Since 1936, the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) has held a convention in a chosen city to dedicate a weekend to “learn about the latest research, polish clinical skills, improve techniques, and gain new tools and resources” (asha.org).
This convention is a fantastic way for all communication sciences professionals to come together and learn about new and upcoming research and ideas. The theme this year is “Changing Minds. Changing Lives. Leading the Way,” and the conference will be held November 12 in Denver.
With hundreds of presentations being held at the convention, the Department of “(CSD) at Illinois State University is very lucky in having both faculty and student presenters at the ASHA convention this year. The two students presenting are Michelle Hamstra and Heidi Schaab. Faculty and staff members presenting are Ann Beck, Jennifer Friberg, Heidi Harbers, Rene McClure, Jennine Harvey-Northrop, Taeok Park, Jean Sawyer, Scott Seeman, Jamie Smith, Heidi Verticchio, and Lisa Vinney.
Harvey-Northrop is no stranger to presenting at ASHA conventions. Making her ASHA debut in 2005, she has been part of 10 presentations in her career so far. She will be adding seven presentations to her repertoire this year in Denver, collaborating with faculty members from Illinois State University and other universities. The seven topics and presentations she will be a part of presenting are as follows:
1. “Listening Makes My Brain Hurt: Noise and Dual-Task in Older Individuals With/Without Hearing Loss”
2. Poster: “Constraints on Dual-Task Abilities in Neurologically-Healthy Adults”
3. Poster: “A Cognitive Stimulation and Training Program for Normally Aging Individuals, MCI, Dementia, and Aphasia”
4. Technical session: “Bridging the Gap: Integrated Curriculum of Anatomy and Neuroanatomy and Physiology in Graduate-Level Speech-Language Pathology”
5. Seminar: “‘Reinventing’ Undergraduate and Graduate Curricula”
6. Poster: “Speech-Language Pathology and Nursing Interdisciplinary Learning Project (SNILP): A Nine-Week Interdisciplinary Learning Experience”
7. Poster: “Behavioral Measures of Simple Vs. Complex Dual-Task Abilities in Neurologically-Healthy Adults”
Harvey-Northrop reiterated how this year’s theme is incorporated into her research and presentations. “Changing minds really speaks to approaching an obstacle in a different way. All of these presentations look at how to answer questions in a different way.”
And she is right. All of these studies focus on new experiences for better learning and understanding in our field of speech-language pathology and audiology.
“Changing minds really speaks to approaching an obstacle in a different way. All of these presentations look at how to answer questions in a different way.”—Jennine Harvey-Northrop
For example, the Nursing Interdisciplinary Project (SNILP) study is one of a kind, with speech pathology students getting an opportunity to collaborate with the nursing field to gain a deeper awareness of working with other professionals during therapy, which allows for improvement in patient care. In addition, one of the seminars focuses on “reinventing” the curricula of both graduate and undergraduate students for exceptional learning experiences. And more specifically, another presentation examines the integration of CSD courses of specific disorders and teaching them together. This gives the students a more well-rounded education with real-world application.
Harvey-Northrop is thrilled to have researched and collaborated with the CSD faculty and various departments to bring a plethora of information to the ASHA convention this year. The ASHA convention allows speech-pathologists, audiologists, and other professionals to get a glimpse of new research to not only learn about the researchers’ findings, but to have new ideas to apply in clinical, educational, home, and medical settings.
