy sessions, Kelsey builds caregiver coaching into every session. Kelsey Brown specializes in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), emergent literacy, early intervention, and gestalt language processing.In Today's Episode, We Discuss:Kelsey's experience as a new SLPHow Kelsey found confidence in herself as a clinicianWhen she decided to go into private practiceHow Kelsey built up her private caseloadThe power of building relationships with other professionalsThe happiness Kelsey feels now that she is a private practitionerHow Kelsey structures her work day in her private practiceThe basics of what you need to start a private practiceThe book that Kelsey wrote and how she achieved itI hope you enjoyed this conversation with Kelsey! I love how committed she is to gaining knowledge and experience and then implementing it to change the lives of those around her while changing her own life. She may have started slowly, but laying that groundwork allowed her to quit her job when the time was right and she hasn't looked back.The private practice movement is gaining momentum and it's time for you to be a part of it. Want help to start your own private practice - just like Kelsey? We can help! Visit www.StartYourPrivatePractice.com to learn more.Whether you want to start a private practice or grow your existing private practice, I can help you get the freedom, flexibility, fulfillment, and financial...

In this episode, I am joined by Carly Bereznay, she is one of the 7 SLP-BCBAs in Maryland as she achieved her masters in Communication Disorders from UVA in 2014 and her masters in ABA in 2019. Carly prides herself on bringing the fun to in-home sessions for her small business in Speech and helping ensure clients are “happy relaxed and engaged” in her ABA direct care, both under Spectrum LLC. Additionally, Carly strives to be on the cutting edge of listening to autistic voices, understanding trauma assumed practices, and generally practicing at the top of her license in both fields, as challenging as it sometimes may be. Visit Speechie Side Up to learn more about this episode.

Dr. Sherri Brooks is the System Director of Career Development at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. Professionally she has been in leadership roles for over 15 years and is a former associate professor at Arkansas State University where she received her Baccalaureate and Master's degrees in Communication Disorders. Sherri is also an alum of the University of Kentucky where she earned her Doctorate degree. She has a passion for helping others reach their potential by empowering them to see what's possible and inspiring them to believe in better so they can own and achieve personally, meaningful success. Sherri strives to live and lead by Dale Dauten's code: Think like a hero - Who can I help today? Work like an artist - What else can we try? Refuse to be ordinary - Pursue excellence and kill it. Celebrate – but take no credit. She is the wife of Kennen Brooks, mother to six young men, mother-in-law of two, and “Nonna” to one spoiled grandson.Link to claim CME credit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3DXCFW3CME credit is available for up to 3 years after the stated release dateContact CEOD@bmhcc.org if you have any questions about claiming credit.

Episode 287 Should I Stay or Should I Go?   When you've been in a job position, or really any position, long enough you will notice things that make that position grating on your nerves, or maybe it's even making you sick to some degree due to how you are treated in the workplace. Maybe these issues are simply perceptions you have or projections onto others of a much larger issue. Regardless it is your responsibility to be mindful of these actions and decide what will be best for you and fall in line with your values. In this reuploaded episode of 217, Sarah Elkins and Karen Elkins Cohen discuss stories from their careers on clients they've helped and what these people inadvertently taught them, and through these stories they hope that you too will gain something useful and helpful to your own life.   Highlights It's okay to love your work but make sure that you are in touch with your own values and messages so you can decide if the work you're doing now should be continued in the same way. Keep your communications respectful regardless of if that respect is reciprocated  Take accountability for your own actions, acknowledge and learn from your mistakes.   Quotes “Sometimes we don't know that it's time to move on to a new opportunity, we may love the work we're doing or the organization we're doing it.” “If you find yourself continually late to work, ask yourself if you are dreading the work, the environment, your supervisor, or if there's a different reason.” “Anyone who has held a job has made a mistake at some point.”   About Karen  Karen is a Human Resources and Organization Development expert with more than 20 years of human resources experience. She has a Bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders for the University of Northern Colorado and a Master's degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco.  Visit Karen's LinkedIn and Website to learn more!  About Sarah "Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision." In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I've realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don't realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they're sharing them with. My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home. The audiobook, Your Stories Don't Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available! Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana. Be sure to check out the Job Interview Storytelling Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!

This podcourse is part of the Apraxia Connect. Apraxia Connect is an online event where leading experts in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) were brought together to discuss the latest research, diagnosis, and treatment strategies. The sessions explored supporting families with children with CAS, fostering friendships and self-advocacy, and empowering parents and caregivers. In this episode, I am joined by Laura Baskall Smith. She is a certified speech-language pathologist in the greater Denver Metro Area.  She received her bachelors degree in Communication Disorders at Metro State University, and her master's degree in speech-language pathology at the University of Northern Colorado.  She holds the Clinical Certificate of Competence from the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association, a DORA license from the state of Colorado; as well as her Colorado Department of Education license. She has obtained advanced certifications that include Apraxia Kids recognized for advanced training and clinical expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech along with being PROMPT trained. Laura has been providing speech therapy for 16 years and have worked with a variety of speech and language disorders in the school and private sectors. She is passionate about working with children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) following my own daughter's diagnosis in 2012 and is an active member with the Apraxia Kids, and was the walk coordinator for the Denver Walk for Childhood Apraxia of Speech from 2015-2019. She is the author of the Overcoming Apraxia book which chronicles her daughter's personal journey to overcoming CAS and is loaded with resources and information that would benefit professionals as well as parents and family members. Laura also owns A Mile Speech Therapy, a private practice in which she exclusively provides differential diagnosis and treatment for children diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.   If you want to earn 0.1 ASHA CEUs for this episode or up to 0.6 ASHA CEUs for all of the episodes, plus the perks like handouts, video playbacks, discount codes, then grab the chance to register using this link: https://tasseltogether.com/courses/apraxia-connect-general-information/

My new friend, Maria McCain, joins me for episode 106! Maria is the Director of Dance at University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. She received her degree in Communication Disorders from Louisiana State University and her Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Belhaven University. Maria shares about how her pursuits in life shifted as she witnessed the power of dance to speak about topics of faith through the language of movement. She took multiple steps of faith with God, which eventually led her to Houston.In our conversation, Maria and I chat about developing as a leader, choreography, and how dance can act as a catalyst for unity in the Christian Church. I love Maria's encouragement to artists to “have hope, and be bold.”Check out our website https://creativeimpactpodcast.com for the full show notes and additional links mentioned in this episode. You can be sure not to miss a Creative Impact conversation by subscribing through your favorite podcast app.  We are so grateful to have you as a part of the Creative Impact community and would love it if you would share the show with your friends!Support the show

This episode is a rerun of a previous episode originally published in February, 2021_____Get .1 ASHA CEU hereThis topic is a frequent flyer in our listener questions inbox. Apraxia? Severe phonological disorder? Articulation disorder? What's the difference? Does it even matter? Turns out, there are some pretty big differences between these diagnostic categories, and it is important to understand what is going on in order to help your client to the best of your ability. Enter our conversation with Mike Bright. His experience in this area is extensive - and includes recognition from Apraxia Kids for Advanced Training and Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Fortunately for us, and our listeners, Mike was generous enough to sit down with us and talk about one really important piece of this bigger conversation: Differential diagnosis. Listen in and learn just what differential diagnosis is, why it is important, and specific components that should be included in an assessment when childhood apraxia of speech is a possibility.We had a great time learning from Mike, and we think you will too! You can learn more about Mike here.Learning Outcomes1. Describe one reason why differential diagnosis is challenging.2. Describe one reason why differential diagnosis is critical in providing appropriate intervention.3. Identify four components of an in-depth speech evaluation when childhood apraxia of speech is a possibility.ReferencesOverby, M., & Caspari, S. S. (2015). Volubility, consonant, and syllable characteristics in infants and toddlers later diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech: A pilot study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 55, 44-62. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2015.04.001Disclosures:Mike Bright Financial Disclosures: Mike is the owner of Bright Speech and Language, LLC. Mike Bright Non-financial: "Recognized by Apraxia Kids for Advanced Training and Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech"Kate Grandbois financial disclosures: Kate is the owner / founder of Grandbois Therapy + Consulting, LLC and co-founder of SLP Nerdcast. Kate Grandbois non-financial disclosures: Kate is a member of ASHA, SIG 12, and serves on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. She is also a member of the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT), MassABA, the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the corresponding Speech Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis SIG. Amy Wonkka financial disclosures: Amy is an employee of a public school system and co-founder for SLP Nerdcast. Amy Wonkka non-financial disclosures: Amy is a member of ASHA, SIG 12, and serves on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Time Ordered Agenda:10 minutes: Introduction, Disclaimers and Disclosures20 minutes: Descriptions of the challenges of differential diagnosis15 minutes: Descriptions of why differential diagnosis is critical in providing appropriate intervention10 minutes: Descriptions of components of an in-depth speech evaluation when childhood apraxia of speech is a possibility.5 minutes: Summary and ClosingDisclaimerThe contents of this episode are not meant to replace clinical advice. SLP Nerdcast, its hosts and guests do not represent or endorse specific products or procedures mentioned during our episodes unless otherwise stated. We are NOT PhDs, but we do research our material. We do our best to provide a thorough review and fair representation of each topic that we tackle. That being said, it is always likely that there is an article we've missed, or another perspective that isn't shared. If you have something to add to the conversation, please email us! Wed love to hear from you!__SLP Nerdcast is a podcast for busy SLPs and teachers who need ASHA continuing education credits, CMHs, or professional development. We do the reading so you don't have to! Leave us a review if you feel so inclined!We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at info@slpnerdcast.com anytime! You can find our complaint policy here. You can also:Follow us on instagramFollow us on facebookWe are thrilled to be listed in the Top 25 SLP Podcasts!Thank you FeedSpot!

Speech Language Pathology: Continuing Education Courses by SLP Nerdcast Course Title: Language Skills in Youth OffendersGet .1 ASHA CEU and view the full course landing page: https://courses.slpnerdcast.com/courses/language-skills-in-youth-offenders-abje0113Earning Speech-Language Pathology CEUs Online is Simplified with SLP Nerdcast. On SLP Nerdcast you'll find SLP Continuing Education Courses, Masterclasses and Clinical Resources. To learn more about our services visit ▶ https://bit.ly/SLPNERDCAST To learn more about our membership and save 10% on your first year of membership visit ▶ https://bit.ly/SLPNerdcastMembership use code “YouTubeNerd” to save.Learning Objectives:Describe the prevalence of language disorders in youth offendersDescribe the relationship between language ability and behavior problems that pave the way for delinquencyDescribe at least 2 targeted linguistic and behavioral supports to reduce the risk of incarcerationReferences & Resources:Chow, J. C., Zimmerman, K. N., & Senter, R. (2021). Tailoring effective behavior management strategies for speech-language pathologists. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 52(1), 260-272.Snow, P. C. (2019). Speech-language pathology and the youth offender: Epidemiological overview and roadmap for future speech-language pathology research and scope of practice. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 50(2), 324-339.Stanford, S. (2019). Casualties of misunderstanding: Communication Disorders and juvenile injustice. The ASHA Leader, 24(6), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.ftr1.24062019.44 Stanford, S. (2020). The school-based speech-language pathologist's role in diverting the school-to-confinement pipeline for youth with communication disorders. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 5(4), 1057-1066.Transcript: Asha voices: When communication disorders and the justice ... (n.d.). https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2020-0910-transvoices-cognitive-communication-disorders-and-the-justice-system-update

Parenting is amazing and with a few simple tools for ways to make it more enjoyable, it IS possible bring back the joy and fun into family life. Parent coach Samantha Moe breaks down specific ways we can remain calm, provide support and stability for our children, and bring back the fun to parenting. Certified parent coach and speaker Samantha Moe has coached parents on how to help their children calm, connect, and cooperate since 2004. She now provides continuing education, advanced training, and parent coach certification for family service professionals who support intense kids and their families. Samantha is the creator of the Mad to Glad Blueprint, a revolutionary brain-and-nervous-system-based approach to positive communication and parenting that works to soothe and even preempt intense kids' most challenging behaviors. She holds a Master's degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Minnesota and possesses a background in interdisciplinary training in sensory integration, play therapy, and emotional integration.In this episode we discuss...How saying 'no' in life can ensure we're saying 'yes' to being a supportive and present parentMirror neurons and how our behavior directly affects our children'sThe importance of remaining calm as a parent and simple tools for doing so in stressful momentsHow the heck to play with your kids (and why it only takes 15 minutes!)3 ways to support your child's mental health at a young ageLearn More About Our Guest...Learn more about Samantha's offerings: https://samanthamoe.comFollow Samantha on Instagram: @iamsamanthamoeGet the  Mad To Glad Blueprint self-guided course here.Learn more about the live parenting cohort starting this spring here. (P.S. I'll be a participant in this as well!)

This podcourse is part of the SLP CreativeCon. SLP CreativeCon is an online business conference event for entrepreneurs and creators in the field of Speech-Language Pathology where attendees learnt all about social media marketing, branding, private practice, financial planning, time management, and the most important things to do when starting a business. In this episode, I am joined by the founders of SLP Toolkit, Lisa Kathman, M.S. CCC-SLP and Sarah Bevier, M.S. CCC-SLP. SLP Toolkit is a universal assessment program that is accessible from any device, comprehensive, and digital. It's software was designed so that SLPs can accurately and confidently collect, record, and report data and have access to quality assessments. Lisa graduated from Florida International University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and of Arizona State University with a degree in Communication Disorders. She has been a Speech Language Pathologist since 1997 and had the opportunity to work in various environments such as home health, preschools, private practice and served as the lead SLP for K-12 in the largest school district in Arizona. She has developed a sensitivity to needs of all SLPs and is confident working with private practices and school districts alike. Sarah is a graduate of Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing and a Master's degree in Communication Disorders. She has worked in the field of Speech Language Pathology since 2006 and have worn many hats including Speech-Language Pathology Assistant, Speech-Language Technician and Speech-Language Pathologist. Working exclusively in schools has provided her with a great insight into the importance technology plays in the success of an SLP. If you want to earn 0.1 ASHA CEUs for this episode or up to 0.7 ASHA CEUs for all of the episodes, plus the perks like handouts, video playbacks discount codes, then grab the chance to register using this link:⁠ https://tasseltogether.com/courses/slp-creativecon/⁠ Visit Speechie Side Up to learn more about this episode.