Current News and Events in the Department of Communication Disorders
Congratulations!
The National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities (NJC) developed a new award to honor either an individual or team that exemplifies high quality professional service to individuals with severe disabilities. This award was created to honor the career contributions of James McLean, Ph.D. and David Yoder, Ph.D. These two individuals were premier research scientists who generated much of the original work in communication assessment and intervention specific to persons with severe intellectual disabilities.
Andrea Carmichael, M.S., CCC-SLP and her team of professionals who work for USD #489 (Hays, KS) were nominated by Amy Finch, Ph.D., Chair of Department of Communication Disorders at FHSU. Andrea and her assistive technology/augmentative-alternative communication team were one of three teams who received this award. We want to congratulate Andrea for collaborating so well with other professionals in her school district as well as with communication resources such as the Herndon Clinic.
The NJC has many resources available on their website for professionals working with individuals who present severe disabilities. Be sure to check out their website: http://www.asha.org/NJC/
ASHA Membership
- ASHA and NSSLHA members should register with the ASHA Website. Registration is required for members to access "member-only" content, one of the great benefits of membership!
- This registration will also provide you access to your Account which includes the following information:
- Account Maintenance
- Certification Maintenance
- Committees and Boards
- Membership
- Market Your Services
- ASHA Orders and Courses
Maintenance of ASHA Certification
- To find your interval, login to My Account then select the link under Certification Maintenance link, or contact the Action Center at 800-498-2071.
- Learn more at: Maintenance of ASHA Certification
Important Information for implementing Joint Commission Standard on Effective Communication
- Blackstone, S., Garrett, K, & Hasselkus, A. (January, 2011). New hospital standards will improve communication: Accreditation guidelines address language, culture, vulnerability, health literacy. The ASHA Leader,16, 1, p. 24.
- Hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission must adhere to new and revised standards intended to ensure that heal care providers communicate appropriately and effectively with patients and their families.
- These new guidelines provide an opportunity for speech-language pathologists and audiologists to provide education to other health care providers and to implement a variety of communication strategies, include the use of a variety of augmentative-alternative communication supports.
- The Joint Commission. (2010). Advancing effective communication, cultural competence, and patient- and family- centered care: A Roadmap for Hospitals. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Author. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2010 from http://www.jointcommission.org
- Discusses the need of hospitals to develop policies related to communication, cultural competence, and patient- and family-centered care
- Identify and document communication needs of patients including “language services, auxiliary aids, and augmentative and alternative communication resources” (p. 17)
- Note change in status in communication as a result of medical needs
- Figure 5-1, Sample Tool for Communication Assessment (p. 19)
- This roadmap provides a call to action to:
- Improve clinical practice to incorporate systematic and methodological approaches to patient-provider communication
- Optimize hospital availability and use of auxiliary services including increase frequency of referrals to specialists for “communication” purposes
- Revise health care policy and standards to set performance expectations for health care providers on patient-provider communication
- Costello, J, Patak, L. , Pritchard, J. (2010). Communication vulnerable patients in the pediatric ICU: Enhancing care through augmentative and alternative communication. Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine: An Interdisciplinary approach, 3, 289–301.
Summer Workshops
| Intervention Techniques for Children in the Prelinguistic and Early Stages of Language Development |
Presenter: Shelley L. Bredin-Oja, M.S. |
June 13-14, 2011
8:30-4:30 |
| Evidence-based Practices Guiding Language Intervention with School-age Children |
Presenter: Ronald B. Gillam, Ph.D. |
June 15-16, 2011
8:30-4:30 |
For more information on tuition and registration, please view our continuing education information.
Conferences
Amy Finch, Ph.D. attended the 11th Annual Conference on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) January 24-26, 2011. She presented a poster which focused on academic and clinical education for SLPs as AAC practitioners. Her poster summarized three recent studies by graduate students related to the video modeling for children with autism. The results of these three studies showed that video modeling was effective in teaching social initiations and responses as well as teaching requesting using the use of a sentence strip in which one and two symbol combinations were taught. The conference topic focused on the graduate academic and clinical education in AAC.
The Division 12 AAC Conference was held in conjunction with the Assistive Technology Industry Association's (ATIA) annual conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference allowed individuals in the area of assistive technology and AAC to interact with all of the major manufacturers of specialized software and devices as well as attend focused presentations on AAC and education for individuals with complex communication needs.
Changes
Marcy Beougher returned to FHSU this spring on a part-time basis as a clinical supervisor. Her supervision responsibilities are at the Herndon Clinic and Tiger Tots. We are excited to have her as a part of the faculty once again!
Please join the Fort Hays chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) sponsoring the “Stroll to San Diego” 5K run/walk to be held Saturday, April 30th. Proceeds for the race will benefit the graduate members of NSSLHA attending a national convention in San Diego next fall. The annual ASHA convention allows students and professionals to network, attend presentations and present current research. Please print and mail in the attached form to reserve your spot!
2011 Speech Sprint 5K Run/Walk Registration Form
We enjoy hearing from all of our alumni on the latest happenings in your lives. Please feel free to email information to any faculty or staff member or infoslp@fhsu.edu.
Spring/Summer 2010
Fall 2009