ASP 2022 Newsletter

UTHSC Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology Annual Newsletter

2021 in Review

Points of Pride As we improve life’s connections through excellence in teaching, research, and clinical care, our department embraces new opportunities across both disciplines to expand our impact on students, patients, and the hearing and speech sciences. - Dr. Ashley Harkrider Total Enrollment

Degree Programs

252 Students

In-state / Out-of-State

160

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92

Externship Locations in

16 States

33 Faculty participating in 12 research cores Amplification Technology Auditory Physiology Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Autism

Campus Clinics by the Numbers

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Faculty

of supervision 10,159 Hours in 18 evaluation and treatment areas

9,864 This issue:

Services provided to 1,876 patients in 13 states

Room for Growth

Student scholarships and travel awards grew somewhat this academic year. Your support would enable us to offset the skyrocketing costs of education and living even more. See page 6.

14 Scholarships $32K Awarded 23 Students Impacted

Cognition Language Literacy Perception of Sound Singing and Voice Speech Production Stuttering Vestibular Function

*Advancing Science and Knowledge

*Charitable Foundation, Warm Welcomes

*Time Flies

*Impacting Community

*Gathering Again

*Escape from Neyland

Pgs 2-3

Pgs 4-5

Pgs 6-7

Pgs 8-9

Pgs 10-11 Pg 12

Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Advancing Science and Student Knowledge

Dr. Eun Jin Paek was recently awarded an R03 Small Research Grant from National Institute of Health - National Institute of Aging. Dr. Paek, and her collaborator, Dr. Si On Yoon, from the University of Iowa, are examining how individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their caregivers address social communication changes related to the progression of dementia. Specifically, Dr. Paek and Dr. Yoon, in addition to their individual lab research teams, aim to understand and develop compensation strategies to address social communication deficits that individuals with ADRD often experience.

Dr. Paek shared, “This is an exciting project, not only because it addresses a need, but also because the grant mechanism was established to train the next generation of researchers in Alzheimer’s disease research.”

Dr. Paek and Dr. Yoon started their data collection in the fall of 2021. Stay tuned for exciting results from this dynamic research team.

Music to Our Ears Drs. Molly Erickson, Patti Johnstone, Mark Hedrick, and Kelsey Klein were awarded a GRAMMY Museum® grant for their proposal entitled “The Survey of Music Enjoyment: Application to Pre- and Post- lingually Deafened Cochlear Implant.” AuD graduate student, Josh Rudes, who is a music enthusiast and also has hearing loss, will be collecting data for this project. This is the first GRAMMY Museum® grant that an ASP researcher has received. Way to go team!

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Moving forward in LEAPS and bounds!

Children with complex communication needs (CCN) require a support network that is trained specifically to acknowledge their exceptional abilities and provide individualized support which can lead to optimal communication competence. In schools, special education teachers as well as speech-language pathologists are uniquely positioned to impact children with CCN. Researchers at UTHSC and University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) are preparing students for this work.

Drs. Jillian McCarthy and Ilsa Schwarz were awarded a 5-year, $1,100,00 grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for the proposal “Preparation to Support Young Children with Complex Communication Needs Who Benefit from Assistive Technology/Augmentative or Alternative Communication Systems (Project Early LEAPS).” Dr. MariBeth Coleman, in special education, and Dr. Kristen Secora, in deaf education and special education, at UTK are serving as co-directors on the grant. Allison Wegman in ASP and Donna Alderman in special education are serving as project coordinators.

Over the grant period, Early LEAPS will provide three consecutive semesters of free tuition for 17 graduate students from the speech-language pathology program and 17 students in the special education program at UTK’s Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education.

The focus of the preparation is on family-centered early intervention and designed to improve the early language and pre-literacy skills of young children with complex communication needs who use or would benefit from augmentative or alternative communication systems.

Our team recognizes the heterogeneous nature of children with complex communication needs and looks forward to preparing grant trainees to serve as direct service providers and consultants to other early intervention professionals.

-Dr. Ilsa Schwarz

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Let’s Play!

Drs. Erinn Finke and Jillian McCarthy in collaboration with Lauren Broyles, Knox County Schools SLP, and Janice Reese, occupational therapist with Little Tennessee Valley Education Cooperative (LTVEC), were awarded a UT Alliance of Women’s Philanthropists Giving Circle grant. The grant team aimed to create and install low-tech augmentative-alternative communication (AAC) boards on playgrounds across East Tennessee. After a slight COVID delay, the first group of communication boards was created and installed at 10 elementary schools and one preschool. Each board was designed in conjunction with school staff, ensuring the vocabulary and symbols displayed were unique to each school’s play space. Additionally, for schools with a large number of students who speak English as a second language, boards with both English and Spanish were developed.

Anderson County Schools SLP, Saskia Splane, shared, "The playground communication board is a great success with our kids! The preschoolers have really taken to it. The kids who do not use oral speech, along with their peers, are using it to add another layer to their current communication. It's more common now for students to go to the board to communicate instead of having a meltdown because they are not understood. Not that our students NEVER have meltdowns, but there are fewer and that's a wonderful thing! They are able to express their wants and needs."

Over the next year, the grant team will work with each of the school programs to use individual AAC boards to stimulate conversation for all children during recess or outside play time. The researchers will also be working with other programs to develop and install additional communication boards.

See you on the playground!

It's more common now for students to go to the board to communicate instead of having a meltdown because they are not understood.

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Giving Sound,

Changing Lives The Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee’s (CAC) mission is simple: “Helping People. Changing Lives.” Toward that goal, CAC’s Office on Aging has a program called “Gift of Hearing” which offers, through grant funding, exams and hearing aids, for persons, age 50 and over, who qualify financially.

Sara Mary Wallace from CAC approached ASP in 2021 to provide services and hearing aids to recipients. “We've recently had a growing need from seniors for hearing aids.

UTHSC Audiology serves our clients quickly and with compassion. Our recipients have expressed nothing but praise and gratitude not only for the hearing aids, but also for the excellent care they received."

“It’s a wonderful program — an absolute Godsend! I never thought I could get hearing aids because I couldn’t afford them.”

-Patricia Cremeans

ASP was able to work closely with hearing instrument company, Unitron, to offer recipients one or two hearing aids, whichever is needed, to meet their hearing needs and, hopefully, improve their quality of life. Patricia Cremeans (shown above), who works as a switchboard operator, noted, “I could hear my keys for the first time in ages! I wear the hearing aids everyday. They are a great fit for exactly the type of work I do.”

UTHSC Audiology expects to serve approximately 150 individuals through the program.

FUTURE Investment To help young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities successfully transition from high school to adult life, ASP expanded its collaboration with UTK’s FUTURE Postsecondary Education Program.

In 2021, Jennifer Wilson and Emily Noss received a Diversity and Inclusion Mini-Grant from UTHSC to improve jobs skills and community integration for FUTURE students.

During the grant period, FUTURE students met weekly with ASP faculty and SLP students to address on-campus living.

WEEKLY TOPICS conflict management navigating campus setting boundaries communication during emergencies taking others' perspectives

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Charitable Foundation Sidekick Therapy Partners with ASP

Welcome, Amanda

BS, University of Tennessee (1990)

Amanda Armstrong joined UTHSC as Director of Regional Development in September.

Amanda has a personal perspective of ASP. Her daughter, Lauren, a third year AuD student who wears binaural cochlear implants, received therapy at ASP from age 4 months until she was five. Amanda continued to remain in touch throughout Lauren’s childhood, participating in a variety of department-sponsored activities.

Amanda has worked for various organizations during the past 25 years including Alzheimer’s Tennessee, InterFaith Health Clinic, and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. She is excited to join UTHSC in her new development role!

For more information about supporting ASP students, faculty, and patients, please email aarmst36@uthsc.edu.

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Sidekick Therapy Partners consistently provides clinical teaching opportunities to students and Clinical Fellows in the Knoxville, Johnson City, and Nashville regions. Recently, the company endowed a scholarship for UTHSC SLP students. By doing this, Sidekick supports students who desire to impact lives in local communities.

As Trish Vaughn, Talent Acquisition Partner of Sidekick says, “We have found most students want to stay in the area, and we want to be the pediatric employer of “UTHSC has such a strong choice while being program that aligns well with known as a great place to our professional values and work. We are thrilled mission, we are excited about about this opportunity.” the opportunity to strengthen With 40 years of our relationship and have experience and over access to more great Clinical 130 therapists who vary Fellowship candidates.” in areas of specialization,

Sidekick provides high-Justin Graham, President, quality care so their Sidekick patients can become the heroes of their own journeys. A large number of their therapists are ASP alumni.

Because of Sidekick’s excellence in interdisciplinary pediatric care, Dr. Ashley Harkrider is confident students will benefit from their training and delighted when alumni join their team of professionals. “We are grateful for Sidekick’s commitment to supporting the next generation of SLPs.”

Warm Welcomes With the arrival of an early interventionist, social worker, and occupational therapist, the Pediatric Language Clinic now offers an interdisciplinary approach to serving young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or social delay.

Tricia

Marci

Hart

Tricia Diambra, MEd, EI, Marci Hopson, MSSW, and Hart Wagner, OT, provide direct homeand center-based services to families of children, ages 0-3, who have red flags for autism or an autism diagnosis. ASP, OT, and Education students benefit from this interdisciplinary model.

New Additions to Clinical Faculty Steffanie Barber has worked in a variety of settings for the

Steffanie (center) and her SLP student work with a client who has Broca’s aphasia.

past twenty years as a medical SLP, including acute care, inpatient and outpatient rehab, and home health services. She is supervising students who are seeing adult patients for traditional evaluations and treatment of neurogenic communication disorders.

In addition, she and her students are offering 3 classes a week that provide support and continued resources for adults with aphasia and other communication disorders; two being held via Zoom and one in-person at the UT Conference Center. The classes provide opportunities for individuals to connect with one another, participate in a variety of speech-language activities, as they are navigating their rehabilitation journey.

Kim Almand has a background in acute care, inpatient, and outpatient rehabilitation settings. She is a faculty member with the International Association of Laryngectomees and director and editor of WebWhispers, an online laryngectomy support group. Since joining UTHSC, Kim launched the New Voice Laryngectomee Support Group for those who have lost their voices—usually to cancer. The monthly group, led by students, is open to all those who have had a laryngectomy, their family, friends, and caregivers. Participants share about their grieving process and how to adjust to a new voice and an unexpected way of living.

Kim (far left) teaches SLP students correct hand positioning for the rigid endoscope to view vocal fold dynamics in real time.

Group topics: tips for managing the bodily changes that accompany surgery methods for voice restoration where to obtain supplies how to manage the cost associated with the use of equipment.

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Gathering Again In May, 2 PhD students (Mary Easterday, Amanda Simmons), 51 MS-SLP students, and 20 AuD students earned their degrees. Professors jumped for joy!

Dr. Simmons

It was our pleasure to host Commissioner Brad Turner and the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities leadership team as they visited the Pediatric Language Clinic (PLC) in June. The group engaged with faculty and staff and heard from MS-SLP student, Abigail Clarke, who shared the value of PLC’s early intervention practicum during her graduate program.

Later in the year, PLC hosted a successful trunk-or-treat event for their clients, giving children a chance to enjoy a fall activity that often overwhelms little ones with sensory issues.

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In August, Hall of Fame inductee, Tamika Catchings, returned to Knoxville to co-host her youth basketball clinic with ASP. In its third year, the clinic had a fantastic turnout of patients from our therapy programs, as well as children from the Boys & Girls Clubs and the general public. Tamika and our fabulous on-court coaches taught the children basketball skills and life lessons. We had a lot of great off-court assistants and Tamika’s family was there to help us. The Regal Teen Center gym was filled with laughs, dribbles, lay-ups, and fist bumps—all guided and provided by an amazing corps of VOLunteers!

ASP faculty and students from the National Student Speech-LanguageHearing Association participated in the ASHFoundation 5K Walk.

Beginner’s Bash for faculty and returning students to meet and greet our newest ASP family members.

Sertoma’s Walk for Sound to promote hearing health in the community.

Ice Cream Social—When they escape the lab, PhD students like fun in the sun too!

“This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful in a word, more alive.”

-Alice Waters

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Time Flies While the completion of our Phase One move to the UT Conference Center kept us plenty busy in 2021, the department had many other things that filled our calendar last year.

In March, Drs. Erinn Finke and Jillian McCarthy hosted a brown bag discussion for anyone interested in learning more about supporting individuals with severe disabilities. This complements the development of a new Severe Disabilities and AAC concentration for ASP students.

Our NSSLHA group celebrated May is Better Speech and Hearing Month by handing out bookmarks and earplugs at the Student Union and other places around campus. Even Smoky knows the importance of protecting those big ears!

Did you know?

Tricia Hedinger hosts a podcast called “Stutter Stories” that features an international guest list of people who stutter. Episodes feature guests from Australia, Belgium, Ghana, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Brazil and the US. More than 90% of episodes ranked in the top 50th percentile for podcast downloads, with 3 episodes making the top 25! To listen, search “Stutter Stories” on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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In April, the virtual Sol Adler Memorial Conference attracted 120 participants to hear Dr. Abby Green, an occupational therapist (OT) from Jefferson County Schools, as our keynote speaker.

Attendees then participated in discussions with other OTs, including: Dr. Anne Zachry, UTHSC; Rachael Roper and Rachel Runyon, Blount Memorial Hospital; Stephanie Kirby, UT Medical Center; and Amy Miller. The collective effort from professionals across our community made this event a huge success!

Dr. Ellen Hamby (front center) was easy to celebrate at her retirement gathering in April. Dr. Hamby is shown here with current and former SLP faculty who showered her with love and appreciation for her 22 years of service to ASP. In August, Dr. Patrick Plyler agreed to serve as the College of Health Professions Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs. Dr. Plyler will continue his role as Program Director for the AuD program and coordinate promotion, tenure, and post-tenure reviews and annual evaluations for our College.

Congratulations, Dean Plyler!

In September, we were pleased to have Dr. Devin McCaslin as our featured presenter for the 9th Annual Tom Davidson Conference. We had the largest professional attendance in the history of the conference, with people joining us virtually from around the U.S.

Dr. Sue Hume’s retirement reception in August brought together many friends, family, and current and former colleagues to celebrate 27 years in the department. She is shown here with Dr. Ann Michael, whom Dr. Hume worked with at the UTHSC Hearing and Speech Center.

In October, Dr. Cheryl Gunter, Associate Dean of the College of Health Sciences at West Chester University and alumna of our program, shared about her international experiences in places such as the University of Malta. The Fulbright scholar encouraged us to think about impacting our fields beyond our borders! Dr. Gunter also recently established a scholarship that supports undergraduate travel to conferences.

In October and November, AuD graduate students offered free hearing screens to our new downtown neighbors.

It was the “best day ever” for Sierra, a long term patient and recipient of a new set of hearing aids from the Tamika Catchings Amplification Assistance Fund, when Tamika Zoomed in to visit Sierra during her appointment.

NSSLHA continued to be fantastic ambassadors for ASP! In October (above), they showed up big by volunteering at the Downtown Sertoma’s Oktoberfest and in November (below), they hosted a Cyclebar event to raise funds for Tennessee Hands & Voices.

UTK’s Delta Zeta made a donation to the department in December for holiday gifts for pediatric therapy patients and amplification assistance for college-age students. Thank you!

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Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology University of Tennessee Health Science Center UT Conference Center 600 Henley Street, Suite 119 Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Escape From Neyland It finally happened! Our department no longer has a presence in South Stadium Hall. Our team of UT movers was phenomenal, and our staff and faculty showed some true grit, as this was truly an enormous task. Note Dr. Harkrider’s shirt below which reads “Escape from Neyland.” She’s been saving it for a LONG time! While the new address for most of our department is now 600 Henley Street, don’t forget that the Hearing and Speech Center is still located at 1600 Peyton Manning Pass and the Pediatric Language Clinic can be found at 2023 Lake Avenue. These two locations will move to the Conference Center when Phase Two renovations are complete.

Top center: Audiology Clinic receptionists, Grace Caldwell and Stephanie Henry, had the daunting task of packing more than 150 boxes of files to prepare for the move.

Bottom center: Dr. Beth Humphrey had the last appointment in the stadium, with Jacob, a 19 year old patient who has been coming to our clinic for audiology services since he was two.

phone: (865) 974-5019 / email: asp@uthsc.edu / website: www.uthsc.edu/asp

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PAN: E07-3740-001-22