SYMPOSIUM AT A GLANCE
AG Bell will provide Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) for Short Courses, General Sessions, and Workshops.
Thursday, July 23
9:00am-4:00pm
$135.00 each
Note: Limited space is available so be sure to register as early as possible.
1. Trust the Hearing – Monitoring Auditory Skill Development in Support of Listening and Spoken Language
The development of auditory skills through listening for children who are deaf or hard of hearing has never been more attainable. Professionals who specialize in listening and spoken language, as well as educators and therapists in general education are faced with tremendous opportunities and challenges when supporting the development of these skills. At the root of this work is an understanding of the value of audition, and the ability of specialists, families and members of the educational team to trust the child’s hearing.
In this short course, participants will receive an overview of the significance of hearing and the importance of appropriate hearing technology and intervention. Through lecture, discussion and video demonstrations, presenters will address strategies for counseling families to develop hearing as part of their child’s personality; how to develop and monitor therapy and education goals; strategies to use in the classroom and individual therapy sessions that will enhance language development; and how to facilitate effective communication among the child’s educational team and caregivers.
This course is appropriate for professionals in deaf education who are seeking to enhance their knowledge of auditory skill development, as well as educators and therapists in the mainstream who teach children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Information will be presented on children from infancy through elementary school and a list of references and resources will be provided.
Presenters:
Judy Horvath, MA, LSLS Cert. AVEd., Clinical Director/Educational Services Coordinator, Bolesta Center, Inc.
Julie Steele, MA, LSLS Cert. AV Ed, Teacher Consultant for the Hearing Impaired
2. Renewed Perspectives in Listening and Spoken Language
Newborn hearing screening, auditory-access to spoken language in infancy via 21st century technology, and research findings in infant and early childhood development enable children with hearing loss to realize their potential more fully than any other time in history. Listening and Spoken Language Specialists apply evidenced-based practices for developing listening and spoken language to greater numbers of children than ever before. These professionals are challenged to examine accepted practices for congruence with current knowledge regarding early childhood development and auditory information supplied by today’s hearing technology. Two fundamental and time-tested practice aspects are the application of learning hierarchies and speech acoustics.
This advanced course will review current findings in early listening and spoken language development, examine prevailing auditory learning and spoken language hierarchies for congruence with recent findings, and suggest new approaches. The course will expand traditional approaches to measuring and interpreting speech perception information obtained from children by adding the perspective necessitated by signal processing options available in digital hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Presenters:
Helen McCaffrey Morrison, Ph.D., CCC-A, LSLS Cert. AVT, Associate Professor, Texas Christian University Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Jane R. Madell, Ph.D., LSLS Cert. AVT, CCC-A/SLP, Director, Hearing and Learning Center, The Ear Institute and Co-Director, New York Ear and Eye Infirmary
Educational Offerings
Friday, July 24 8:30 am
General Session
 Dr. Kimberly Andrews Espy
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Presentation Summary: Between the ages of 2 and 6 years, children undergo remarkable changes in their ability to direct attention to what is relevant, ignore what is distracting or conflicting, and to flexibly adapt attention and respond when contingencies change. Furthermore, there are substantial individual differences in the developmental trajectories of these skills among children. Recent evidence regarding these developmental changes will be discussed, as well as the impacts of differing sources of variability. The effects of several neurodevelopmental conditions and how these fundamental skills relate to important outcomes also will be presented. These "executive" skills are critical to support emerging competence.
Biography: Trained as a Clinical Neuropsychologist, Dr. Espy is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on identifying the antecedents of learning, attention, and behavioral disorders in medically at-risk populations, including those born prematurely, those exposed to substances of abuse during pregnancy, and those exposed to toxicants in their environment. Dr. Espy also studies the normative development of emergent cognitive skills in young children and infants, including executive control, learning, memory, and attention.
In collaboration with colleagues at Georgia State University, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Espy is exploring the comparative parallels in executive control in young children and primates, and the relation of executive control to everyday behavior and to academic outcomes such as mathematics. In her work, she utilizes developmental cognitive neuroscience paradigms to investigate cognitive development and its perturbations in young children, infants and neonates. Finally, Dr. Espy has an overarching interest in advanced multivariate statistics in general, and growth modeling in particular.
Saturday, July 25 8:30 am
General Session
 Dr. David B. Pisoni
Chancellors' Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science and
Director, Speech Research Laboratory, Indiana University
Presentation Summary: Understanding individual differences in outcomes and benefits in children with cochlear implants is a challenge for both clinicians and researchers. Why do some children who are deaf and use cochlear implants do well while other children are often struggling to understand spoken words and comprehend meaningful sentences?
In addition to hearing loss resulting from a congenital profound deafness, a rapidly growing body of research suggests that other neurocognitive systems are also affected and these may develop in an atypical manner by the absence of sound and hearing during early development, especially during the first few years of life.
The research program at Indiana University School of Medicine has been investigating several underlying neurocognitive processes such as working memory, processing speed, visual and auditory attention, sequence learning and memory, sensory-motor integration, visual-spatial coding and executive function to determine the extent to which a period of sensory deprivation prior to receiving an implant may affect other information processing domains that are secondary to a profound hearing loss. This session will explore the findings obtained at Indiana University School of Medicine and provide ample opportunity for discussion.
Biography: Dr. Pisoni is the Chancellors' Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science and the Director of the Speech Research Laboratory at Indiana University focusing on basic and clinical research on speech perception, spoken word recognition, language comprehension and perceptual development. Dr. Pisoni joined the faculty of Indiana University in 1971, and for the last 16 years he has worked at Indiana University School of Medicine with Dr. Richard T. Miyamoto and his research group on several clinical problems associated with hearing loss in children and adults who are deaf and hard of hearing who use cochlear implants. Dr. Pisoni has been the Program Director of the Speech Research Laboratory at Indiana University, supported by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant since 1978.
Dr. Pisoni is a former National Institutes of Health post-doctoral fellow in the Speech Group at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, as well as a past recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Acoustical Society of America and the Association of Psychological Science. He was recently elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP). Dr. Pisoni has a B.A. in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, from Queens College of City University of New York and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
A panel discussion will follow each of the General Sessions, featuring that session’s keynote speaker as well as prominent leaders in the fields of Executive Function and/or of listening and spoken language development for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Panelists, with an emphasis on audience participation, will examine the connections between the research presented and general clinical applications with children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing.
July 24 panel discussion participants:
- Kimberly Andrews Espy, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Lincoln-Nebraska
- Mitchell Sommers, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis
- Desiree A. White, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis
- Melody Harrison, Ph.D., Professor and Coordinator of Master’s Studies Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Peter K. Isquith, Ph.D., Pediatric Neuropsychology, Hanover Road Professional Center
July 25 panel discussion participants:
- David B. Pisoni, Ph.D., Chancellors' Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science; Director, Speech Research Laboratory, Indiana University
- Ann Geers, Ph.D., Psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Communication Disorders, Callier Advanced Hearing Research Center and Southwestern Medical Center, University of Texas at Dallas
- Lisa Davidson, Ph.D., CCC-A, Assistant Research Professor, CID/Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Coordinator of Pediatric Audiology, CID Oral School for the Deaf
- Gitry Heydebrand, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
- Joyce Cooper-Kahn, Ph.D., Clinical Child Psychologist, Psychological Resource Associates
Carrying on the theme of Executive Function, participants will choose among a variety of concurrent learning workshops designed to enhance their clinical skills in meeting the needs of those with hearing loss. Workshops, led by the day's panel participants, will reflect the content of the General Sessions and how participants can apply such knowledge in their work with children and adults.
Workshop topics will include:
- Understanding the Contribution of Executive Function (EF) to Development of Language and Reading Skills in Children with Cochlear Implants
- Exploring the Role of Executive Function (EF) in Everyday Communication in Adults with Hearing Loss
- Executive Abilities in Children: Development Focusing on Working Memory, Strategic Processing, Inhibitory Control, Response Monitoring
- Neuroanatomy 101: Exploring the Neural Foundations of Executive Function
- Speech Perception, Language Abilities and Cognitive Skills in Children with Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids
- Executive Function Issues in Audiological Treatment Rehabilitation of Individuals with Hearing Loss
- Assessment of Executive Functions and Applying the Results in Everyday Practice
- Designing Interventions and Building Self-Managment Skills for Children and Teens with Executive Deficits
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