Multiple faculty and students in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) received awards and presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention in Seattle.
Assistant Instructor Marian Lowther, MS, was recognized as the 2024 ASHA-PAC State Honoree for Excellence in Advocacy for her work on passing the Interstate Compact in Florida and her dedication to advocating for audiologists and speech-language pathologists.
Doctoral student Anna Soares and Department Chair Laida Restrepo, PhD, were awarded the Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award. This award was given in conjunction with this year’s Annual Research Symposium at the ASHA Convention on the role of genetics in a range of communication abilities and disabilities.
Doctoral student Ansley Davis was also recently selected to participate in ASHA's Minority Student Leadership Program. This leadership development program supports historically under-represented minorities in audiology and speech-language pathology and provides an opportunity for participants to interact with leaders.
At the convention, faculty and students shared their research findings, including Assistant Professor Hana Kim, PhD, who presented "Examining the Role of Attention During Video Narration in Aphasia" alongside students Diana Perez and Marcy Edwards.
Portalatin-Miranda shares his research.
Second-year doctoral student Naudy A. Portalatín-Miranda, AuD, served as a panelist for one of the convention professional courses titled "Elevating Hearing Healthcare for Underserved Populations." Portalatin-Miranda shared insights on the innovative aural rehabilitation program, Programa de Audiología y Soluciones Auditivas, a Spanish-language toolkit designed to enhance hearing loss self-management among Hispanic/Latinx communities.
He also presented a poster on data associated with the program, showing the relationship of measured hearing thresholds with associated measures of health literacy to determine if participants at baseline may have limited knowledge to sufficiently manage health information. Key findings demonstrate that limited health literacy may present an additional barrier to implementing self-management strategies in aural rehabilitation and achieving self-efficacy in managing hearing healthcare challenges.
Celine Davis poses with her research poster.
Celine Davis, MS, CCC-SLP, also a second-year PhD student, presented an analysis of the cognitive and communication effects of COVID-19 in a presentation titled “Grey Matters: An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Cognitive-Communication Disorders and COVID-19." This session highlighted how COVID-19 symptom severity and overall health status contribute to self-reported cognitive-linguistic difficulties, including challenges with memory, attention, and communication. Key findings emphasized the significant role of health in predicting these deficits, even beyond COVID-19 status, depicting the need for further research to address the long-term impacts on individuals with cognitive communication disorders.