Episodes
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Jill Escher is president of the National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA), an organization formed over two years ago by a group of parents looking to raise awareness and advocate for autistic individuals with more severe manifestations of autism. The NCSA has been sounding the alarm bells regarding the lack of societal preparedness for the magnitude of young adults leaving the educational system at 21. They address complex issues without pulling punches—housing, therapy interventions, mental health, guardianship, and the neurodiversity movement are all covered through a combination of position statements, webinars, and powerful blog pieces.
In today's episode, we cover:
Jill's background and advocacy role Rising incidence of autism Issues of causality, future directions of research The Neurodiversity movement FC and Rapid PromptingLinks:
Here are the two most important links from today's episode:
The NCSA's Website
Jill Escher's Website
Episode Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Simplepractice. If you need a stellar all-in-one practice management system that can also handle your teletherapy clients, look no further. Simplepractice can deliver it all. New users can sign up for two months for the price of one when they click on this link.
Show Your Support:
If you like the show, you can show your support in several ways, including:
Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show. Share the show with a friend or colleague. Are you a speech therapist or educator in need of some unique material? Check out my newly opened Teachers Pay Teachers Store. The selection is small, but I promise you it's unique!If you would like to get in touch with me regarding show suggestions, feedback, or anything else, please email me: [email protected].
Thanks for listening!
Jeff
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Kate Thomson is the founder of SpeechEase, a clinic with 3 locations throughout Queensland, Australia.
Here is what we discussed:
How Kate became interested in speech-language pathology as a career Her journey to opening SpeechEase and the challenges of leadership AAC and QWERTY vs. symbol use (hey, tangents are what the show is all about!)I hope you enjoy this episode. If you like the show, you can show your support in several ways, including:
Leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show Sharing the show with a friend or colleague Are you a speech therapist or educator in need of some unique material? Check out my newly opened Teachers Pay Teachers Store.Don't forget to check out my website: www.conversationsinspeech.com for updates, blog posts, etc.
Lastly, please feel free to reach out to me: [email protected].
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Missing episodes?
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Anna Vagin has been in the social cognition space for over 25 years. She is the creator of YouCue Feelings and recently updated what I think is her marquee product: Conversation Paths Pack.
Here are some of the things we cover:
*Using YouTube animation shorts to teach a variety of skills.
*Mental State Verbs
*Conversation in real-time
*Therapeutically applied role-playing games
*Client-driven conversations
Links:
Anna Vagin's Website
Simon's Cat (YouTube)
Maca and Roni YouTube Channel
Critical Core Role-Playing Game
Story Grammar Marker
Magination Press Children's Books
Autism as Context Blindness Book
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In this episode, I am happy to welcome Miriam Campbell from Skills for Connection. Miriam is both a certified speech-language pathologist and a social worker. Why the dual degrees? From the start, Miriam was keenly interested in working in the social cognition space. But she felt her slp training did not give her everything she needed at the time.
You'll hear about Miriam's journey as well as her philosophy of empowering both teachers and students to choose who they wish to be in this moment and the next.
I'm proud to announce the show's first sponsor. If you need a stellar all-in-one practice management system that can also handle your teletherapy clients, look no further. Simplepractice can deliver it all. And- new users can sign up for two months for the price of one when you visit simplepractice.com/conversationsinspeech.
Finally, I'm happy to announce I recently joined the ranks of many other slp's by opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store! I have a few digital products that I think are unique (and modestly priced). You can link to them from my show’s website: conversationsinspeech.com
If you'd like to get in touch, please feel free to reach out at:
[email protected]
Take care, everyone!
-Jeff -
This is a repost of an episode originally released in April 2021. For some reason, it is not playing properly on Spotify. Hopefully, this will help those listeners access the episode.
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Chris Adams is an incoming slp graduate student (fall 2021). He wrote to me after hearing my last episode on the documentary “My Beautiful Stutter”. Chris talks about his own history of stuttering and how he chose to go into the field.
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Director Ryan Gielen joins me to discuss his recent documentary “My Beautiful Stutter” now playing on Discovery Plus.
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Kelly Vess is back to talk about her just-released book on speech sound disorders. It’s called Speech Sound Disorders: Comprehensive Evaluation & Treatment. Please check out our earlier episode if you haven't already (which covers her use of the complexity approach).
In today's episode, Kelly discusses why she wrote the book and how the everyday clinician should utilize it. What I like about Kelly's book is that it includes discussions about children with autism spectrum disorder as well as other developmental delays. And she includes nonspeaking children as well!
Important aspects of Kelly's approach come from other disciplines like occupational therapy and psychology. Along with DTTC, Kelly has come up with a formula for successfully working with many children with speech sound disorders. But make no mistake! The book is not meant to be a "how-to" cookbook. The recipe for success is ultimately up to you SLP’s.
Kelly Vess has been a speech pathologist for over 17 years. She works in a school district with kids in an early childhood program. Kelly is also a clinical instructor and mentors graduate clinicians. She has presented at various venues and can be found presenting online as well.
Links/Notes:
Kelly Vess's website
Kelly's YouTube Channel
Helen Tager-Flusberg's talk on YouTube
A general outline of Narrative Intervention by Trina Spencer & Douglas Petersen (I included this link because most SLP’s in the US will be able to access this paper without a paywall).
DTTC (Dynamic Tactile & Temporal Cueing) training opportunity
Check this out too!
A paper from 2011 by Rvachew & Nowak that calls into question the usefulness of the complexity approach
Disclaimers:
Conversations in Speech Pathology is a podcast meant to provide an ongoing dialogue about topics important to the practice of speech-language pathology/therapy. The show, its host, and guests do not provide medical or therapeutic advice regarding individual clients. Parents and other professionals are urged to seek the advice of a licensed professional for specific concerns regarding communication disorders/delays.
It should go without saying that practicing clinicians will need to do their homework to determine best practices. Please do not accept as gospel everything said on this program.
Please send all correspondence to [email protected]
Thank you for listening!
Jeff -
Accent Connection is a website designed to connect speech pathologists with clients seeking accent modification. Seth Koster, an American speech pathologist, is the developer behind the site. In this episode, we'll hear Seth's story of how he left the United States for Okinawa, then Tokyo, and now Vietnam.
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COVID-19 seems to have accelerated our adoption of teletherapy. Expressable, a speech-therapy teletherapy company launched last year (what timing), is well-positioned to ride this wave. But to me, what sets them apart is their straightforward business model.
Joining me in this episode is one of the founders of Expressable, Leanne Sherrod, MS/CCC-SLP.
You can find Expressable's website here.
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LInda D'Onofrio is a speech-language pathologist in Portland Oregon specializing in oral myofunctional disorders (OMD's). I first came across her name about 3 years ago (likely thanks to Robyn Merkel-Walsh). Recently I've taken two or three of her online courses and have been smitten by her willingness to speak honestly (and with a sharp wit) about the problems in our profession.
Links:
Linda's Oromyofunctional Facebook group
Linda's Vimeo course: How Oral Motor Impacts Articulation & Language Development
The Dropbox folders:
OMF Articulation Abstracts
OMF Breathing Abstracts
OMF Chewing Abstracts
OMF Craniofacial Abstracts
OMF Feeding/Swallowing Abstracts
OMF Frenulum Abstracts
OMF Lactation Abstracts
OMF Mouthbreathing Asthma Abstracts
OMF Occl Ortho Abstracts
OMF Oral Habits Abstracts
OMF OSA SDB UARS Abstracts
OMF Posture Abstracts
OMF Protocols & Measurements
OMF Surgical Abstracts
OMF Therapy Abstracts
OMF Voice Abstracts
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Chandler Speaks is a nonprofit charitable organization recently launched in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Its goal is to raise money to help needy families with the cost of ongoing speech therapy. The organization was started by Bryce Moen, a business executive in Texas who was looking for an opportunity to give back to the community. He found a need when his own daughter Chandler was diagnosed with a speech disorder.
For more information about the organization, go to www.chandlerspeaks.org.
Thanks for listening!
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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 life has been changed by using RPM. Benjamin’s parents, Ashling and Jeff recount a story of frustration, misunderstandings, and ultimately hope. It’s the most powerful interview I’ve recorded in my podcast journey so far and I feel compelled to share it. This episode will no doubt stoke a great deal of strong feelings (to say the least) among some listeners. Please understand that I know there is a lack of solid research on RPM (hence the pseudoscience moniker). But I’m not here to pass judgement one way or the other on the method’s global efficacy. Good research will hopefully answer those bigger questions in the future. Right now, I’m just interested in talking about Benjamin and opening up some conversations. Finally, don’t forget to check out the show page for clickable links! I’ll also be posting a couple of videos of Benjamin on my Facebook page! Random Notes: This episode is over 2 hours long, but well worth the listen! I want to be clear that when I use the term "non-verbal", it should not be used to infer one's desire or potential to communicate. I deliberately censored the names of Benjamin's therapists, schools, and towns of residence for obvious reasons. I'm sure I'll add more to this list later :) Links: Benjamin’s Website: RPM’s Website Here is the video on Benjamin learning about the U.S. Constitution: Here is a link to the 60 Minutes video I referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfiap3a7Tuo A paper published on RPM referenced by the RPM website Some Interesting articles I’ve come across either on the topic of RPM and/or FC: From The Atlantic. This is mostly on persistence of Facilitated Communication (FC), but also mentioning RPM (which many critics view as two peas in a pod) This video was sent to me in order to show how one might prove a facilitative effect in the use of a letter board. You be the judge… There are many papers out there comparing FC to RPM. Here is one of them. A good summary of skeptics' concerns and a plea for research! http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/syracuse_apple_and_autism_pseudoscience
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