Faculty

Dr. Qualls is professor and chair of speech-language pathology at the State University of New York College at Buffalo State College. She is also ASHA’s vice president for science and research and adjunct associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Qualls is a certified speech-language pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist with clinical and research interests in neurological communication disorders, cognitive-linguistic aging, figurative language development, multiculturalism, and professional and leadership issues. She publishes widely, is an associate editor and editorial consultant for several journals, and has received an Editor’s Award for her research. Dr. Qualls received the 2008 William “Bill” Simpkins Service Award and is named in Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare. She has made significant contributions in the areas of teaching, personnel preparation, research, administration and leadership, and service.

Dr. Cress is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializing in language, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and early intervention. She conducts research on patterns of communication, assessment, and intervention strategies for infants/toddlers with severe disabilities, and has provided clinical service for children and adults who rely on AAC for 18 years.

Dr. Nelson’s work has focused on language and literacy learning in curriculum-based contexts, resulting in publications that have won Editor’s Awards from Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools and Augmentative and Alternative Communication. She is the author of Childhood Language and Literacy Disorders: Assessment and Intervention in Context (expected in 2009 from Allyn & Bacon as a new edition of her 1998 textbook) and coauthor of The Writing Lab Approach to Language Instruction and Intervention (Nelson, Bahr, & Van Meter, 2004, Paul H. Brookes Publishing). Dr. Nelson is editor of topics in language disorders and a Fellow of ASHA and the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. She received the Frank R. Kleffner Clinical Career Award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation in 2007.

Dr. Robbins is a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she holds professor appointments in medicine, radiology, nutritional sciences, and biomedical engineering. Dr. Robbins serves as associate director of research for the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Wm. S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital. She has been caring for dysphagia patients in her clinical practice for more than 20 years. Her research program has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NINDS, NIDCD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs for many years. For the past decade, Dr. Robbins served as study chair of the largest randomized clinical trial in swallowing ever funded by the NIH. A new, recently-funded project by the USDA reflects her commitment to improving patient care through obtaining evidence by which to determine best practice. Dr. Robbins’ work is published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Robbins currently holds three U.S. patents through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and serves as an ASHA fellow.

Dr. Tharpe is a professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences and associate director of education for the National Center for Childhood Deafness at Vanderbilt University. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Arizona and her master’s and Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. In 2005, she was awarded Fellow of ASHA. She has been the recipient of ASHA’s Editor’s Award on three occasions for her publications related to pediatric audiology. Dr. Tharpe’s clinical and research interests are in the area of pediatric audiology. Specifically, she works primarily on three topics: the impact of hearing loss on various aspects of child development, special needs of children with multiple disabilities, and the development and assessment of hearing in infants. Dr. Tharpe has published extensively in national and international professional journals, has published numerous book chapters, and has spoken to more than 160 audiences around the world on pediatric audiology issues.

Dr. De Maio has more than 30 years of teaching and clinical experience dealing with language development and disorders in children. He has presented frequently and published numerous reports in his area of expertise.

Dr. Estrem has been a certified speech-language pathologist for more than 24 years. She received her master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders in 1984 and her doctorate in educational psychology in 2003 from the University of Minnesota. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at St. Cloud State, where she teaches, supervises graduate students, and does research with an emphasis on autism. Her interests include services to immigrant and language minority children with disabilities, the risk factors and ages of identification, parents’ perceptions of communication services, and factors that are barriers to best outcomes.

Ms. Garrison has worked for St. Paul Public Schools for more than 25 years as a staff speech-language pathologist, lead SLP director, and, most recently, district special education supervisor. She is widely acknowledged as an expert in school services and has served in many leadership roles, including as MSHA’s Vice President of Education, MSHA President, consultant to the Minnesota Department of Education, and ASHA SLP Advisory Council. She has received the Honors of MSHA award.

Dr. Gifford is the director of the cochlear implant program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. from Arizona State University, and her M.S. from Vanderbilt University. She also completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in cochlear implant research at Arizona State University under the direction of Professor Michael Dorman. Her areas of interest and study include psychoacoustic properties of nonlinear cochlear processing in individuals with normal and impaired hearing, combination of electric and acoustic stimulation (EAS), hearing preservation with conventional cochlear implantation, and speech perception of individuals with varying degrees of hearing loss with and without cochlear implants. She was the recipient of three NIH grants and has recently submitted an R01 grant related to binaural hearing with EAS.

Ms. Gorski has served as director of speech-language pathology at Hennepin County Medical Center for more than ten years and has more than 25 years of experience, primarily in an acute care setting with a clinical focus on dysphagia and the tracheostomized/mechanically ventilated adult patient population. Ms. Gorski co-staffs the outpatient Dysphagia Clinic at HCMC and participates on an interdisciplinary team providing services for patients with Huntington’s Disease. She has lectured locally, regionally, and nationally on these topics, including featured presentations as the University of Minnesota-Duluth Eddy lecturer and presentations at ASHA national conventions. She serves as a professional consultant in trach and vent care. She has served in several executive board positions for MSHA and has received the Honors of MSHA award.

Mr. Harper has worked in a wide variety of settings, including public school, university, and private rehabilitation agency, all with pediatric populations. During his time at the University of Minnesota Duluth, one of his responsibilities was teaching clinical documentation. For the last 18 years, Mr. Harper has worked for a rehab agency contracted to the Douglas Co (Wisconsin) Birth-to-Three program. He has been a member of the MSHA Peer Standards Review (PSR) committee for most of that time, reviewing prior authorization requests for a number of insurance companies.

Dr. Hill joined Pediatric ENT Associates as an audiologist in 2006. She attended the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, earning a B.A. in speech-language-hearing sciences and an M.A. in communication disorders with an emphasis in audiology. Dr. Hill completed the final externship portion of her studies at Pediatric ENT Associates, earning an Au.D. from the University of Minnesota. In 2004, She conducted original research on hearing and vision problems in international adoptees and presented a poster at the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting. Dr. Hill’s current clinical interests include pediatric hearing testing and hearing aid fitting, BAHA fitting, and newborn hearing screening. She enjoys working closely with families and educators. In addition to seeing patients in clinic, Dr. Hill also supervises audiology students on a regular basis.

Ms. Jacobs has more than 40 years of experience as a local and national expert in child and adolescent speech-language services, specializing in phonological disorders, childhood apraxia, cleft lip and palate, central auditory processing disorders, and pediatric swallowing. She has lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on these topics, and has taught graduate and undergraduate course work in these areas at the University of Minnesota and other programs. She has worked in health care, education, and private practice, and is the founding co-owner of a private practice, Associated Speech and Language Specialists, with four offices in the metro area. She is a former president of MSHA and has received the Honors of MSHA award.

Ms. Johnson is a speech-language pathologist currently employed by Minneapolis Public Schools. She received an M.A. in communication disorders at the University of Minnesota. Her professional experience includes working as an ELL teacher both domestically and abroad. Over the last 10 years, Ms. Johnson has worked in both medical and educational settings with children and adults with a variety communication disorders. She has actively pursued her interest in the special needs of ELL students with communication disorders through master’s level research, continuing education opportunities, and participation in a district ELL task force dedicated to improving language assessment and intervention for ELL students. Ms. Johnson is currently completing a sabbatical project focused on improving native language interventions for ELL students with language disorder.

Ms. Keillor has worked as a speech-language pathologist in a medical setting for 19 years—17 years in the private sector and 1.5 years at the VA Medical Center on the Inpatient Polytrauma Rehabilitation Unit in Minneapolis. Ms. Keillor has worked primarily with adults with cognitive, communication, and swallowing disorders. She has helped numerous people with severe memory deficits set up and learn to use memory books and develop compensatory strategies in collaboration with their families and caregivers. At the VA, Ms. Keillor may also teach clients how to use PDAs as part of their compensatory strategies.

Dr. Kennedy is an associate professor in the Speech-Language-Hearing Science Department at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She has more than 25 years of clinical and research experience working with individuals with cognitive and communication disorders as a result of brain injury. Her research intersects self-regulation, executive functions, language, memory, and learning in individuals with cognitive disorders who are returning to work or college. Dr. Kennedy has published and presented widely on these topics. She is president-elect and chair of the Academy of Neurological Communication Disorders & Sciences (ANCDS) committee that develops practice guidelines on managing cognitive disorders in individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Ms. Lommen is a speech-language pathologist specializing in adult neurogenic communication disorders and dysphagia. She has worked in all aspects of rehabilitation, including acute care, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, long term care, and clinical research. Presently, Ms. Lommen works at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, MN, and is adjunct faculty at Saint Cloud State University teaching courses in motor speech disorders and dysphagia.

Ms. Medina is a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota. She completed a B.A. in Spanish and speech and hearing sciences at the University of Iowa and her M.S. in speech-language pathology with bilingual training certification at Arizona State University. Ms. Medina has since practiced to serve monolingual and bilingual families through early intervention and school-based practice. She is interested in valid assessment, cognitive control during code-switching, and bilingual development of speech and language fluency.

Ms. Pham is a doctoral student in speech-language-hearing sciences at the University of Minnesota. She is principal investigator of an NIH-sponsored study on the lexical-semantic development of Vietnamese-English bilingual children. Ms. Pham completed a B.A. in Spanish and a B.S. in speech, language, and hearing sciences at the University of Illinois, and an M.A. in speech-language pathology with a certificate of bilingual speech-language pathology from San Diego State University. Ms. Pham has worked in Spanish with Latino preschool and elementary school students, and has volunteered in Vietnam on multiple occasions, training health-related professionals. Ms. Pham is fluent in Vietnamese, Spanish, and English.

Ms. Schermer is a speech-language pathologist currently working at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. She received certification in behavior analysis and her masters in communication disorders at the University of Minnesota. Her professional experience includes more than 20 years working with children and adults with a variety of physical, behavior, communication, and speech disabilities. For the past 18 years, Ms. Schermer has specialized in the delivery of augmentative communication skills, with particular interest in language development, literacy, and transition from school to post school, institution to more independent living.

Dr. Shellum is an assistant professor and audiology clinic director in the communication disorders program at Minnesota State University-Mankato. She has extensive clinical experience in audiology and has provided patient care clinically for the past 19 years. Dr. Shellum has presented her clinical experiences to community-based outreach facilities as well as her student base.

Ms. Slobof has served as speech-language pathologist at Hennepin County Medical Center for 25 years. Her areas of practice to patients during their acute care phase of admission includes working with patients who have undergone tracheostomy and/or are ventilator dependent; evaluation and management of adult and pediatric dysphagia, adult and pediatric brain injury; serving as a member of the HFA/ALS team; and augmentative communication for inpatients and outpatients. Ms. Slobof also coordinates the Minnesota Assistive Technology Loan Network of the United Cerebral Palsy of Minnesota.

Dr. Angerman received her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth and her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She has been a clinical supervisor and instructor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities since 2002. In addition to supervising students in the department clinic, she coordinates numerous off-campus hearing screenings for senior centers, special education programs, persons in the music industry, and the Special Olympics.

Ms. Carlson is the clinic director in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She supervises students in the university clinic, assists with setting programs and department standards for clinical education of students in the department, arranges and acts as liaison for graduate students completing field placements in educational and medical settings, and tracks students’ compliance with clinical standards toward earning their degrees from the University of Minnesota and CCCs from ASHA. Prior to joining the university, Ms. Carlson worked full time in medical speech-language pathology, supervising graduate students pursuing their master’s degrees in speech-language pathology.

For almost 30 years, Dr. Carlson has been a clinical supervisor of graduate students in audiology at the University of Minnesota. With her students, she provides audiological services to children and adults at the Julia Davis Speech-Language Hearing Center and at the University of Minnesota Cleft Palate, Craniofacial, and Velocardiofacial Clinics.

Ms. Dauer has been in the field of speech-language pathology for 26 years and has owned her own business for the past 11 years. She was part of the original cadre of fluency specialists awarded by ASHA in 2000. She and her colleagues see people who stutter of all ages as well as other speech and language disorders.

Ms. Dettling is in her ninth year at Southwest High School in Minneapolis, where she works with students with Asperger’s syndrome and learning disabilities. She also has experience working with adults with cognitive and language disorders. She is particularly interested in learning about the most effective way to work with students with social skills needs. She has been incorporating “social thinking” into her therapy groups for the past year.

Dr. Estrem has been a certified speech-language pathologist for more than 24 years. She received her master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders in 1984 and her doctorate in educational psychology in 2003 from the University of Minnesota. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at St. Cloud State, where she teaches, supervises graduate students, and does research with an emphasis on autism. Her interests include services to immigrant and language minority children with disabilities, the risk factors and ages of identification, parents’ perceptions of communication services, and factors that are barriers to best outcomes.

Ms. Fancher is a speech-language pathologist who has worked in the field of speech pathology for 38 years. Her experiences include public schools and long term care. She has been with Fairview Southdale Hospital for 22 years. Ms. Fancher has taught seminars including “Staying Afloat in the Stress Pools of Life” and “Life Is Like a Bowl of Chocolates”. She was a contributing author to the national best-selling “Chocolate for a Woman’s Soul” series. Ms. Fancher has recently co-edited 52 stories that feature stroke survivors, their families, and their journeys of healing and hope.

Ms. Ferguson initiated services to children with vocal fold dysfunction 15 years ago, and has since expanded to adults. She has 15 years of clinical experience in private practice and hospital settings, including United Hospital, the University of Minnesota Hospital, and experience with presentations in medical and convention settings.

Ms. Frost has been a speech-language pathologist in the public schools for 20 years and a pediatric therapist at Park Nicollet for seven years.

Ms. Gelderman is a speech-language pathologist who has worked in Minnesota public schools for 26 years. She has extensive experience working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations, preschool age through high school. Her areas of interest and expertise are fluency disorders and augmentative and alternative communication. Ms. Gelderman is currently serving as the chairperson of MSHA’s School Issues Committee.

Mr. Harper has worked in a wide variety of settings, including public school, university, and private rehabilitation agency, all with pediatric populations. During his time at the University of Minnesota Duluth, one of his responsibilities was teaching clinical documentation. For the last 18 years, Mr. Harper has worked for a rehab agency contracted to the Douglas Co (Wisconsin) Birth-to-Three program. He has been a member of the MSHA Peer Standards Review (PSR) committee for most of that time, reviewing prior authorization requests for a number of insurance companies.

Ms. Hinderscheit has been a clinical supervisor in speech-language pathology at the University of Minnesota for the past 27 years. She has worked with many school-aged children, adolescents, and adults with a wide variety of developmental challenges. In the summer of 2007, she was fortunate to participate in Literacy Camp, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Education and held at Camp Courage.

Ms. Keillor has been a speech-language pathologist for 19 years in a medical setting, including acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and in-home and outpatient services with adults with cognitive, communication, and swallowing difficulties. She has been working on the inpatient Polytrauma Brain Injury Rehab unit at the VAMC for one year, issuing and training veterans to use cognitive prosthetics such as Palm Pilots to help compensate for cognitive communication deficits.

Ms. Lommen is a speech-language pathologist specializing in adult neurogenic communication disorders and dysphagia. She has worked in all aspects of rehabilitation, including acute care, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, long term care, and clinical research. Presently, Ms. Lommen works at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, MN, and is adjunct faculty at Saint Cloud State University teaching courses in motor speech disorders and dysphagia.

Ms. Mabbs has worked at HCMC off and on since 1991, most recently since 2001. Her focus has been on assessing and treating adults with a wide variety of neurogenic disorders, but she has enjoyed working with the HCMC Mild-Moderate TBI Outpatient Clinic since May 2007.

Mr. MacLennan received his master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Minnesota in 1984. He took a position at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center that same year, where he helped to establish that facility’s first traumatic brain injury program. He participated in a collaborative study with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center investigating the comparative effectiveness of two types of cognitive rehabilitation treatments. Mr. MacLennan currently works in the Minneapolis VA’s Polytrauma Transitional Rehabilitation Program, an inpatient transitional program that emphasizes return to community, including return to work and school.

Ms. Mann, a bilingual speech-language pathologist, has 17 years of experience working with young children. Her work settings have included an Easter Seals Early Intervention Clinic, Head Start Centers, the Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, and ECSE programs in the Roseville and Centennial school districts. She is an active member of the MSHA Multicultural Affairs Committee and a contributor to the “Talk With Me” resource guide. Ms. Mann has presented at ASHA and MSHA conferences and provided trainings for various school districts. She also taught “Introduction to Communication Differences and Disorders” at the University of Minnesota in 2006-07.

Ms. Mathison has been working at HCMC since 1995, with a focus on assessing and treating adults with mild traumatic brain injury since 2001. She has enjoyed being part of the development of the Mild-Moderate TBI Clinic, which has been growing steadily since 2004.

Ms. McInroy has practiced as a speech-language pathologist in Minnesota for 23 years. Her experience includes working at the Fraser School Richfield for 11 years. She currently works half-time for SHIELD, the South Hennepin interagency that provides developmental screening, evaluation, and referral for the birth-to-3 population in Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Edina, and Richfield. Ms. McInroy also works half-time in the Bloomington schools as a member of the ECSE evaluation team. She is a member of MSHA’s School Issues Committee and one of the Region GW representatives to the MSHA Policy Council.

Mr. Nawrocki has been in the field of speech-language pathology for eight years. He did his CFY with Katie Dauer at ACE Speech and Language Clinic and has been working there since. Mr. Nawrocki works with children and adults who stutter, and their families.

Ms. O’Brien has been at Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul since 2004. She works specifically in inpatient and outpatient brain injury services, including the outpatient Concussion Clinic. Ms. O’Brien was trained in VitalStim therapy in 2006 and has been certified as a brain injury specialist since 2007. Prior to 2004, she worked at the American Lung Association as the manager of a physician education program. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Ms. Porte is a speech-language pathologist for the Bloomington Public Schools, where she is beginning her eighth year. Prior to Bloomington, she served rural Colorado school districts for 14 years. Ms. Porte is serving as the state representative for ASHA’s State Education Advocacy Leader committee. She is also the current president-elect for MSHA.

Dr. Rao is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches courses in pediatric audiology, aural rehabilitation, and hearing assessment. She has worked as a clinical audiologist. Her research and clinical interests are in pediatric audiology, otoacoustic emissions, and auditory evoked potentials. Dr. Rao is a member of the Ethical Practices Committee of the American Academy of Audiology.

Ms. Rentmeester is a speech-language pathologist for Minneapolis Public Schools. While she has enjoyed working with several populations of disability, her passion includes children with language-learning disabilities (including bilingual populations) and the use of literacy-based assessment and intervention to meet their language needs.

Ms. Rue’s first career was as a vocal/choral music teacher. She became interested in voice disorders after she developed nodules while teaching, and resolved them through voice therapy. Ms. Rue is now fortunate to work in voice disorders, and work very closely with ENTs in the Park Nicollet Voice Clinics. She has 13 years of experience working with voice disorders, and finds that she learns more and loves the practice of voice therapy more every year. Ms. Rue is also very active singing in a community choral group.

Ms. Slobof has served as speech-language pathologist at Hennepin County Medical Center for 25 years. Her areas of practice to patients during their acute care phase of admission includes working with patients who have undergone tracheostomy and/or are ventilator dependent; evaluation and management of adult and pediatric dysphagia, adult and pediatric brain injury; serving as a member of the HFA/ALS team; and augmentative communication for inpatients and outpatients. Ms. Slobof also coordinates the Minnesota Assistive Technology Loan Network of the United Cerebral Palsy of Minnesota.

Mr. Thomas is a speech-language pathologist and manager/supervisor of the Division of Speech Pathology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, where he has practiced for 26 years. He evaluates and treats patients with communication disorders due to neurological speech and head and neck cancer.

Allison Isenberg, M.S.

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Amanda Swanson

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Ellen Henkelman

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Joelle Johanson

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Katherine Thayer

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Kelly Cooper

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Kelly Olson

Bonnie Lund, Ph.D.; Sarah Spoor; Reneé Shellum, Au.D.

Jennifer Worrall; Kelly Olson; Kahlynn Bach; Jessica Wandrie; Emily Wallin; Patricia Hargrove

Amanda Riekenberg, B.S.; Kris Vossler, M.A.

Anna Meland, B.S.; Nancy Paul, Ph.D.

Chris Collins, B.A.; Nancy Paul, Ph.D.

Lindsay Behrens, B.S.; LaRae McGillivray, M.S.

Amy M. Anderson, M.S.; Jessica Jones; Patricia Hargrove

Cynthia I. Lofton, M.S.; John Madden; Wayne Swisher; Manish Rami; F. Richard Ferraro; Lars Helgeson

Heather Hilsgren; Monica Devers, Ph.D.

Katherine E. Lamb, B.A.; Theresa Estrem, Ph.D.

Margery M. Whites, Ph.D.; Amber Honcharoff, B.A.; Ann Vanderbilt, B.A.; Toni Wachter, B.A.; Kristin McLean, B.A.; Julia Screeden, B.A.

Margery M. Whites, Ph.D.; Greta Meyer, B.A.; Anne Anderson, B.S.; Brenna Flaherty, B.S.; Krista Shoberg, B.A.; Kristi Degenhardt, M.A.

Margery M. Whites, Ph.D.; Kaye O’Hara, B.S.; Tricia Martell, B.S.; Lindsay Knutson, B.A.; Katie Treichel, B.A.; Kristina Gabbert, B.S.

Susan P. Blomstrom, B.B.A; Rebecca Crowell, Au.D..; Monica Devers, Ph.D.

Katherine Baxter, B.A.S; Cindy Spillers, Ph.D.

Ms. Friel, an assistive technology specialist with nearly 20 years of experience in the assessment, selection, and use of AAC, is currently a DynaVox Pediatric sales consultant. As an active member of the AAC community, she has served as a board member and president for the Minnesota Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (MNSAAC) from its inception until its conclusion.

Dr. Hanson is a clinical measurement consultant for The Psychological Corporation, a part of Pearson Assessment and Information. He has functioned as a school psychologist in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio. Most recently, he has been a senior licensed psychologist and director of training in a large metropolitan medical center. In that setting, Dr. Hanson’s practice focused on therapeutic interventions with children, adolescents, and their families, and psychological assessments for differential diagnosis and treatment planning. He is an adjunct faculty member at Augsburg College, teaching courses in psychological assessment, abnormal psychology, personality, and adolescence. Dr. Hanson maintains a small private practice doing psychological assessments and family therapy with complex multi-problem families.

Mr. Head is currently the VitalStim Therapy specialist for the Midwest and has been part of the VitalStim Therapy Team for five years. He has received his B.A. in marketing and mass communications from Illinois State University. With VitalStim Therapy, Mr. Head’s role is to educate physicians and speech-language pathologists on dysphagia and emerging modalities in the treatment of dysphagia. Mr. Head also provides technology support for VitalStim users in clinical settings.

Mr. Martin is the center director of the Lindamood-Bell® Learning Center in Roslyn, New York. As a learning center director, he manages program instruction provided at the center, conducts learning ability evaluations, and identifies learning challenges. Mr. Martin is often asked to speak at professional meetings and conferences and has presented the Lindamood-Bell® programs during professional development workshops.

He is also regional manager for Lindamood-Bell®, providing instructional, operational, and managerial support to center directors around the country. He was first hired by Lindamood-Bell 10 years ago as a clinician-instructor and worked at Lindamood-Bell® sites in Texas, New York, Ohio, Hawaii, and California.

Mr. Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in language and literature from the State University of New York.

Ms. Phelps is a regional representative for Prentke Romich and an experienced advocate for families and clients who use augmentative communication devices. Ms. Phelps has a master’s in special education and a bachelor’s degree in special education in LD and CD.

Ms. Ward graduated from Ohio University with a B.A. degree in speech-language pathology. She has an M.S. in speech-language pathology from Govenors State University in Illinois. During her career, she has worked in the elementary/junior high school systems in Maryland, Connecticut, Ohio, and Illinois. From 1990 to 2000, she also consulted with various agencies working with varied populations, including home health, long term care facilities, and adult mental health.