Conversations in Speech Pathology

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, as well an interesting case.

Rinki's Bio: Rinki Varindani Desai is an ASHA-certified medical speech-language pathologist and BIAA-certified brain injury specialist, specializing in the rehabilitation of cognitive-linguistic and swallowing disorders in adults. She is a VitalStim® certified dysphagia therapist, trained in Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) and is currently pursuing Board Certification as a specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders.

Rinki is the founder of the Medical SLP Forum, co-author of the mobile app Dysphagia Therapy, and co-founder of Dysphagia Grand Rounds. She currently serves on ASHA's SIG 13 Editorial Committee as Associate Editor of Perspectives, on the Dysphagia Research Society's Website, Communications, and Public Relations Committee and has been selected for ASHA's 2017 Leadership Development Program. She has presented at national and international conferences on topics related to adult dysphagia and written numerous articles for leading SLP websites and magazines. Originally from Mumbai, India; Rinki currently practices in Rochester, New York. Follow her SLP updates on Facebook and Twitter or reach out to her at [email protected].

Links & References:

Rinki's Medical SLP Page

Medical SLP Forum

Dysphagia Grand Rounds

Dysphagia Therapy Mobile App

ASHA Resources for SLPs in Long-Term Care

ASHA Practice Portal for Dementia

ASHA Practice Portal for Adult Dysphagia

ASHA End of Life Resources

Day in the Life of a SNF SLP

Caregiver's Guide to Dysphagia in Dementia

 

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" by Bensound

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 discussion

* How we define bilingualism

* The challenge of being a school-based SLP in a school with many spoken languages.

Hope you enjoy it!

Jeff

 

 

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

 

 

 

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 the program). But I am happy to welcome Heidi Verticchio, a speech-language pathologist and graduate program/clinic director at Illinois State University's Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. In our conversation, Heidi talks about what ISU's program looks for in a candidate, how undergraduates are prepared for the future application process, newer methods for selecting applicants, and more.

This episode was made possible in part by at least 2 listener requests. I hope they (and you) get something useful out of it.

Go Redbirds!

Smita Joshi is a speech pathologist, colleague, and friend whom I've had the pleasure of knowing for about 15 years. She was also one of the first persons I asked to be on this show! Though I was politely declined at the time (for very valid reasons), she finally agreed to come on the show when I heard her tell me (for the first time) the full story of how she both decided to be an SLP and move the the U.S. from India. It's definitely a story worth hearing!

Smita indeed picked up and left her home country for a foreign land where she had no friends, relatives, and an extremely limited working use of the English language. More than 20 years later, she is the proud owner of a multidisciplinary clinic, a wife, and mother of two.

Enjoy the episode!

Note: This is the first of 2 episodes featuring Smita. Look out for a follow-up where we talk about Smita's specific clinical interest- Feeding.

Link: You can find Smita's professional practice website here

 

Camp ALEC (AAC, Literacy, Education, Communication) is a weeklong summer camp designed for students with physical disabilities whose primary means of communication is through AAC. The camp is now in its third year under the direction of Drs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. As the name implies, literacy is a big part of this camp. But there’s also plenty of time for swimming, toasted marshmallows, and even a prank or two!

Tina Moreno is one of the organizers of the camp, a speech-language pathologist specializing in AAC, and a mother of an AAC user. She joins me for a short conversation to talk about Camp ALEC as well as her path to becoming an SLP.

Links:

Camp ALEC: http://www.campalec.com

Fundraiser page for Camp ALEC: http://www.firstgiving.com/397389

Tina Moreno’s blog (Voices For All): https://voices4all.wordpress.com

Thanks as always for listening!

Sometimes it seems like app creation is beginning to get about as ubiquitous as the L.A. resident working on his/her screenplay! A lot of people are either making one, thinking about making one, or want to make one (but have no idea how to).

Well today I talk about my own process of creating an app for the app store (iTunes only). It certainly wasn't easy and I wanted to rip my hair out more than once during the process. But I'm happy to say that I finally finished. In this episode I'll talk you through my journey. I'll go over my method for selecting freelancers, managing the workflow, and talk about the many lessons learned over the past 10 months.

Thanks for listening!

-Jeff

The links:

The Social Bunch Website

Link to purchase The Social Bunch: Perspectives

99 Designs

Upward (formerly Elance)

Pop (for wireframing your app)

 

Articulation Station is one of the best-known articulation apps on the iTunes store right now. I wanted to meet the developer behind this well designed app and she is none other than Heidi Hanks. Together with her husband Chris (a designer by trade), she created a small suite of  apps that cover articulation assessment and therapy.

Originally, I wanted to make this a two-part episode that would document my own journey into creating an iPad app. Due to some setbacks, that episode will come shortly. In the meantime, please enjoy this conversation with Heidi!

Credit: The track "Happyrock" was produced by Bensound.com

Links:

Little Bee Speech

Mommyspeechtherapy.com (Heidi's blog)

The Speech Dudes post about app pricing

Rinki Varindani is an adult medical SLP working in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Many of you will know Rinki from her Facebook group Medical SLP Forum, which just passed 8,000 members worldwide!

In today's episode, Rinki talks about what her undergraduate training was like in India, how she became interested in medical speech pathology, and where she hopes her career will eventually take her.

Links:

1. Rinki's home page can be found here.

2. Her Facebook group Medical SLP Forum.

3. You can follow Rinki on Twitter: @Rinkislp.

4. That article First Person on the Last Page: East Meets West can be found here.

5. For more information about board certification in swallowing (for ASHA members), you can click here.

Did I forget anything? Want to get in touch? Please contact me: [email protected]

If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider providing a review at iTunes here.

Thanks for listening!