Communication Disorders newsletter 2013

SUMMER 2013

COMMUNICATION Disorders Faculty Updates LaVae Hoffman produced a series of webinars for the Virginia Department of Education on narrative language assessment

strategies. Find them at www.doe. virginia.gov/special_ed/disabilities/ speech_language_impairment Filip Loncke received the 2012 – 2013 outstanding service award from the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. He also led a group of speech pathology undergradiates on an annual summer international research trip to Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Jane Hilton traveled to Ghent, Belgium, again this year to present a variety of workshops on autism.

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 .

/// Graduate students gather outside each morning to welcome children to SPLISH, Curry’s annual six-week summer camp for children with autism. Children receive intensive, individualized speech-language intervention. In the afternoon, children ages 2 to 7 who experienced articulation and phonological problems are welcomed to SPLASH, where graduate students work with them on letter-sound awareness, as well as book sharing, circle time, and craft activities. Both programs are overseen by Jane C. Hilton, director of clinical services in the Speech-Language-Hearing Center.

Program News

BY R AN DAL L R . R OBE Y, D I R EC TOR C OM M U N I C AT I ON D I S OR D E R S PR OG R AM

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reetings alumni and friends! You will see that this edition of our newsletter includes personal and professional updates from so many of you. These notes are treasures. For me, it is delightfully touching and satisfying to learn where our friends are in their lives and what you are doing. After all, you are the embodiment and the legacy of the Communication Disorders Program at U.Va. Connecting with you, even for an instant, is prized.

I hope that you are catching up with one another as well. In fact, my hope is that this newsletter becomes an important medium for building, broadening, and integrating our community. In a sense, we are all bound together through experiences, common professional aspirations and passions, and friendships.

Turning to updates on this end, this has been an important year. I am happy to share with you that Dr. LaVae Hoffman was just promoted to Associate Professor. LaVae teaches our Phonetics, Language Disorders I and Cognitive/Linguistic Development courses. She regularly publishes her research on specific-language impairment, psychometric measurement, and clinical interventions. Furthermore, these newsletters report many of her other professional contributions to SLPs in the Commonwealth and throughout the nation. Indeed, LaVae is a national leader in our scientific discipline and in our clinical profession. She is a stalwart —continued on page 2

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Continued from page 1 member of our faculty and an enormously valued colleague.

I’ve chosen to highlight LaVae’s success

given the importance of her accomplishments.

In all fairness though, it is important to recognize the many accomplishments made by every member of our faculty. Our faculty is an integrated team, and together we have accomplished many large and significant goals—and we aren’t done yet!

In the next newsletter, I’ll highlight the accomplishments of another faculty member.

For now though, I’ll pass along all of their warm and happy greetings.

I’m pleased and proud to share with you that Jennifer Corena, our NSSLHA president, was

awarded the national 2013 NSSLHA Member Honors. Jennifer has been a dynamic and effective leader this past year, as have all of our NSSHLA officers. In fact, our entire student body is filled with bright, goal focused, and productive individuals. The next generation of professionals is an impressive lot and worthy of your legacy.

As for the development of our program, we now receive 300 applicants to our masters program each year, and their credentials are outstanding. For instance, it’s now common to receive a handful of applicants who already hold a masters degree in another field.

Our undergraduate program continues to grow in accordance with our strategic plan. We

now have an undergraduate census of 60-plus, and as we continue a pattern of hitting our productivity marks we will grow to 80 in the next three years.

Furthermore, we continue to develop new undergrad courses and market our offerings accordingly. We have become Curry leaders in this new era of fiscal responsibility. Presently, our faculty members are working on version 3.0 of our development plan. Your input in developing that plan is very important to us. Please write, call (434-924-6351), email (Robey@virginia.edu), or leave us a note on our Facebook

page (Speech Language Pathology at UVA) and share your thoughts on how we best plan for the future of our program.

Curry NSSLHA in Action

Graduate students in Curry’s Speech Path & Aud program volunteer at local Wounded Warriors Weekend

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or the past nine years, wounded veterans, their families and a vast number of sponsors and volunteers have gathered annually for a weekend at Wintergreen Resort in Nelson County, Va. They meet to ski and share their time together as friends, families and Americans.

Last January, students from our National Student Speech Language Hearing Association chapter joined the ranks of volunteers at the Wounded Warriors Weekend. Invited by Jane Hilton, nine students volunteered for a day of

the event. The students helped with hanging banners, selling banquet tickets, and hostessing.

They also met some of the veterans and their families as well as the sponsors who host these families for the weekend.

The Wounded Warriors Weekend is an annual event hosted by Wintergreen Adaptive Sports, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of people with disabilities through outdoor sports and recreation.

The organization provides adaptive instruction in snow skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, and

canoeing to anyone with a disability regardless of age.

New Outreach Service: CASS

Interdisciplinary program provides autism spectrum services

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he prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased dramatically in the past several years, with the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicating that 1 in 88 children in the U.S. currently is diagnosed with ASD. Schools and other agencies frequently do not have the expertise to conduct the complex assessments needed to make the diagnosis when appropriate and to determine what other issues may be operating when ASD is not indicated.

To help address this need in the central Virginia region, we established Curry Autism 2

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Spectrum Services (CASS) to provide assessments for children and adults suspected of having an autism spectrum disorder.

Three Curry outreach clinics work together to provide these evaluations through The Sheila C. Johnson Center for Human Services: The Speech-Language-Hearing Center, the McGuffy Reading Center and the Center for Clinical Psychology Services.

Every client is assigned a multidisciplinary team of highly trained and experienced clinicians that meets before, during, and after the full-day assessment.

Team members work together to develop client-specific recommendations to address

challenging behavior, including a safety plan, positive behavior support plan, and recommendations for implementing intervention.

Clinicians also provide visual supports to help create a comfortable testing environment.

Families often learn about CASS through community referrals, including schools, service providers, pediatricians, and word of mouth from clients.

Since establishing the program in 2011, CASS has completed approximately 40 comprehensive assessments. The program continues to grow and has become well known and respected in the community.

Read more: curry.virginia.edu/sjc

Alumna Marie Ireland

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arie

Ireland

(M.Ed.

The Curry School Foundation recognizes the generosity of the following alumni from our Speech Pathology & Audiology programs who made donations in fiscal year 2013:

‘97)

wants to see all speech-language pathologists maintaining the highest level of professional competence.

SLPs working in Virginia public schools know, though, that they are her primary concern.

Ireland has been the speech-language impairment specialist for the Division of Special Education and Student Services in the Virginia Department of Education for nearly a decade now.

A former lead SLP for Chesterfield County Public Schools, Ireland was selected for the position not long after Curry alumna Lissa Power-deFur left the VDOE to teach at Longwood University (see 2012 newsletter).

“I was delighted that Marie made the decision to move from Chesterfield County to the Virginia Department of Education to share her creativity and enthusiasm for the profession,” Power-deFur says. “She is an excellent presenter and has worked hard to engage schoolbased SLPs in thinking about evidence-based practice in their assessments and intervention.”

Ireland came to the Curry School after finishing a bachelor’s degree and undergraduate research fellowship in communication disorders at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I had recently relocated to Virginia with my husband and two young children and was seeking a graduate program with emphasis on research and clinical skill development,” Ireland explains. “The Curry School was a wonderful fit for my interests.”

She found the availability of faculty and emphasis on research invaluable. “Dr. Randy Robey was a significant influence during my time at Curry,” she says. “He balanced research and teaching and was a role model for service to the profession.”

Ireland noticed and admired the commitment to professional service modeled by many Curry faculty members and has tried to emulate their example in her own career.

She served on the Speech-Language Hearing Association of Virginia’s (SHAV) board of directors for six years, including one term as president. She has also served on the ASHA School Finance Committee, ASHA SLP Advisory Council, and ASHA Medicaid committee and served a term as president of the State Education Agencies Communication

Thank You!

Disabilities Council, a national consortium of state consultants.

In 2007, she was named a SHAV Fellow for her outstanding contributions to the profession and to the Association. “That was a great honor for me,” Ireland says. “I believe strongly that as professionals, we must be committed not only to our individual work, but to improving and advancing the profession as a whole.”

At the VDOE, Ireland is the state’s subject matter expert. She oversees training, stays abreast of research and current trends, answers regulatory questions from schools and districts, and provides professional development for SLPs, as well as for school administrators.

One of her first tasks back in 2005 was working on a team to develop the document Speech Language Pathology Services in Schools: Guidelines for Best Practice. She says that four other states have adopted the guide, which is now in its second iteration.

She also plays a small role in legislative matters, consulting in discussions relative to speech-language pathology. In 2010 she served on the professional team appointed by the Virginia General Assembly to assess the need for additional screening tools for early identification of dyslexia.

Ultimately, what Ireland loves most about her job is being able to see the impact of what she does, whether working with school professionals or parents.

And her advice to recent graduates of Curry’s speech language and pathology program? “Become involved and work diligently to stay abreast of the ever-changing clinical and professional issues. Your service to the profession is extremely valuable, so stay involved.”

Marcia Anderson

Vivian McBride

Teresa Anthony

Courtland Meyer

Margaret Bachman

Laura Michie

Emily Bohnsack

Diane Moore

Deborah Botuck

Katherine Morris

Cristin Brophy

Abigail Moul

Margaret Bruckhart

Jennifer Olson

Kathy Carter

Pamela Patterson

Barbara Cloud

Ilene Pearson

Sarah Colton

Mary Pearson

Jameson Costello

Karyn Pickett

Geraldine Cox

De Ann Posey

Marian Danse

Lissa Power-deFur

Patricia Dewey

Barbara Renner

Janet Fischer

Meghan Roe

Jessica Glidewell

Elizabeth Sanders

Penny Graves

Jessica Schwab

Sandra Greenberg

Kathleen Sisk

Molly Hamill

Nancy Skelly

Muriel Heanue

Cathryn Snyders

Pamela Heller

Linda St. Clair

Patricia Hesse

John Starke

Jennifer Hovland

Deborah Starliper

Stacy Izzo

Ralph Stoudt

Carol Jones-Curl

Ashley Taylor

Adrienne Kelly

Cynthia Valentine

Jeanne Lansing

Laura Funkhouser

Taylor Levine

Laura Weber

Dawna Lewis

Sarah Webster

Wendy Lybrand

Sonja Wich

Erin Mattingly

Brenda Willis

These gifts directly benefit Curry students and the quality of their educational experiences. Your support is very much appreciated!

You

?

Join the Curry School of Education Alumni group on LinkedIn Over 1,400 members strong

Read more about Marie Ireland at curry.virginia.edu/commdisnewsletter

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CLASS NOTES

Debra Arnold (M.Ed. ’87) presented at Michelle Garcia Winner’ s Social Thinking Conference in San Jose, Ca. Carrie Balazs (B.S.Ed ’04, M.Ed ’06) recently accepted a new position in acute care and polytrauma rehabilitation at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio, TX. Sharon (Miller) Brown (B.S. ’82) is working as a Speech Language Pathologist for Loudoun County Schools in Virginia. ...

Jenny Burton (M.Ed. ’05) completed her second year of coursework toward her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Cincinnati. ...

Jameson Costello (B.S.Ed. ’03) has been working as a speech-language pathologist since 2006 for the Albany Unified School District in Albany, CA. ...

Kaye Cox-Andrews (B.S. ’75, M.Ed. “76) “I love living in Asheville, NC, although I miss my home state of Virginia. Working with preschool and school age children is very satisfying!...”

Janice Dean (B.S.Ed. ’07) continues to work in the main office of the U.Va. Department of Astronomy. ...

Patricia Brown Doyle (M.Ed. ’67) “I worked for 4 1/2 years as a Speech Pathologist/Audiologist for the Fairfax County Health Dept. Married in 1971. Moved to Massachusetts and helped my husband start and run his own business in the insurance and investment course development area. ...

Carol Dudding (B.S. ’85) was promoted to associate professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. She serves as director of the Speech-Language Pathology graduate program....

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Susan Goerold White (B.S.Ed. ’73, M.Ed. ’74) retired 5 years ago from Virginia Beach City Schools after working as a speech language pathologist for 32 years at the elementary level.

Barbara Gorcys-Deane (M.Ed. ‘74) retired to Stone Creek, Ocala, Fla., after a career as an SLP and later as an HR Executive with McCormick & Co. and then Gannett Co. ...

Richard (Dick) Israel (B.A. ’60, M.Ed. ’61) “...Since 1976 I have been the owner of a small private practice in Silver Spring, Md., and am currently seeking a successor to inherit the good will and loyal following of patients and referral sources developed over these years....”

Carrie Jones (M.Ed. ’01) is working toward a Ph.D. focusing research on voice and Parkinson’s Disease at James Madison University.

Marta Keane (M.Ed. ’78) is now the CEO of the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, in Charlottesville.

Laura Leviski (M.Ed. ’11) recently accepted a position as an outpatient speech-language pathologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and moved to California in July.

Katherine Mackintosh (B.S. ’75, M.Ed.’76) “After being diagnosed with a chronic, unpreventable illness 11 years ago, I became interested in a healthier lifestyle. This has ultimately led me to a new career as an Integrative Health Coach....”

Devin Reaves (B.S.Ed. ’09, M.Ed. ’11) is a staff speech-language pathologist at the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in DC. ...

Cynthia Robinson (M.Ed. ‘74) CED, LSLS Cert, AVEd., has been co-director at the Jacksonville, Fla., campus of Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech since 2011. ...

Katie Schottinger (M.Ed. ’08) “It’s been wonderful to work with fellow alumni from the Curry School Communication Disorders Program at the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital!”

Clare Short (M.Ed. ’12) ... “I am currently in my clinical fellowship year working for an outpatient adult company named Ability Rehab, as well as for PRN for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s acute care hospital.”

Sue Spence (M.Ed. ’62) has retired at age 78. She was SLP for 11 years at Leary School for Emotionally-Disturbed Children in Alexandria, Va. She was an SLP for 49 years in seven different states, and adjunct professor of Speech and Psychology at St. Leo University.

Alison Sprengelmeyer (M.Ed. ’00) was recently appointed Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Clinical Education at the Speech Language Pathology Program currently being developed at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. Amy Van Vlack (M.Ed. ’12) is working as an SLP at the University of Michigan Health System covering acute care and inpatient rehab patients.

Jessica VanBrocklin (M.Ed. ’11) completed her clinical fellowship year in speech therapy following graduation and is now a practicing full-time certified SLP and feeding therapist at a pediatric private practice in Springfield, Va. ...

Kate Worcester (M.Ed. ’07) and her husband welcomed twin boy and girl, Ben and Bridget, on March 14, 2013.

Read more. Most submissions were abbreviated due to space limitations.

Read complete class notes and view photos online at curry.virginia.edu/ commdisnewsletter

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