SLP Elissa Larkin shares three stories showing how communication strategies--like using communication boards and acknowledging patient competence--help patients access health care.

A research speech-language pathologist and a bioethicist at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Larkin is the mind behind the Communication Champions interprofessional training program, where she leads courses aimed at improving communication access. On the podcast, she shares how you can be a communication access leader for your colleagues where you work.

Learn More:

ASHA's Communication Access Initiative

Why Value-Based Care Can Open Lines of Communication Access

Building AAC Capacity to Foster Communication Inclusion

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In this second part of our conversation with SLP and health services researcher Jen Oshita, she expands on strategies people with communication disabilities can use to express themselves and more fully participate in their own health care.

Hear why Oshita feels SLPs play a pivotal role in improving health care equity for these patients, and what organizations can do to increase communication access.

Plus, hear from patients and care partners, including personal accounts from Hari Kannan, Vidya Thirumalai, and Lyn Piper.

(This conversation was originally published in January 2024.)

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SLP Jen Oshita provides strategies SLPs can share with people with communication disabilities to facilitate effective communication in health care. She discusses how communication access in health care interactions can contribute to health disparities, and she addresses barriers to care related to communication, such as rushed appointments with providers or the use of confusing medical jargon.

Throughout this conversation, we’ll hear from patients and care partners as they share their experiences with the health care system, including advocate Matthew LeFluer and health communications strategist Karen Hilyard, who shares strategies as well.

(This conversation was originally published in January 2024.)

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Hear the personal stories behind Medicaid advocacy, as SLPs share why and how they use their voices to increase reimbursement rates for their peers and secure resources for their clients and patients. From the telephone to the state house, they tell where they go to get their messages heard and how you can do the same.

Also, ASHA’s Caroline Bergner drops by the podcast to discuss a new ASHA resource designed to answer your questions about Medicaid and Medicare.

Learn More:

ASHA Advocacy

Medicare vs Medicaid: A Guide for Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

ASHA Voices: Student Advocacy and a Win for People Who Stutter

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When Jennifer La Scala was diagnosed with breast cancer, she came face to face with just how overwhelming, dense, and inaccessible patient education materials can be.

A graduate student at the University of Central Florida, La Scala explains how her personal medical journey inspired her to study health literacy. Her work, and parallel work by University of Central Florida faculty, ultimately led to a collaboration with cochlear implant manufacturer Advanced Bionics.

La Scala joins SLP Richard Zraick, of the University of Central Florida and audiologist Sarah Downing of Advanced Bionics to discuss health literacy and access to care, and how providers can improve communication with patients.

Learn More:

ASHA Practice Portal: Communication Access

American Journal of Audiology: Readability of Cochlear Implant Brochures: A Potential Factor in Parent Decision Making

ASHA Voices: How SLPs Can Use Communication Strategies to Improve Health Care Access

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SLPs share how mindfulness tools help people focus on the present moment and ease their communication with others.

Michael Boyle (Montclair State University) is an SLP who uses these tools personally and professionally. He discusses what these tools offer people who stutter and addresses misconceptions about mindfulness. Plus, in an interactive element, Boyle guides listeners through a mindfulness exercise.

Later in the episode, SLP Jean Neils-Strunjas (University of South Carolina) joins me for a conversation on mindfulness and aging. And, she speaks on the benefits she’s seen for people with aphasia and the research she’s doing related to mindful walking.

Learn More:

• ASHA Convention Presentation: Cultivating Mindfulness to Enhance Communication Outcomes for Individuals With Communication Disorders
• ASHA Voices: Stuttering and Stigma With SLP Derek Daniels
• Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research: Age-Related Hearing Loss, Cognitive Decline, and Social Interaction: Testing a Framework

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Audiologist Sarah Kingsbury, is asking big questions about what happens to our vestibular system in extreme environments, like when piloting an aircraft or even traveling through space.

Kingsbury works as a senior research technologist and assistant professor of audiology at the Aerospace Medicine and Vestibular Research Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. She's also pursuing a PhD in aerospace at the University of North Dakota.

On the podcast, Kingsbury discusses opportunities for innovation and shares personal stories of inspiration. And she highlights the role of mentorship in her career and vestibular research.

Kingsbury is one of 12 early-career professionals featured in the September/October ASHA Leader. Look for more profiles of early-career professionals online soon.

Learn More:

ASHA Voices: Career Origin Stories – Multilingual Service Providers

Diagnosis and Management of Balance Vestibular Disorder

ASHA Practice Portal: Balance System Disorders

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We catch up with researchers Jeff Holt and Karen Avraham about the state of gene therapy for addressing hearing loss and deafness. Both are part of the Research Symposium on Hearing at the 2024 ASHA Convention.

Our guests explain what recent breakthroughs, including successful clinical trials, mean for the future of gene therapy. They comment on audiologists' potential role in treatment and assessment related to gene therapy.

You can learn more about gene therapy and hearing loss at the Research Symposium on Hearing at the 2024 ASHA Convention in Seattle this December.

Learn More:

Research Symposium on Hearing

ASHA Voices: Revisiting Conversations on Gene Therapy and Hearing Loss

First Deaf Gene Therapy Recipient in U.S. Gains Hearing

In its most severe forms, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) was once thought to be unavoidably terminal. But recent developments are allowing those with the disorder to live longer, healthier lives, and today’s guest says this means a greater need for speech-language pathologists' services.

SLP Katlyn McGrattan (University of Minnesota; Masonic Children's Hospital) says advances in treating SMA essentially created a new condition. She explains the role SLPs play in treating feeding and swallowing issues, dysarthria, and other such conditions seen in this emerging patient population.

Later in the episode, hear from the mother of a son with SMA. She shares her family’s experience.

Learn More:

ASHA Voices: Exploring Caregiver-Provider Interactions

Dysphagia Phenotypes in Spinal Muscular Atrophy: The Past, Present, and Promise for the Future

ASHA Evidence Map: Spinal Muscular Atrophy

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How do you foster an environment that is conducive to retaining students with a diversity of experiences and backgrounds? In this second of two parts, a panel of faculty members from CSD programs discuss recruitment and retention of diverse and under-represented CSD professionals.

Learn More:

• ASHAWire Special Collection: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning
• Perspectives Forum Highlights Holistic Admissions
• Minnesota CSD Program Formalizes Support for Students of Color
• From My Perspective/Opinion: Advancing Justice, Equity in the Pipeline to the Professions
• ASHA Voices: HBCU Leaders Share Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students in CSD

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