Curry Communication Disorders Alumni Newsletter

SUMMER 2012

COMMUNICATION Disorders Faculty Updates

Filip Loncke took his largest group yet of students to Europe earlier this summer. See inside for the full story.

Jane Hilton traveled to the Center for Autism Intervention Barbieux, in Roubaix, France, to provide lectures on two programs for children with autism. She taught them how to do a modified natural play-based program and a modified structured program. She then spent several days working directly with the children and teachers adapting the two programs for use with specific children who attend school at the center. A student from our undergraduate program traveled with her as a translator.

They then traveled to University College Ghent, in Ghent, Belgium, to teach university students about autism. She provided a handson workshop using a video case.

Students created goals, wrote treatment plans and lesson plans, and practiced taking data on the goals.

More Faculty Updates Inside

Editor: Randall R. Robey, Director Communication Disorders Program Communication Disorders is published by the Curry School of Education and is sponsored by the Curry School of Education Foundation, P.O. Box 400276, Charlottesville, VA 22904 http://curry.virginia.edu/commdisnewsletter .

Program News

Growth and development continues

BY R AN DAL L R . R OBE Y, D I R EC TOR

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reetings friends and alums! This note comes to you at an exciting time for our Communication Disorders Program! We are in the middle of our growth and development plan and it is coming along nicely. I have many updates to share with you.

First, our undergraduate census is up to 50. That’s a 250% increase over baseline for us.

Ultimately, our goal calls for further growth, and I believe we are on track to meet that goal. In addition, we are in the process of adding two new courses to the undergraduate curriculum, and we will add another a little further down the line. The backstory here is that undergraduate and master’s enrollments are now very important in the University’s new fiscal model—and we are positioned to thrive in this new environment.

Our master’s degree program continues as a great strength for us. We received 300 applications last spring, and we are now preparing for the arrival of our incoming 2012 class of 27.

The credentials for this group are through the roof. For example, three individuals already have a master’s degree!

Faculty Searches

Looking forward, we will soon be adding two new faculty members. The first position will bring us a new assistant professor. This person will be dually appointed in our program and in Special Education. We are looking for someone to lead and integrate several autism and severe disability initiatives throughout Curry.

Among other responsibilities, the successful candidate will become the director of the Curry Autism Spectrum Services (CASS) program.

We are also in the process of hiring a clinical instructor to join us in the Sheila C. Johnson Center, with expertise in adult communication disorders. And staying with the clinic for a moment, we are now installing a new voice lab. This set of equipment will provide opportunities for our students to obtain state-of-the-art clinical experiences.

“we are positioned to thrive in this new environment.”

Keep in Touch!

In closing, I want to thank all of our alums who contacted us since the release of our first edition newsletter last summer and everyone who has submitted an update to our Alumni Class Notes. Please do more of that! We love hearing from you.

You can also follow our current classes of students on Facebook at Speech-Language Pathology at UVA. You will find fantastic individuals following in your footsteps.

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2012 International Research

BY F I LI P LO NCK E , AS S OC IAT E P R OF ES S OR & C OOR D I N ATOR COM MUN I CAT I O N DIS OR DER S IN T ER N AT IO N AL R E S E AR C H PR OG R AM

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negative correlation between articulatory acceleration and vowel space was found in a recent study conducted by nine students from the Curry School undergraduate program. They found that as rate of speech production increases, the vowel space decreases and vowel production becomes less precise.

The students looked at diadochokinesis, the rapidity with which an individual can produce and alternate sounds. In recent literature, the validity (predictability of intelligibility) and reliability of this procedure has been questioned. Few normed data are available to clinicians and researchers.

Our students traveled to Gent, Belgium, collected speech samples from 80 participants (42 females, 38 males), and conducted a phonetic acoustic analysis. Their work also confirmed a positive correlation between acceleration and formant compression ratio.

Summer 2012 marked the third consecutive year a group of our students has traveled overseas to conduct speech-pathology-related

research in an international context. The purpose of this program is to help students learn about and see how speech pathology is similar across cultures and languages – but also how it is specific to cultures and languages.

Conducting comparative research confirms the universal validity of the concepts students are learning. And of course, living in a different culture and country enlarges students’ perspective and scope.

Participants this year were Kasey Blevins, Tereza Conroy, Molly Hamil, Ashley Keezer, Julia Marzec, Karyn Pickett, Erica Price, Emily Riedel, and Lindsay Tuck. They departed on May 12 and spent six weeks in Europe.

In our second study, conducted in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, students focused on an important question in the field of augmentative and alternative communication: How do individuals really use graphic symbols? Are pictures a substitute for words, or are they processed in a non-linguistic way? The answers to these questions are important for both therapy and daily functioning!

Students analyzed how 28 Dutch college students managed to retell a story by selecting and pointing to pictures provided by the researchers. The study /// Filip Loncke emulated a situation in which a person who cannot speak might communicate by pointing to pictures.

The results suggest that the structures (such as subject–verb–object) produced by the participants were influenced by such factors as the number of graphic symbols available and the familiarity of students with the symbols.

The Curry students presented their research on June 20 at a symposium at Radboud University in Nijmegen. In the fall 2012 semester, they will continue to work on further analysis and produce a written report. They also intend to present at local conferences here in Virginia.

SLP Evidence-Based Practice Project Expands

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n 2009, LaVae Hoffman, assistant professor, completed a study of speech-language pathology evidence-based practices in Virginia schools. That investigation revealed that school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the Commonwealth had substantial training and resource needs that limited their ability to provide services to students who have communication deficits.

To begin to address some of these needs, Hoffman received funding from the Virginia Department of Education to create and distribute a digital newsletter for speech language pathologists who work in schools. It is called Talking EBP and is available online at curry.virginia.edu/TalkingEBP (URL is case sensitive).

Talking EBP summarizes recent evidencebased practice findings and provides updates 2

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relevant to best practices in speech-language pathology services in school settings. The first issue of Talking EBP was distributed in spring 2011. This free, semi-annual publication now has over 600 subscribers from several states.

In addition, Hoffman and the Department of Education have collaborated to form the Virginia School SLP Leadership Consortium, a select group of lead SLPs in the Commonwealth who provide input and suggestions to support the ongoing production of the newsletter. This Consortium met at the Curry School on July 11 to discuss upcoming newsletter topics and plan professional development activities for 2013.

To further examine EBP in our schools, Dr. Hoffman has collaborated with the Department of Education and the State Education Agencies Communication

Disorders Council to conduct an expanded study of practice patterns in schools across the nation.

This investigation activated professional /// LaVae Hoffman contact networks to reach out to school-based SLPs during January and February 2012. As a result, almost 2,800 practitioners in 28 states completed an online survey which queried SLPs’ specific training and practices, as well as their continuing education needs and preferences. The results of this study have been submitted for peerreviewed publication.

A Career of Service Alumna Profile: Lissa Power-deFur

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fter making her mark as a civil servant in Virginia’s Department of Education, Lissa Power-deFur (B.A. ’75, M.Ed. ’76, Ph.D. ‘82) returned to academia in 2004 to advance the profession of speech language pathology at both the state and national levels.

At Longwood University in Farmville, where she is a professor in the Department of Social Work and Communication Disorders, she prepares students for the SLP profession in a graduate program that didn’t exist until she set the wheels in motion.

She also continues to touch the lives of individual children and families throughout Southside Virginia. She directs Longwood’s Center for Communication, Literacy, and Learning, which offers early intervention services, speech and language evaluation and intervention for children and adults, as well as tutoring for school-aged children. She works with all children in the region who have experienced hearing loss. In the summer she also makes time to supervise Camp Loud and Clear, an overnight camp for deaf and hard-ofhearing kids.

Although Power-deFur is a knowledgeable, experienced, and motivated professional all on her own, at the root of almost any aspect of her career lies a Curry School influence, she says.

This observation is not surprising since she invested ten and a half consecutive years of her life earning three University of Virginia degrees in speech pathology and audiology.

Power-deFur entered Curry in 1971, with U.Va.’s second class of coed undergraduates.

The decade of the 70s was a pioneering period for speech language pathology, and Curry faculty members were on the forefront of state licensure and policy advances, as well as setting a course of community service.

“I had some great clinical experiences,” she says. She can remember specific class assignments that became useful years later, such as creating a budget for a community speech and hearing clinic.

She credits Prof. Ralph Bralley’s encouragement to pursue a doctorate degree encompassing her work in speech-language pathology, audiology, and deaf education with opening up numerous career opportunities for her over the years.

In 1986, after teaching for six years at Radford University, she moved to Richmond and took a job with VDOE as a speech, language, hearing specialist. She remained there for 18 years working in a variety of positions in special education, student services, and policy.

Her final position was director of student services, where she supervised such diverse programs as school health, Medicaid, Safe and Drug Free Schools, truancy, school psychology, family life education, mediation, parent education, and instructional support teams.

In 2004 she was ready to return to academia and took over at Longwood as chair of the Department of Education, Special Education, Social Work and Communication Disorders until the department was divided into two more-manageable units.

She remains an active member of ASHA at both the state and national levels, serving on a long list of committees. She also maintains influence in the Commonwealth.

Virginia governors have appointed her to two consecutive terms on the Virginia Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention Services. She currently chairs the council.

If there’s a thread running throughout Power-deFur’s distinguished career, it is service, she says—service to the public, whether in a state agency or a public university or a professional association or a community clinic or a children’s camp.

It’s a value instilled in her decades ago at the Curry School of Education.

More Faculty Updates LaVae Hoffman has forged a research and service partnership with SLPs in the Albemarle County Schools. Her collaboration will produce an exceptionally valuable research database and enhance educational services for children throughout the county.

Aliaa Khidr is the 2012 recipient of the “Dar Al-Hekma Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Speech-Language Pathology.” She received the prize this past June at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Anita McGinty is a research scientist with Curry’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. Last fall a paper on which she is second author received the 2010 Editor’s Award for the journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. The article (in Vol. 41) is entitled “Print-Focused ReadAlouds in Preschool Classrooms: Intervention Effectiveness and Moderators of Child Outcomes.”

A Sad Note Many of you have fond memories of Dr. Ralph Stoudt and his lovely and always gracious wife, Barbara.

With a heavy heart, we note that Barbara passed from us this past spring. Dr. Stoudt’s e-mail remains rjs3u@virginia.edu

Read more about Power-deFur’s service in an expanded article at curry.virginia.edu/commdisnewsletter

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CLASS NOTES

Jennifer Adams (M.Ed. ‘00) is managing partner with Atlanta Accent Management in Marietta, Ga. Fern Farris Andraos (B.S.Ed. ’06, M.Ed. ’08) is currently working at a pediatric private practice in northern Virginia called Skill Builders.

Teresa Bashant (B.S. ‘84) teaches ESL in Ballston Lake, N.Y. Rachel Bishop (M.Ed. ‘08) works with TALK, LC, in Richmond, Va. Lori Bobsin (Ph.D. ‘12) is coordinator of Aural Habilitation Program, U.Va. Health System.

Molly Bumpas (M.Ed. ‘02) is an autism spectrum specialist, South Burlington School District, Vt. Diane Chavira (M.Ed. ‘86) is a speech/language pathologist with Roanoke County Schools, Va. Charlene Christie (M.Ed. ‘79) is president of Sign Language Professionals, Inc., in Richmond, Va. Kristin Daus (B.S.Ed. ‘01) is a speech therapist with McLean Speech & Language Services in Va. Brittany Davis (B.S.Ed. ‘10, M.Ed. ‘12) is a speech language pathologist with Sheltering Arms in Richmond, Va. Preston Felty (M.Ed. ‘10) is a speech language pathologist with Sheltering Arms in Mechanicsville, Va. Maggie L. Frye (M.Ed. ’10) works with the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in W. Orange, NJ. Carolyn Gabbert (M.Ed. ‘10) is a speech language pathologist at Vanderbilt’s Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Carolyn Gosse (Ph.D. ‘12) is working at the Core Knowledge Foundation in Charlottesville.

Liz Harris (B.S. ‘78, M.Ed. ‘80) lives in Raleigh, No. Carolina.

Amy Hasselkus (B.S.Ed. ‘91) is associate director of health care services for ASHA. Muriel Roberts Heanue (B.S. ‘83) is assistant

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Submit your class note at curry.virginia.edu/classnotes

principal of Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Va. Linda Hollingsworth (M.Ed. ‘04) is a speech language pathologist in Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia.

Kimberly Imajo (M.Ed. ‘00) is an audiologist and owner of Richmond Hearing Doctors in Va. Stacy Soffe Izzo (M.Ed. ’95) and her husband Lenny Izzo (Col ’94) live in Eden Prairie, Minn., with their four sons, Tristan, Tyler, Griffin and Ryder.

Carson (Lewis) Kirsch (M.Ed. ‘00) is working with Starkey Hearing Foundation in Beverly Hills, Calif., as a staff audiologist.

Allison Leach (M.Ed. ‘95) has worked at the Curry School Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning since 2003.

Rebecca Lower (B.S. Ed. ‘91, M.Ed. ‘93) is a speech language pathologist in the Marietta City Schools, Powder Springs, Ga.

Jennifer (Melvin) Lutterbie (M.Ed. ‘10) is a speech-language pathologist with Team Therapy in Columbia, So. Carolina.

Ojus Malphurs, Jr. (Ph.D. ’70) founded Infant Hearing Services, a private practice in Jackson, Miss.

Barbara Mangels (M.Ed. ‘70) is a speech language pathologist with The Speech Center in Torrance, Calif.

Erin Mattingly (B.S.Ed. ‘03) is a speech language pathologist, National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Janet McCarty (B.S. ‘77, M.Ed. ‘78) is a private health plans advisor with ASHA in Rockville, Md. Jena McDaniel (B.S.Ed. ‘10) is currently employed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Laura Michie (M.Ed. ‘84) is a speech language pathologist in private practice in Frederick, Md.

Tracy Parfitt (B.S.Ed. ‘00) is an audiologist at the Syracuse VA Medical Center.

Meredith Powell (M.Ed. ‘06) is a speech language pathologist, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Carole Ramser (M.Ed. ‘89) works in Longwood University’s graduate SLP program.

Cynthia Robinson (M.Ed. ‘74) is co-director of Clarke Schools for Hearing & Speech in Jacksonville, Fla. Rebecca Rosenthal (M.Ed. ‘09) is the head speech language pathologist at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Fla. Brenda M. Ryals (Ph.D. ‘81) is the recipient of the 2012 Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology from the American Academy of Audiology.

Jessica Schwab (B.S.Ed. ‘03, M.Ed. ‘05) owns a new speech therapy practice in Lorton, Va. Rebecca Search (M.Ed. ‘09) sits on the board for the Houston Assoc. of Communication Disorders.

Melissa Simonian (M.Ed. ‘91) is director of SLP, Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital in Mass.

Kathryn Trolenberg (M.Ed. ‘01) is an audiologist, Riverside ENT Physicians & Surgeons, Newport News, Va. Jessica VanBrocklin (M.Ed. ‘12) is a speech language pathologist in Springfield, Va. Virginia Weill (M.Ed. ‘10) is a speech-language pathologist at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Gina Williamson (M.Ed. ‘78) is director of prof. development, A-Z Pediatric Therapy, Southlake, Tx.

Read more. Most submissions were abbreviated due to space limitations. You can read complete class notes online at curry.virginia.edu/commdisnewsletter

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