Conversations in Speech Pathology

There is no denying that telepractice has established an important place for itself among the many service delivery models in existence today. In this episode, I chat with Kristin Martinez of PresenceLearning, about the use of teletherapy in speech pathology. Kristin talks about her own history as a teletherapy provider and answers a number of commonly heard questions about the nature of this medium. Kristin's bio: Kristin Martinez, M.A., CCC-SLP, received her M.A. from the University of...

Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) is THE poster boy for pseudoscience lately. I was aware of RPM for years but never paid much attention for the same reason most of you never have- lack of evidence (or as some would call it: “street cred”). Then something interesting happened. I was introduced to someone who used a letterboard to communicate. As others have indicated, it is hard to “unsee” once you have seen. I’ve been very interested in RPM ever since. Maria Welch is an SLP colleague of mine...

Craig Coleman is a professor of speech-language pathology at Marshall University and an ASHA Fellow. He is currently in the running for Vice President for Planning in the upcoming 2019 ASHA Board Elections. In this episode, Dr. Coleman explains what that position entails and what his priorities would be should he win.

The shortage of doctoral students in CSD is nothing new. But why is it so? Why aren't more people interested in pursuing a doctorate? On today's episode, I welcome current doctoral students Martha Sherill and Charles Lenell who presented on this very topic at ASHA 2018. Martha Sherrill earned her M.C.D in Speech-Language Pathology from Auburn University in 2006, and her PhD in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. Martha practiced as an SLP...

Rose Griffin the semi-rare breed of SLP who is dually certified as a BCBA (Board Certified Behavioral Analyst). In this epsisode we discuss how she became interested in the field of speech pathology, her discovery of ABA and strategies she uses for her students with ASD. Show Notes: Rose's Website: abaspeech.org Rose's Action builder cards: https://abaspeech.org/product/actionbuildercards Double Up: https://abaspeech.org/product/double-up-vocabulary-and-leisure-game ASHA approved course...

I don't know about you, but auditory processing disorders have always confused me. I'm sure I've worked with any number of children who likely had a co-morbid diagnosis of APD without me ever being aware of it. Then again, the diagnosis itself (like many areas in our field) is the subject of ongoing debate. Today I'm happy to welcome Dr. Donna Turetgen, an audiologist in private practice, who helped shed some light on the subject. Some of the areas this episode covers includes: What an...

My guest today is Lois Brady, a speech pathologist who is one of the developers behind the Innervoice App. For those of you not familiar, Innervoice allows one to upload a photo of any person (real or pretend) and have them "speak". It's a pretty easy and straightforward app to use. And the kids I have used it with so far really seem to like it! Note to listeners: By the time this is released, Innervoice will have released its 3.0 update which will include a new backup/restore function as...

Dan Rennecker and Justin Peart are two dads who created a tool to help teach good eating habits to children. (With so many picky eaters these days, we really need all the help we can get!) Their product, Milton, The Mealtime Companion is an adorable table top character made of food grade silicone. The basic premise is simple: Milton takes a bite, your son/daughter/client takes a bite. Listen in as Dan and Justin explain in detail how they conceived of Milton, experimented with prototypes,...

It's my pleasure to welcome back Rinki Varindani to the show! I first interviewed Rinki more than 2 years ago when she was working acute care in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Rinki has now relocated to upstate New York and working in...you guessed it- a SNF. What brought her to her present position, the adjustments she's had to make, and the initiatives she's since spearheaded are the subject of today's episode. We also talk a bit about cognitive-linguistic disorders, resources for treatment,...

Julia Kuhn was born with the travel gene. Luckily, she gets to be in a profession that makes it easy to work on a temporary basis in a variety of locales. (Hawaii anyone?) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in a series of temporary assignments? What about housing, medical insurance, and potential odd problems looming out there? Julia addresses it all! In fact, you can get much more in-depth on the matter by checking out her blog at thetravelingtraveler.com. Credit: "Cute"...

I met Kelly Vess at the 2016 ASHA convention. She was presenting a poster session on using evidence based practice to help 31 preschoolers with speech sound disorders (SSD). Kelly and her colleagues ran a study using a number of elements from recent literature on SSD’s. What she achieved was impressive. In a five week period, nearly all of her students achieved significant levels of improvement. Today Kelly discusses her study as well as the key elements that we can all use to replicate...

Do you ever wonder how the AAC “sausage” gets made? What in particular goes into the process of creating an AAC vocabulary set? Today we’re going to explore how one sausage in particular got made. It’s the story of WordPower, the popular AAC set created by my guest, Nancy Inman of Inman Innovations. Nancy was previoulsy the program manager for the Department of Assistive Technology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She’s worked in the area of AAC for years and here’s...

This episode is going to be a departure for me because I'm handing over the mic to none other than Rinki Varindani Desai to guest host! You might remember Rinki from a previous CSP episode. I was very impressed with Rinki's passion for the field and her eagerness to take on so many extra-curricular projects. It was only natural I suppose, that I would eventually ask her to guest host on a topic that she has much more familiarity than I do. Rinki's guest today is Megan Sutton of Tactus...

Today I'm debuting the first in what I hope will become an ongoing series. I like to call it: My Most Interesting Case. Yvette McCoy is back on this inaugural episode to talk about a gentleman who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His road back to swallowing was certainly not easy, but this story does have a pretty good ending. Warning: This episode may not be suitable for younger or more sensitive listeners. If you have a compelling clinical story to share, please...

On today's show I'm talking with Jennifer Schultz, a speech pathologist and instructor at the Mitchell Technical Institute, about Speech Language Pathology Assistants (SLPA). Jennifer is well versed on the topic of assistants in our profession and we cover a number of areas including: The roles of an SLPA Reasons for becoming an assistant. Requirements for licensure. There are a lot of resources Jennifer provided me on SLPA's (and related info). Here are some of them: General Resources:...

Happy New Year everyone! Today, on this first podcast of the new year, I welcome noted ASHA fellow Dr. Brian Goldstein to talk about bilingualism. Brian is well known in our field for his work on bilingualism and in particular Spanish phonological development. He is the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at La Salle University and I'm told from first hand experience that he is an awesome teacher! Here are just a few of the things we cover: When bilingualism became a focus of...

We all strive to be better clinicians and adhere to using best practices whenever possible. This process requires us to keep up on the literature. But keeping up isn't easy. For one thing, there are too many journals and papers to sift through. What's more, consuming research can be expensive if you don't work at a university (or aren't a student at one). Meredith Harold can't allay all of our research anxieties, but she's here to help! The Informed SLP is a monthly newsletter that distills...

Have you ever thought about starting your own private practice? Is now the time? If so, Scott Harmon can help. Scott is a successful occupational therapist running a brick and mortar practice in Arkansas. With over 10 years experience in private practice, he knows what works and what doesn't. This guy is very good at keeping his eye on the bottom line and understands which metrics matter. On today's show Scott talks about his work history leading up to the opening of his own practice. We...

In this episode I’m asking an important question: Is it possible for a treatment methodology to be considered pseudoscience (at least today) and yet actually work for some individuals? Yes, I’m delving into the world of RPM (Rapid Prompting Method), a controversial approach to educating and opening up the possibility of authentic communication among individuals with autism. We’re talking letter boards, torn paper, the whole works! The centerpiece of my story is Benjamin, a teenager whose...

I'm not sure what the profession looks like in the rest of the world, but here in the U.S. the field of speech pathology is getting harder to get into. There are currently more applicants than available spots in graduate school. What exactly are graduate programs looking for in candidates these days? Do grades and test scores still matter as much as other factors? Today's episode can't begin to answer these questions definitively (I'm sure there are a wide range of requirements depending on...