COMMUNICATIONSUMMER 2014

H ello alumni and friends! Greetings from Charlottesville. I see that many of you have written us with updates regarding

your professional and personal lives. I find that a great source of pleasure and satisfaction. Thank you one and all.

I am writing you with good news. This past year was our Site Visit season for reaccreditation by ASHA’s Council on Academic Accreditation. While the re-accreditation process is something we attend to throughout each academic year, every eight years that process intensifies in a special yearlong project that culminates in a two-day assessment by a team of site visitors into every aspect of our program.

I am pleased to report to you that our communication disorders program was accredited for another full eight-year cycle. This successful outcome is the product of many good works made by each of our faculty members. I have the honor and pleasure of working in a fully integrated, mutually supporting, as well as exceptionally positive and productive, team.

Furthermore, our current students, alumni, and our colleagues in many affiliating practicum sites came together with us and “made it happen.” I’d like to take this forum to personally thank the members of our team and our many friends.

Once again, I am exceptionally pleased to share good news concerning our students. First, Elizabeth Stepansky was awarded the third-place winner in the 2014 ASHA Student

You are Invited to an

All-Curry Alumni ReunionFriday, October 24, 7-9 p.m.

Food, drinks, music, tours

More information at curry.virginia.edu/celebrateruffner

Disorders

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Program NewsBY RANDALL R. ROBEY, DIRECTOR

COMMUNICATION DISORDERS PROGRAM

Editor: Randall R. Robey, DirectorCommunication 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

.

—continued on page 2

Filip Loncke published a new book, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), with Plural Publishing. It is an orientation in theory and practice of solutions and interventions for individuals with little functional speech. It explores the possibilities of using alternatives varying from non-tech solutions (like manual signing) to high-tech solutions (speaking devices) and, more recently, the use of dedicated apps.Read about our summer undergraduate research in Europe on the newsletter website.

LaVae Hoffman’s primary research focus during 2013-2014 was the collection of norming data for a revision of the Test of Narrative Language, a prominent assessment instrument that was authored by Ronald Gillam. The TNL-2 will be published by ProEd Inc. The new edition is expected to be released in fall or winter of 2014.Read more about her recent activities in the online version of the newsletter.

Faculty Updates

BY JANE HILTON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Program News continued from page 1

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S PLISH and SPLASH were in full swing again this summer as well as provision of services to

individual clients! Summer is always an excit-ing time in the Speech-Language-Hearing Center, and this one was no exception!

We had 10 associate clinicians par-ticipating in both our summer camps: SPeech-Language Intensive Summer Help (SPLISH) and SPeech-LAnguage Summer Help (SPLASH).

SPLISH provides intensive services to young children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The children this year were between the ages of 2 and 6 years of age, and communication skills ranged from non-verbal to verbal to learning to use augmenta-tive-alternative communication devices.

Associate clinicians have sharpened their clinical skills, learning behavior management and flexibility in provision of services. They also learned how iPads can be used to facili-tate a child’s communication skills. To foster client’s social skills the associate clinicians learned many new songs and relearned many of their own childhood favorites. “I’m a Little Teapot” was a popular tune.

SPLASH was also a wonderful learning opportunity for everyone this summer. Five children between the ages of 3 and 5 years participated. Three graduate students working

with the children learned to use the natural environment to foster vocabulary growth, reciprocal communication, and appropriate articulation and phonological skills.

Focusing on a weekly story theme, the children were instructed in fun and age- appropriate craft activities that emphasized the letter of the week, rhyming, sound-letter correspondence and other phonological aware-ness. Many of the SPLASH program partici-pants come from local school districts.

Our individual clients continued to be seen over the summer too. Areas addressed included fluency disorders, adult neurogenic commu-nication, and language clients. We also had a Pragmatic Language group this summer to address the area of social communication skills.

It has been a full, busy summer with many opportunities for our students to learn, grow and experience the field of speech-language pathology!

Jamiee McCurdy, Track II, second year grad-uate student reports, “The kids are great and we are learning so much! This is where the ‘rubber meets the road’, and we are learning to put to work what we have been learning all year.”

We are very proud of the hard work that all the graduate students put into providing the excellent services that the Curry School is known for, and we are proud of the growth they demonstrated.

I’m a Little Teapot

Ethics Essay Award contest. Liz’s essay was titled, “Thoughts on Trust & Responsibility: Choosing to Act Ethically in the Absence of Compelling Consequences.”

Second, Megan Crawford (our NSSLHA president) was awarded NSSLHA Member Honors. Each year, a few student leaders across the nation are singled out for their outstanding service to their local NSSLHA chapters, to the greater national association, and to individuals with communication dis-orders. Megan’s leadership has been nothing short of excellent.

Third, Megan, together with all of our NSSLHA officers and all of our students, were once again awarded Gold Chapter Honors in the 2014 national competition (the highest award). Our students are amazing!

They exemplify the highest ideals of our profession and the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, and they are leaders on the national stage.

I am pleased to introduce to you Robin E. Morlier, M.S., CCC-S. Robin is our newest faculty member. Robin received her bache-lor’s and master’s degrees at Baylor University.

She is a Level-2 Bilingual (Spanish) SLP. She has many years of clinical experience in a variety of service-delivery models. Robin is now a Clinical Instructor and she is responsible for our adult and pediatric clients presenting with neurogenic communication disorders as well as clients with voice disorders. Robin’s expertise also comprises dysphagia, accent modification, and culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

We are excited about the All-Curry Reunion coming up on October 24, in con-junction with the Ruffner Hall Reopening Celebration. I hope that many of you can join us. The school is designating the 24th as “Alumni Day,” and I’ll be in touch with you in a few weeks if we are able to organize any special events specifically for Communication Disorders alumni on that Friday afternoon. Email me if you have any ideas (rrr7w@virginia.edu).

In closing, I’ll direct your attention to the updates of good works by professors Loncke, Hilton, and Hoffman. Also, please check out the updates from your alumni colleagues. And please, continue to be in touch. We love to hear from you.

Help a Child or an Elderly Adult Receive Clinical

ServicesFollowing the lead of our students who regularly fund at least one child in our Summer SPLISH or SPLASH programs, we’ve established a scholarship fund for children and elderly adults who otherwise could not afford clinical services. Contributions from $5 and up will be dedicated to funding the cost of speech-language pathology and audiology services for those in need. Please specify “Speech Pathology and Audiology Fund” and “Account FAS-126” when making your gift.

Via credit card: uvafund.virginia.edu/

gifts-deposits

Via phone: 434-243-9000 and ask

for Gift Accounting.

By check payable to ‘Speech

Pathology and Audiology Fund’

and mailed to: UVA Fund, P.O. Box

400314, Charlottesville, VA 22904-

4314

Thank you for considering

this opportunity to make a

meaningful difference.

Thirty years after stepping up to her first leadership role in the American S p e e c h - L a n g u a g e - H e a r i n g

Association, and more than four decades after earning a master’s degree in speech pathology and audiology at the Curry School, Elizabeth McCrea is serving as 2014 ASHA president.

McCrea began her career as an SLP in the 1960s at a time when the bachelor’s degree was the entry requirement for practice. After two years working in schools she decided to upgrade to a master’s degree. The beauty and history of central Virginia attracted her to U.Va., but the quality of the communication disorders program affirmed her choice.

“It was one of the best decisions and one of the best years of my early career,” McCrea says of her time here at the Curry School. “I just loved it.”

Having a medical school on Grounds was important to her, and she appreciated the cohe-siveness of the small program. “It was the com-radery, the support, the interactions between students and between students and faculty. We had great access to faculty,” she says.

After completing her degree, she worked for two years in Richmond, splitting her time between the public schools and a free hospital for children, where she worked in a craniofacial clinic providing screening services, communi-cation intervention and family education.

When the Curry School program tapped her to supervise some of its practicum students dur-ing summer semester, McCrea’s career began to diverge from her initial training. Here’s how she explained it to The ASHA Leader:

“I discovered that I really enjoyed engaging students as they worked to develop and refine their own clinical skills and practice. It was challenging, fulfilling, fun, full of discovery. However, it was immediately clear to me that successful clinical education interactions were not as direct or easy as they might seem. And I had no preparation for them beyond my own practicum experiences as a student. The search for this preparation is what led me to pursue a Ph.D. and, later, the opportunity to join a faculty.”

She became an assistant clinical professor at Indiana University in 1987. In 2005 she was promoted to clinical professor, and she retired in 2011. She focused her research

on relationships between clinical educators and student clinicians. At the beginning of her academic career there were no informed models of clinical education practices in the discipline, she says. “Nor was there even a good understanding of the dynamics within the clinical education process.”

In 2003, she and Judith Brasseur published The Supervisory Process in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology to preserve much of the early developmental research about clinical education in the field. The book also presented a model for clinical education that takes into account the experience and growing indepen-dence of graduate students.

Her service to the profession began early in her career, when she chaired an ASHA pro-gram subcommittee in 1984. She has continu-ously accepted leadership roles at ASHA since then and has been an ASHA fellow since 2001.

“Being ASHA president, of course, is a seminal achievement, something I didn’t start out to do,” she says. “I felt a responsibility to the profession from the very beginning, not only to patients, clients, and students.... I’m proud of a history of supporting the profession.”

Even though she is retired from her faculty position, McCrea still remains active in the profession. She is an adjunct faculty mem-ber for Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. After completing her year as past president in 2015, she says she may do more community volunteering.

She also keeps an eye on what’s happening at the Curry School: “I’m really proud of the University, and it’s been fun to watch the pro-gram grow and transition.”

Elizabeth McCrea, M.Ed. ‘69

3C O M M U N I C AT I O N D I S O R D E R S • S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

ASHA President

Read more about McCrea in the full version of this article at curry.virginia.edu/commdisnewsletter

Thank You!

The Curry School Foundation recognizes the generosity of the following alumni from our Speech Pathology & Audiology programs who made donations in fiscal year 2014, which ended on June 30:

Bettye E. Anderson

Marcia A. Anderson

Teresa Kurtz Anthony

Carrie L. Balazs

Karen Y. Bartishevich

Jordan Meloy Bills

Deborah A. Botuck

Margaret N. Bruckhart

Frank M. Butts

Emily H. Carmody

Kathy E. Carter

Carolyn Y. Cathey

Alexandra Troy Clair

Barbara L. Cloud

Paula Sue Cochran

Tayler M. Corcoran

Geraldine Sparks Cox

Anne Carrington Croft

Elizabeth Gunter Daly

Marian Burnett Danse

Carolyn Kepple Dewalt

Patricia T. Dewey

Beth P. Diamonstein

Janet L. Fischer

Sandra O. Greenberg

Laura K. Grigull

Diane Noon Harpster

Michele T. Havey

Patricia Anne S. Hesse

Lauren M. Hurlburt

Richard H. Israel

Stacy A. Izzo

Gwendolyn J. Kassoff

Susan L. Kennedy

Laura R. Kohlroser

Katherine S. Lambert

Heidi H. Lang

Rebecca A. Lower

Janne H. Mack

Katherine Mackintosh

Jillian Turner Martin

Vivian D. Mcbride

Janet Platt Mccarty

Courtland G. Meyer

Diane L. Moore

Katherine M. Morris

Donna H. Muschlitz

Sharon B. Parente

Margaret Pearce

Ilene G. Pearson

Mary G. Pearson

De Ann S. Posey

Barbara R. Renner

Elizabeth C. Sanders

Roma M. Shickel

Kathleen Flynn Sisk

Nancy S. Skelly

Linda G. St. Clair

John G. Starke

Deborah S. Starliper

Ralph J. Stoudt

Lorraine D. Tyler

Laura F. Weber

Priscilla T. Wilcox

Brenda B. Willis

Sarah J. Zimmerman

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

Join theCurry School of

Education Alumni group on LinkedIn

Over 1,900 members strong

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COMMUNICATION

Amy Callahan (M.Ed. ’11) is living in Ann Arbor, Mich., and continues to work at the University of Michigan Health System as a speech-language pathologist. ...In August 2013 she married Sean Callahan...Kathy Carter (B.S. ’78; M.Ed. ’80) after leav-ing a career in technical communication, has been involved in teaching youth through Scouts, church, and school groups. ...She lives in Chelsea, Mich.Kelly Duncan (B.S.Ed. ’06, M.Ed. ’08) recently accepted a new position to work as a speech-language pathologist in Forsyth County Schools in Georgia, after working at an elementary school in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia for the last six and a half years.Megan Greear (M.Ed. ’12) is employed as a speech-language pathologist at Envoy Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation in Staunton, Va., and is getting married in November!Andrea Hedley-Williams (B.S. Ed. ’85), a recent clinical doctorate in audiology graduate, is busy at work both clinically and in the research laboratory. She is currently working on some exciting research in the field of cochlear implants and image-guided cochlear implant programming that will be presented at the International Cochlear Implant 2014 Conference in December.Marie Ireland (M.Ed. ’97) was elected to rep-resent Virginia on the ASHA Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Council and appointed to the ASHA Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning for the Journals Program.Richard Israel (B.A. ’60, M.Ed. ’61) after 38 years as a private practice audiologist in Silver Spring, Md., sold his practice and will retire in the near future...

Rebecca Jones (B.S.Ed. ’09) is currently com-pleting training requirements to become PROMPT certified.Jennifer Kolb (M.Ed. ’97) has worked at the Children’s Hospital Colorado for over 6 years as the cochlear implant program coordinator...Laura Leviski (M.Ed. ’11) recently moved back to Baltimore, Md., and accepted a job as a speech-lan-guage pathologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.Becky Lower (B.S.Ed. ’91, M.ED. ’93) as of January 2014 is working at the University of Maryland as the director of the Language-Learning Early Advantage Program Preschool on campus. Caron Lye (B.S.Ed. ’99, M.Ed. ’01) is the Academic Services Coordinator at Charlotte Christian School.Molly Mattare (M.Ed. ’13) recently completed her clinical fellowship and is a full-time speech-language pathologist at a pediatric private practice in Springfield, Va.Erin Mattingly (B.S.Ed ’03) ... in January 2014 joined Engility Corporation as a clinical consultant and subject matter expert in Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health for the Dept. of Defense.Jennifer Miller (M.Ed. ’13) is working as a speech-language pathologist at West Florida Rehabilitation Institute in Pensacola, Fla., covering inpatient rehab and acute care patients.Patti Peters (B.S. ’76; M.Ed. ’77) in February 2014 became a member of the board of trustees of the Communication Disorders Foundation of Virginia...Lisa Power-deFur (B.A. ’75, M.Ed. ’76, Ph.D ’82) was elected to the position of Vice President of Standards and Ethics of Speech-Language Pathology of ASHA for the 2014-2016 term.

Anita Price (M.Ed ’71) retired in 2011 after work-ing 35 years as a speech-language pathologist in vari-ous public school systems in the state of Virginia... Beth Pruitt (B.S.Ed. ’85, M.Ed. ’87) lives in the Williamsburg, Va., area with her husband and two children (9 and 10). “I really enjoy working with the babies/toddlers and their families.”Sharon Ron (M.Ed. ’99) lives in Israel and runs a private speech therapy clinic in Jerusalem treating adults with neurogenic communication and swallow-ing disorders. ...“My husband and I have two sets of twins, aged 18 and 14.” Jessica Rose (M.Ed. ’12) recently became a speech-language pathologist at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, primarily serving an acute inpatient rehabilitation population.Clare Short (M.Ed. ’12) received her Certificate of Clinical Competence in December. She is now working with fellow U.Va. alumna Katherine McDonnell (M.Ed. ’12) at Ability Rehab in Atlanta, Ga.Kathryn Trolenberg (M.Ed. ’01) completed her AuD this summer. She graduated from AT Still University on Aug. 9. She began working at the Hampton, Va., VA Medical Center on July 7.Alicia “Lee” Truslow (’92 M.Ed.) writes and self-publishes low-language-level, high-photography, inexpensive recipe books (Easy Reader Recipes) with new readers and people with disabilities in mind.

Read more. Most submissions were abbreviated due to space limitations. Read complete class notes and view pho-tos online at curry.virginia.edu/commdis-newsletter

CLASS NOTES

Communication Disorders ProgramP.O. Box 400268417 Emmet Street SouthCharlottesville, VA 22904-4268

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