2007-2008

6-2-08
Disney Grant to Target Early Language and Literacy in Children
A project designed to improve the early communication, language and literacy skills of young Central Florida children with disabilities has received funding from Walt Disney World's Helping Kids Shine Grants Program, reported Jennifer Kent-Walsh, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders and director of the project.

5-28-08
FLASHA Convention Honors
At the recent Annual Convention of the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists, Associate Professor Kenyatta Rivers received the Honors of the Association Award; Damany Phifer received the Larry Director Graduate Student Fellowship ($1,000); and a team comprising alumna Kinsey Bickford, graduate students Ayelet Kleidermacher and Christina Coghlan, and Clinical Instructors Janet Whiteside and Jane Hostetler received third prize for their research poster. Click here for photos and further information.

5-12-08
Barbara Ehren, professor of communication sciences and disorders and director of the doctoral program, was selected to receive the 2008 SIM (Strategic Instruction Model) Award by more than 1,000 SIM-certified instructors nationwide. The award recognizes her contributions as "an outstanding leader in bringing about significant changes in the field of education on behalf of children and adolescents who are academically at risk." Click here to learn more about SIM.

4-10-08
Clinical Instructor Charlotte Harvey discusses new and expanded services for children with speech problems on UCF TV's UCF Profiles show. Click here to see the interview.

2-29-08
6th Annual Gene J. Brutten Symposium on Fluency
7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., UCF Student Union, Cape Florida Ballroom (Room 316), Orlando
This year's symposium will focus on "Stuttering Assessment and Treatment for Children."

2-23-08
Bridging the Gaps in Clinical Supervision Workshop
The department offered a free continuing education workshop for its off-campus supervisors in appreciation for the supervision they provide to students in their part-time and full-time externships. The event was held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Live Oak room on UCF's Orlando campus. For additional information, contact Amy Barrett or Carla Parsons.

2-21-08
UCF Starts First Traumatic Brain Injury Program in the Country, Local Students Treated at No Cost
UCF is launching a first-of-its-kind TBI Program to provide academic rehabilitation to college students with the condition. UCF is the first university in the country to offer such a program on campus, and its leaders believe it will become a national model. Co-directors of the new program are Janet Whiteside, a specialist in adolescent and adult TBI, and Kenyatta Rivers, a specialist in child and adolescent TBI.

11-30-07
Collaborative Role Playing in the Classroom Communication Sciences and Disorders' Professor Barbara Ehren and Associate Professor Mary Little from the College of Education are modeling collaboration between a speech-language pathologist and special education teacher in the classroom to prepare graduate students for roles as practitioners in the schools.

9-12-07
Damany Phifer, a communication sciences and disorders graduate student, is one of 40 students nationwide selected to participate in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Minority Student Leadership Program for 2007. The program will be held in Boston on Nov. 13 to 17, during ASHA's annual convention.

"This is an honor for both him and the department, considering that our department has had at least three students who have been selected to participate in the MSLP in the last four years," said Associate Professor Kenyatta Rivers.

The Minority Student Leadership Program was established in 1999 to foster leadership development for racial/ethnic minority students. Since then, the program has served 148 students by helping them gain insight into their leadership skills, providing them a better understanding of how leaders affect change in their professional association, and empowering them to take risks and meet their own challenges.

Click here for more information about the program.