SPEAKER INFORMATION:
Carol Afflerbaugh, M.A., CCC-SLP, BCBA - Carol Afflerbaugh is a Speech-Language Pathologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst having extensive training in the Kaufman Speech Praxis Method and the Kasper & Kaufman Sign & Say protocols, both to assist children in becoming functional, verbal, and intelligible communicators. Carol established and now directs two applied behavior analysis (ABA) intervention programs at the Kaufman Children’s Center which use the teaching procedures associated with applied verbal behavior (AVB): TrainIn is the center-based program, and HomeRun is the home-based program. Carol has achieved instructor certification with the LINKS to Language intervention program, is a certified Hanen Speech Language Pathologist, has been trained in the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), and has achieved consultant level for Affect-Based Language Curriculum. Carol’s training and experience in strategies found to be effective in assisting children learn has resulted in her receiving thirteen Awards for Continuing Education (ACEs) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Carol received her B.A. in Sociology and her M.A. in Speech and Hearing from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received an Educational Specialist Certificate from Wayne State University. Carol has provided intervention for schools, private agencies, federally-funded programs, and private clinics. She has served on the Board of the Autism Society of Michigan. Carol was the recipient of the Autism Society of Michigan’s Stephen Tsai Educator of the Year Award in 2005. She has been with the Kaufman Children’s Center for Speech, Language, Sensory-Motor, and Social Connections, Inc. since 1994.
Sue Caspari, M.A., CCC/SLP - Sue Caspari, is a speech-language pathologist working in private practice in the Philadelphia area. Over the years, she has worked with children and adults with neurogenic speech and language disorders in early intervention, educational, and hospital settings, including the Mayo Clinic. In her current practice, she works primarily with, and as a consultant and advocate for, children with severe speech production disorders. She has advanced knowledge and experience in the areas of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and alternative and augmentative communication. Sue has published scholarly articles on CAS, conducts workshops on CAS, and has spoken on CAS at national conferences such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) annual meeting. In addition to her clinical practice, Sue works as an educational software development and marketing consultant. Sue is an associate member of the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences and a member of ASHA’s Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders Special Interest Division; is licensed in the state of Pennsylvania; and holds a Pennsylvania teaching certificate for the speech and hearing impaired.
Margaret (Dee) Fish, M.S., CCC-SLP - Dee Fish is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist with over 25 years experience working with children with a variety of communication needs. She received both her B.S. and M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Eastern Illinois University. Since completing her formal education, Dee has worked exclusively with the pediatric population, first in the public schools and then in private practice. In addition to providing evaluation and treatment services, Dee also offers consultation services, specifically for children with severe articulation disorders, motor speech disorders, such as Childhood Apraxia, and receptive and expressive language disorders. She offers workshops to professionals and parents on the topics of Childhood Apraxia of Speech and speech and language development in young children.
David W. Hammer, M.A., CCC-SLP - Dave Hammer has been employed by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since graduating with his Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology in 1979. He has been the Coordinator of Speech and Language Services at the Children’s Hospital North satellite facility in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh since 1988. Dave has a wide range of pediatric clinical experience, with specialty interests in apraxia of speech in children, childhood and adolescent stuttering, and severe articulation/phonological disorders. Dave has been invited to present workshops on apraxia of speech throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. Dave was a member of the ASHA AdHoc committee on childhood apraxia. He is a member of the CASANA (Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America) Advisory Council. Dave has been a significant contributor to the production of the DVD “Hope Speaks” and the DVD “Treatment Strategies for Childhood Apraxia of Speech”. Dave brings a practical and therapy-oriented approach to his presentations.
Kenda Hammer, M. Ed - Kenda Hammer is an early childhood educator in the Fox Chapel Area School District. After 25 years of teaching kindergarten, she founded new programming for the school district in August 2003 as the Teacher/Director of the Family Literacy Center; Literacy Coach for teachers of children ages 2-6; and Transition Coordinator Pre-K to K. With degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in Child Development, Early Childhood, and Elementary Education, she has worked for almost 32-years,including in-depth study of full-day kindergarten, transition, and kindergarten readiness issues with an emphasis in language, literacy, and child development. She led and evaluated the Fox Chapel Area School District's Full-Day Kindergarten implementation initiative. Mrs. Hammer is a NAEYC member, a Pitt Literacy Conference Steering Committee member, and will work as an invited Faculty Facilitator for the summer 2009 PA Early Childhood Governor's Institute. In 2008-09, she was selected for Cambridge Who's Who (Honors Edition) Among Executive & Professional Women in Education & Research. Married for 32 years to Dave Hammer, the Coordinator of Speech and Language Services at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh North, they have two children, Katie, age 23, and Brad, age 18.
Deborah Hayden, M.A., CCC-SLP, SL-P(C), Reg. CASLPO - Deborah Hayden is the Founder and Executive Director of the PROMPT Institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico and an Adjunct Specialist in the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences at Michigan State University. Her research has been in the field of childhood and adult speech production disorders; phonology, hearing impairment, dysarthria and apraxia. She founded the PROMPT Institute for the purposes of treatment, training and research in speech production disorders. Her current research efforts have recently resulted in the norming and publishing the VMPAC (Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children), and the VMPAA (Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Adults) with colleague Dr. Paula Square. She is also a co-author of the EMCS (Early Motor Control Scales). Deborah has published extensively and has presented internationally at workshops and conferences both in United States, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. She is on the professional advisory board of CASANA.
Kathy J. Jakielski, Ph.D., CCC-SLP - Kathy J. Jakielski is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sciences and Disorders at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She has twenty-five years of clinical experience working with children and adolescents with severe speech impairment, including CAS. After receiving her Master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Jakielski worked clinically for nine years in a variety of settings, including a university clinic, public schools, Head Start, private practices, and acute, rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals, prior to returning to the University of Texas to pursue her doctorate in the area of early normal and disordered speech acquisition, with a focus on CAS. She completed her doctorate in 1998 and continues to conduct research on differential diagnosis and intervention efficacy on children with CAS. Dr. Jakielski has presented and published her findings on CAS, and is a professional advisory board member of the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America.
Nancy Kaufman, M.A., CCC-SLP - Nancy Kaufman is the director of the Kaufman Children’s Center for Speech, Language, Sensory-Motor & Social Connections, Inc. (KCC), located in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The Kaufman Children’s Center is a past recipient of the MSHA Clinical Service Award. Ms. Kaufmann received her B.A. at Michigan State University and M.A. at Wayne State University, having been awarded a graduate assistantship. Ms. Kaufman has specialized in working with children exhibiting apraxia of speech since 1979. She is the author of the Kaufman Speech Praxis Test for Children (1995), the Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Kits for Children (1998, 2001), and the Kaufman Speech Praxis Workout Book (2005). She is also the co-author of the K & K Sign and Say: Shaping Verbal Language for Individuals with Autism and Other Developmental Challenges (2006). An experienced diagnostician, clinician, lecturer and instructor, Ms. Kaufman presents on the subject of apraxia of speech in children locally, nationally and internationally. Ms. Kaufmann is also a member of the CASANA professional advisory Board.
Amy Skinder-Meredith, Ph.D, M.A., CCC-SLP - Amy Skinder-Meredith, Ph.D., received her doctorate from the University of Washington and her M.S. from the University of Arizona. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Washington State University. She is an experienced clinician who has worked in the public schools, hospitals, and private practice settings. Her primary clinical and research interest is in children with motor speech disorders. Currently she is researching phonological awareness and literacy issues in children with CAS and is just beginning treatment efficacy research using Electropalatography. She has published and presented her research on childhood apraxia of speech at national conferences. She has also given numerous workshops for practicing speech-language pathologists on assessment and treatment of CAS.
Amy Newmeyer, M.D. - Amy Newmeyer is the Director of the Apraxia Clinic and the Comprehensive CP Program in the Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. She is a board-certified pediatrician with additional subspecialty board certification in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, and specific expertise in the neurological evaluation of children with speech disorders including CAS.
Lawrence Shriberg*, Ph.D., CCC-SLP - Dr. Shriberg is Emeritus Professor of Communication Disorders at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He is Principal Investigator of the Phonology Project and co-director of the Phonology Clinic at the Waisman Center. The Phonology Project, which is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, addresses three questions:
- What are the etiologic origins of childhood speech sound disorders of currently unknown origin?
- What is the best way to assess and diagnose children with speech disorders of known and unknown origin?and,
- What are the most effective ways to help children with speech sound disorders of known and unknown origin?
Dr. Shriberg's research includes genetic and other studies of childhood apraxia of speech. Dr. Shriberg chaired the ASHA Ad Hoc Committee that developed the 2007 Position Statement and Technical Report on Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
Ruth Stoeckel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP - Ruth Stoeckel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, from Rochester, Minnesota, is a clinical therapist and evaluator at Mayo Clinic. She has experience working as a clinician, clinical coordinator, and independent consultant in the schools, private practice, private rehabilitation agency, and clinic. Her areas of special interest include childhood motor speech disorders, cochlear implantation and autism. Dr. Stoeckel is on the professional advisory board of the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA).
Edythe Strand, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-NCD - Dr. Strand is a consultant in the Departmentof Neurology, Division of Speech Pathology, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Associate Professor in the Mayo Medical School. Her primary research and clinical interests have been in Neurologic Communication Disorders, especially childhood and acquired apraxia of speech, dysarthria, and neurologic voice disorders. She has published articles and chapters regarding the clinical management of motor speech disorders in children, including treatment efficacy. Dr. Strand is co-editor of the book (1999), Clinical Management of Motor Speech Disorders of Children. She lectures frequently throughout the country on childhood apraxia and motor speech disorders in both children and adults and is a member of the CASANA Professional Advisory Board.
CONFERENCE SPONSORS
Thank you to the Corporate Sponsors below who are supporting this years national conference
Childcare Information
Currently, the Kids Klub Activity Center is available for overnight guests ages 3-11 years. The center is open Friday 6pm-midnight and Saturday 4pm-midnight. It is not a licensed day care facility. Click here for more details on the program's policy. If this does not accommodate the needs of conference attendees, please contact Midwest Nannies (a local child care agency) at 630.248.7777.
