ASHA Voices

Today we look at  ways   SLPs can work with families to cultivate a strong sense of self in children with autism.

Of course, SLPs know the importance of  helping a child with autism  become empowered and  believe in themselves, and today’s guests make that a priority.

SLPs Rachel Dorsey and Jessie Ginsburg share  strategies and examples of ways to help foster  this positive  outlook with a strengths-based approach. They discuss the importance of word-choice and language when working with parents and how they address goal creation.

School is back in session. And it looks nothing like it normally does.

After a summer of uncertainty about what to expect this fall, school-based SLPs are navigating back-to-back telepractice sessions, hybrid online/in-person models, and myriad infection-control measures.

In this episode, we hear about how it's going. We asked five school-based SLPs: What has the start of the new academic year been like for you? And, how is it different from last spring?

We talk about what they're doing to keep themselves and their students safe, what they're learning about telepractice, and more.

Join us next episode for a conversation with educational audiologists.

When referring to autism, some people use person-first language (a person with autism), while others prefer identity-first language (an autistic person).

On this episode, we talk to ASHA members and autistic SLPs about their differing language choices, and excerpt a spirited discussion of the issue on the Autism Speaks podcast Autism POVs.

Plus, acclaimed autism book author Barry Prizant returns to the podcast.

Spurred by this summer's turbulent news, SLP Pam Wiley facilitated a series of town hall conversations on community policing, race, and voting. The 2020 ASHA Honors recipient talks with us about what was challenging, and what she heard. Wiley, president of the LA Speech and Language Therapy Center, joins us a year after she first spoke to us about her efforts to build understanding between law enforcement and young adults with autism.

We also discuss Wiley's workforce-preparation program that helps young adults with communication disorders transition from high school into meaningful employment.

We mark last September’s podcast launch with a timely return to our first episode on law enforcement, de-escalation, and communication disorders. There’s been a growing public outcry against police-perpetrated violence against unarmed civilians, who disproportionately are people of color and/or people with mental health or developmental issues like autism.

Experts discuss how to help young adults with communication disorders stay safe during police encounters. And a Howard University professor describes her awareness-raising work to keep Black youth with autism from being misunderstood and routed to the juvenile justice system.

(1:00) Driving between appointments, SLP Samantha Koncak talks about how COVID-19 has changed her job. See how new realities like stepped-up infection control measures and unruly masks affect the daily operations of an SLP in the field.

(15:25) Later in the show, SLP Lauren Sharpe shares stories of COVID-19's emotional impact on both patients and SLPs in home health, with social isolation as a major factor.

(21:51) And home-health expert Jenny Loehr returns to the podcast to discuss caseloads and how the recently implemented Patient-Driven Groupings Model fits into this puzzle

On this episode of the podcast, higher education takes on the moment in two distinct ways.

(1:13) We hear the story of a graduate student and a faculty member brought together by the need for increased support for minority students. They tell us how they used a series of seminars to raise diversity awareness among faculty and students in a CSD program.

(14:04) Then, we head south to a course that faculty hustled to pull together to address our new COVID-19 reality. Find out why the University of Central Florida created this remote health care class with a hands-on approach.

Continuing our coverage of how COVID-19 is affecting CSD professionals, we head to what was once the major U.S. hotspot. SLP Tami Altschuler shares stories of loss, recovery, sickness, and stigma as she walks us through the hallways of the NYU Langone Medical Center.

As health care SLPs around the country see COVID-19 numbers rising, Altschuler talks about her lessons learned from facing a surge.