Issue: Summer 2020
Hear the Turtle The Newsletter for University of Mar yland Depar tment of Hearing and Speech Sciences Alumni & Suppor ters
Welcome HESP Ter ps! Welcome to the 2020 online newsletter of the UMD Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences! Take a peek to find out what our alumni have been up to professionally and personally. We hope to have a chance to highlight many of you in future issues, so please visit us at: go.umd.edu/HESPclassnotes and share your news with us!
Table of Contents
The Response to COVID-19 - Pages 2-3 HESP By the Numbers - Page 4 New Hires - Page 5 HESP in the CommunityCommunity- Page 6 New Specialty Track in HESP - Page 7 Positive Experiences in Times of Disruption - Pages 8-9 Certificate in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology - Page 10 Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Program - Page 11 LEAP - Page 12 What’s New in the Classroom - Page 13 HESP Faculty, Students, and Alumni at Conferences - Pages 14-15 Student Notes - Pages 16-17 Supporting Neurodiversity - Page 18 Faculty News - Page 19 Alumni News - Page 20 UMD Student Crisis Fund - Page 21
Find us on Facebook! We now have a group dedicated to our alumni. Join us in the University of Maryland Hearing and Speech Alumni Group! 1
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
The Response to COVID-19 While COVID-19 has strongly impacted our everyday lives, the HESP Department has been swift to adapt to an ever changing landscape. All hands are on deck as we continue to devise new solutions to serve our students and community during these unprecedented times.
HESP Clinic The clinic is continuing to provide both speech-language therapy as well as essential audiology services. Speech-language therapy has been moved online through telepractice. Not only are first-year students able to continue gaining clinical experience with supervision in this format, but clients are still able to receive therapy. In addition, LEAP has actively been posting educational content on its website for parents to support their children offline. The HESP Clinic provided secure remote therapy sessions through WebEx.
For audiology services, curbside appointments were introduced as a way to address client’s urgent needs when it comes to troubleshooting and repairing devices (hearing aids, cochlear implants, and tinnitus sound generators) on site. The hearing clinic reopened for face-toface visits on June 15.
Dr. Lisa Rickard provides curbside, contactless services to clean and fix hearing aids for Jewish Social Services Association (JSSA) patients. 2
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Issue: Summer 2020
The Response to COVID-19 Students The University transitioned to online learning for the remainder of the spring semester. HESP faculty offered both live and recorded classes for students to more easily manage the potential challenges of online learning. Through ‘Zoom classrooms,’ online discussion boards, and new platforms, students and faculty have continued to stay connected and foster an educational environment even while physically being at a distance.
Outside Placements For second-year speech-language pathology students, outside placements were discontinued by facilities. However, the department has ensured that students were able to gain the necessary hours for graduation by moving to simulation therapy followed by debriefs with clinical supervisors. While the department was initially wary about the effectiveness of this approach, both students and faculty made the debriefs into worthwhile learning experiences. Additionally, students were given telepractice clients to fulfill extra hours if needed.
Research Similar to other departmental activities, research projects have begun to transition to an online format. Even in the midst of rapidly evolving changes, HESP faculty have identified new areas of research brought about by COVID-19. Professor Yi Ting Huang was awarded a new NSF grant to explore how the sudden social and economic changes due to COVID-10 will impact children’s language-learning environment.
How You Can Help If you’d like to support the UMD community during these trying times please consider making a gift to the UMD Student Crisis Fund, Keep Me Maryland Fund or the Campus Pantry by visiting https://keeptogether.umd.edu/support. 3
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Issue: Summer 2020
HESP by the Numbers
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undergraduate & high school students were provided with hands-on research, teaching, and clinical experiences by HESP
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papers published by HESP Faculty 32 of which included UMD Student co-authors
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HESP students and recent graduates had papers published or accepted
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Issue: Summer 2020
Welcome to Our New Hires! Candace Nuzzo Michiels, received her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Maryland-College Park, where she was awarded Outstanding SLP Graduate Student at Commencement. She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence issued by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, as well as the D.C. State License and MD State License. Candace has worked with pediatric clients from infants through teens in the home, daycare, clinic, and school settings. Candace is a PROMPT trained therapist with experience meeting the needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, speech-language impairment, intellectual disability, neurological impairment, cerebral palsy, seizure disorder, and other developmental disabilities. Her clinical interests include: articulation and phonological disorders, receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language disorders, and executive function deficits. This spring, Candace worked with teens in the UMD EFFECT (Executive Functioning For Effective Cognitive Transformation) Program to help them gain independence and be more successful with home, school, and social activities.
Michelle Erskine is a clinical fellow in speech-language pathology who recently joined the Language-Learning Early Advantage Program (LEAP) at the University of Maryland-College Park. She received her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. She is passionate about supporting language and literacy development in preschool and school-age children, particularly children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. When she’s not working in the clinic, she spends her time researching the relationships among reading, language, and speech sound development.
WELCO E! 5
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
HESP in the Community Fairland Community Center Presentation Two AuD students, Kathryn Dubois (left) and Jennifer Borja (right) gave a presentation on Healthy Aging and Hearing Loss at the Fairland Community Center on October 10, 2019.
It was well-attended by approximately 40 people from the community. Topics included signs/symptoms of hearing loss, anatomy/physiology of the ear and hearing, how to read an audiogram, implications of hearing loss for cognition, physical and mental health, information about hearing aids, wireless accessories, and assistive technology, and communication repair strategies.
Annual Student IPE Day First year AuD students and SLP masters students attended the Eighth Annual Student IPE Day at the University of Maryland Medical Center on February 26, 2020. They had the opportunity to work collaboratively with their peers from nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine, social work, pharmacy, law, and dental hygiene to take a case history and develop a treatment plan for a standardized patient.
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Issue: Summer 2020
New Speciality Track in HESP The Cochlear Implant Emphasis Program (CI-EP) has been initiated at the University of Maryland - College Park for graduate students in audiology and speech-language pathology. Students in the program will receive specialized training to provide services [device programming and assessment, (re)habilitation, and auditory training] to individuals with cochlear implants and their families. Associate Clinical Professor, Nicole Nguyen, Au.D., CISC, a certified clinical specialist in cochlear implants, spearheads the program and plans to start implementing coursework in the upcoming fall semester.
Meet the inaugural cohort of CI-EP students!
Amara Ezenwa is a first-year student in the clinical doctorate of audiology program
Sarah Weinstein is a first-year student in the clinical doctorate of audiology program.
Elisa Rademacher is a first-year student in the speech-language pathology program
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Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Positive Experiences in Times of Disruption On March 13, 2020, upon directive from Governor Hogan and UMD President Loh, the UMD Hearing and Speech clinic closed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the risk it poses to the community. While this was the best action to take, it presented challenges not only to serving our patients, but also providing the clinical education and supervised hours to all our Audiology graduate students. Challenges also extending to those students scheduled to be at off-campus placements, as there was now limited availability of off-campus supervisors. While this was a daunting task, it has also been an uplifting journey. Our clinical faculty banded together, working quickly and creatively to keep students engaged and prepared for off-campus placements, while maintaining the integrity of our program, and complying with accreditation standards.
and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) the option of obtaining up to 10% supervised clinical experience through clinical simulations. Simulation-based learning provides an environment where structured activities, that represent actual or potential situations, facilitate the students’ development of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to succeed in the clinical arena. Therefore, we implemented a simulation-based program as a viable educational tool for students to acquire professional competencies. We researched and decided on utilizing an audiometer simulator software that allowed students unlimited practice conducting pure-tone audiometry including masking, a task that can be especially difficult for new clinicians.
As of April 1, 2020 the Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CFCC) expanded the simulation definition to include the use of case studies. So we further revised our program to also include topic-focused case studies. The case studies utilized were specifically
In 2020, the Audiology Certification Standards were revised to give programs accredited by the Council for Academic Accreditation in Audiology 8
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Positive Experiences in Times of Disruption designed to encourage problem-based learning which helps to bridge the gap between didactic learning and clinical practice. As recommended in the guidelines for healthcare simulations developed by a taskforce from the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD), we scheduled on-line meetings between students and clinical faculty to debrief and discuss each case study and simulation experience in detail.
we can improve on this model for the summer session.” While the informal feedback we received was positive, we are in the process of conducting a more formal questionnaire regarding the student’s evaluation of the experience.
Feedback from the students regarding the simulation-based program has been enthusiastic. The stress-free environment allows them to build confidence in the clinical skills and obtain exposure to unique simulations and case studies that they may otherwise not be presented with. Assistant Clinical Professor, Lisa Rickard, AuD, says “I’m very proud of how our students rose to a
The positive feedback from both students and faculty seems so beneficial that we are intending to continue the utilization of simulation even when we have returned to a full clinical practice. Simulations can be applied in addition to the typical clinical learning environment and to any area that a student may need to further develop competency. Simulations can also be used as an assessment tool to evaluate clinical competencies. The disruption to normal operations provided the opportunity to employ a successful simulation program. While many are anxious to go back to normal, we are looking forward to a post-pandemic world that incorporates these successes into our practice and clinical education.
challenging situation, and their feedback suggests that they found the simulations and debrief sessions educational and worthwhile. We’re already planning how 9
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Certificate in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology This Spring semester, our first cohort of students graduated from our SLP Master’s program with a Certificate in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology. This certificate offers the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to become a bilingual service provider. Enrolled students are required to take additional coursework as well as participate in supplemental clinical experiences, with the goal of professional preparation to serve as a bilingual speech-language pathologist Students Alexis Baione and Sandra Guevara
Students pursuing a bilingual certificate have had the opportunity to develop their clinical skills through experiences with clients from linguistically diverse backgrounds in our on-campus clinic, as well as in their off-campus placements. They have conducted bilingual speech-language evaluations, provided treatment in multiple languages, and workshops for recent immigrant families in our community. Our graduating cohort was also the first take our Assessment and Intervention in Bilingual Populations course in the Summer 2019 semester. As part of our ongoing development of the program, we have worked to provide a greater number of relevant clinical opportunities to enrolled students. In the Fall 2019 semester, we began a collaboration with Mary’s Center to provide diagnostic services to families from linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Congratulations to our first cohort of graduates from the Certificate in Bilingual Speech Language Pathology: Alexis Baione, Allison Granados, Sandra Guevara, Katherine Weidner, and Tracy Wong. Thank you for making this such a positive experience! We are developing a 12-credit bilingual certificate program for licensed speech-language pathologists, intended to start in Fall 2021. If you, or someone you know, may be interested in such a program, please reach out to JosĂŠ Ortiz: jortiz5@umd.edu 10
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Speech-language pathology students have the option to participate in a specialty track on cultural & linguistic diversity. These students spend two years engaging in coursework, clinical experiences, scholarly activities, and professional training in order to broaden their understanding of culture and language as it relates to service delivery. The 2020 cohort students are completing their capstone projects in the form of blog posts which will appear on the deparment blog site: https://hespinterpretation.com/. Subscribe to HESP InTERPretation to ensure you don’t miss their posts! Students and their blog post topics are listed below.
Sandra Guevara
Allison Granados
Joseph Nicol
Michael Pensabene
Katherine Weidner
Tracy Wong
Alexis Baione
Karen Levine
Catherine Seibert
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Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020 LEAP
H
appy Spring 2020 from LEAP! The 2019-2020 academic year has been an eventful one for LEAP. Although we started our year in the normal fashion, this semester we were presented with an enormous challenge when the university shifted to online instruction. For LEAP, this meant moving our entire curriculum online, as well as providing speech and language intervention remotely. Although this was an enormous challenge for our student clinicians and LEAPsters, we successfully transitioned to online service delivery, and had a lot of fun doing it! Although the closure of our physical classroom presented a major barrier to the way LEAP normally runs, it did not prevent us from continuing to provide high quality treatment services to our LEAPsters. After Spring break, we began offering speech therapy services via teletherapy, in addition to hosting a weekly live story circle, providing parent workshops, and offering carryover activities in the form of videos and handouts. It was incredible to see how quickly our students, families, and LEAPsters adapted to the new format. In many cases, the switch to teletherapy provided a new perspective on speech therapy for both families and clinicians. Our success in the Spring semester was largely due to the immense efforts of both graduate and undergraduate clinicians. Were it not for the dedication of our students, we would certainly not have been able to accomplish everything that we did this Spring. A special thank you to our outgoing LEAP graduate assistant, Brittany Beckford, who graduated this Spring. Brittany has played a very important role in our program and she will be missed. Her hard work has contributed greatly to LEAP’s success this past semester and over the past two years. Thank you Brittany! 12
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
What’s New in the Classroom
Vivian Sisskin’s graduate course in autism focuses on professional practice within a social model of disability. Distance lectures, live panels, and guest practitioners introduce students to participatory research and peer mentorship related to autistic identity, autistic advocacy, and accessibility. Top left: Kristin Gillespie-Lynch from City University of New York - College of Staten Island, Bella Kofner from the Building Bridges Project REACH, Patrick Dwyer of the MIND Institute, Nidal Daou of Pepperdine University, and Rita Obeid of Case Western University, summarized current issues within the neurodiversity movement, the value of participatory research, and cultural considerations in understanding perspectives on stigma. Bottom left: Jessica (Moore) Wertz (2012, HESP MA), from HSC Assistive Technology Clinic demonstrated communicative strategies specific to the autistic language learner. Right: Caregivers of autistics across the lifespan shared inspirational stories and insights from autistics and their allies.
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Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
HESP Faculty, Students, and Alumni at Conferences AAS
Doctoral student, Julie Cohen, presenting her poster, ‘Effect of Aging on the Segregation of Familiar Voices.’
Third year AuD student, Alyssa Frenette, presenting her poster, ‘Cognitive Influences on Band Importance Functions in Children.’
Dr. Nicole Nguyen and Dr. Samira Anderson (left) presenting the poster, ‘Assessment of Tinnitus Treatment Outcomes with Behavioral and Neural Measures.’
Aging and Speech Communication Conference HESP had an amazing presence at the Aging and Speech Communication Conference held in Tampa in November, with 9 presentations featuring HESP members. The Department was joined by various HESP alumni at the conference. Back row: Anna Tinnemore, Long Xie, Matt Groupell, Sandra Gordon-Salant, Rebecca Bieber, Julie Cohen Seated: Katie Brow, Lindsay DeVries, Emily Waddington, Alyson Schapira, Calli Fodor
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Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
HESP Faculty, Students, and Alumni at Conferences National Stuttering Association Research Symposium Clinical Professor, Vivian Sisskin, chaired the National Stuttering Association Research Symposium: Stuttering: Perspectives on Disability, Diversity and Culture, last summer in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The symposium brought together speech-language pathologists, researchers, and stutterers for discussion with international experts on disabilities studies and neurodiversity, with keynote speaker, Judy Singer (Australia), credited with coining the term, “neurodiversity.” Speakers and facilitators pictured: (Top row) Mark O’Malia, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Joshua St. Pierre, Vivian Sisskin, Judy Singer, Jeff Brune, Scott Yaruss (Bottom row) Derek Daniels, Chaya Goldstein, Katie Gore, Chris Constantino.
2019 ASHA Convention HESP undergraduate student, Sarah Elazar (bottom, left), presents the poster “Does Late Language Emergence Impact the Frequencty of Parental Recasting?” alongside Ph.D. student Julianne Garbarino (middle) and Dr. Nan Bernstein Ratner (right). Elazar received ASHA’s Progeny Award for her submission.
Ph.D. students Courtney Overton (top, left) and Arynn Byrd (top, right) with Eliza Thompson (middle). Together with other HESP members, Overton presented two posters on the effectiveness of language sample analysis, and Byrd presented on strategies to support linguistically diverse students. 15
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Student Notes Postdoctoral Fellow Zilong Xie just accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Hearing and Speech at the University of Kansas Medical Center starting this fall.
PhD student Julie Cohen was recently awarded an Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship.
PhD student Lauren Salig recently received an honorable mention from NSF for her research.
Undergraduate student Michaela Ehm was chosen for the BSOS Summer Scholars Program.
Allison Johnson (left) & Rebecca Bieber (right) both received ASHA New Century Scholars Program Doctoral Scholarships this past November. That’s four years running for HESP awardees!
Undergraduate students Danielle Zukerman (right) & Marina Cox (left) both were selected as 2020 recipients of the Karin E. Young Memorial Scholarship for students interested in pursuing a degree in Audiology. Additionally, they were chosen for the BSOS Summer Scholars Program. 16
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Student Notes, Continued Departmental Award Winners Outstanding SLP Student
Outstanding Au.D. Student
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award Recipient
Avery Rain
Kelsey Oppler
Anhelina Bilokon
Outstanding Undergraduate Student
Outstanding Au.D. Student
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award Recipient
Sarah Elazar
Lindsey Roque
Emma Peterson
Outstanding Undergraduate Student
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award Recipient
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award Recipient
Alexandra Papanicolaou
Allesandra Vidal
Caroline Hammond
Students Claire Crossman, Sandy Guevara, Sarah Elazar, Tracy Wong, and Alyson Schapira are this year’s recipients of the MCM Fund for Research Excellence. This award is designed to support independent student research projects, and is made possible by an anonymous donation to the Department and by other donations by faculty, alumni, and friends. You can check out their work on the HESP inTERPretation blog. 17
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Supporting Neurodiversity BSOS and HESP are proud to announce that $500,000 from Martin Friedman, ’92, and Dina Friedman will provide current use and endowed funds supporting the HESP clinic’s Social Interaction Group Network for All (SIGNA), an advocacy, support and training group for UMD students on the neurodiverse spectrum. “Our family understands the needs of neurodiverse kids, and we wanted to help this community,” Mr. Friedman said. “The program represents a unique opportunity for kids to develop during their college career and provides skills for their future launch into the workforce.” Mr. Friedman said his unforgettable experience at Maryland has also inspired him to give back. “Being a Terp and getting my education at the college has launched me into the world, and I have stayed connected by following the progress of the university. I was happy to help do my small part to help SIGNA reach as many students as possible.” Martin Friedman, ‘92
A SIGNA group gathering
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Issue: Summer 2020
Faculty News
Associate Professor Yi Ting Huang has been awarded a new grant from the NSF. The grant explores how the sudden changes in social and economic circumstances that have resulted from COVID19 impact children’s language-learning environments.
Associate Professor Matthew Goupell is now Director of our PhD program.
Rochelle Newman, chair of HESP, has been named as one of six individuals to receive the University’s Distinguished Scholar-Teacher award. The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program honors members of our faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement as well as outstanding accomplishments as teachers. This program recognizes those who have led the way in both areas and who thus serve as models of excellence for the faculty of a top research university.
And congratulations to... Matt Goupell, Samira Anderson, Sandy Gordon-Salant, Stefanie Kuchnisky, and their collaborators, who received a seed grant from the new Center on Aging Catalyst Funds. Their proposal was titled, “Cognition and fatigue in older cochlear-implant users”.
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Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
Alumni News Congratulations to Samantha Wasilus (2009, BA HESP/PSCH; 2011, MA HESP) and Alex Spirer (2011, Robert H. Smith School of business) were married on March 30, 2019 in a Washington DC ceremony officiated by Clinical Professor, Vivian Sisskin. While Sam and Alex did not overlap in our stuttering groups, they did meet later through stuttering community events. It just shows the power of connection – past, present and future!
Maureen Shader (2019) accepted a post doc position at the Bionics Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
HESP alumni Sophie Werely and Nisha Sharma penned an open letter to the ASHA Board of Directors regarding their response to racial inequality in the US and the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. To read the letter in full and to add your name, visit HESP’s inTERPretation blog.
A big congratulations to HESP alumni Courtney Luckman, Maura O’Fallon, Daniele Raneri, Kayla Gerhold, and Ashlyn Treanor (née Vander Woude) on the publication of their MA theses.
We are saddened by the passing of alumna Sandra Lebowitz. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from UMD in Speech-Language Pathology. She worked in the Speech and Language and Special Education in Montogomery County public schools for 30 years before retiring. 20
Hear the Turtle
Issue: Summer 2020
From Gregory F. Ball, Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences: The university’s Student Crisis Fund provides immediate assistance to any student who faces an unanticipated emergency financial need. The fund typically receives 2-3 requests per week. Since the spread of the virus, these requests have increased to 50 or more per day. In roughly two weeks, the university distributed over $370,000 to more than 800 students representing every college and school. The fund is now nearly depleted and applications are growing by the hour. Today, please help BSOS and the university, as a whole, support students in need. A gift, no matter the size, to the Student Crisis Fund will help our students meet their basic needs—transportation, food and housing—so that they may continue their education during these challenging times.
Please also consider donating to HESP to support our initiatives and students HESP URL: http://go.umd.edu/oft Our mailing address is: Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences University of Maryland 0100 Samuel J. LeFrak Hall 7251 Preinkert Dr. College Park, MD 20742 HESP URL: http://hesp.umd.edu/
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