Speech and Hearing Science | Page 13 | College of Applied Health Sciences

A Few Minutes With … Dan Fogerty

April 08, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

AHS media relations specialist Vince Lara, speaks with Department of Speech and Hearing Science associate professor Dan Fogerty about why he choose Illinois, teaching during a pandemic, and his research on the interaction between speech and noise.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: Hi, and welcome to another edition of A Few Minutes With, the podcast that showcases Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences. I’m Vince Lara and today I’m speaking with SHS associate Professor Dan Fogerty about why he chose Illinois, teaching during a pandemic, and his research on the interaction between speech and noise. Dan, Thanks for being on the podcast. I appreciate it. You’re a Wisconsin guy, but what led you to teach at the University of Illinois?

DAN FOGERTY: I think it can be summarized in probably one word here, and that’s opportunity. Illinois has a long history of excellence in speech and hearing research and teaching and that tradition continues today. I see Illinois as a place where I can grow my research program.

I can attract high quality students and interact with them, as well as interact with experts who share related interests. Both within the departments and across campus. And so I think there’s a real collaborative atmosphere here at Illinois that I think is both important and rewarding.

VINCE LARA: Dan, did you always want to teach?

DAN FOGERTY: So I started out my career as a speech language pathologist. So the clinician who was focused in helping people attain functional skills for communication. And in many ways therapy is a form of teaching, although at the time I certainly didn’t think of myself directly as a teacher. The times that I felt most successful when I think back, are when I’ve helped someone overcome a challenge that they’ve had and in order to do something that they value. It has often been in the form of helping someone gain knowledge or skills to help them do something. And this happens both inside and outside the classroom where I have the opportunity to do just that.

So I think I am doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do but I didn’t always know what to call it, what career to find it in, or even if I should call it teaching, but it certainly is.

VINCE LARA: What’s teaching been like in a pandemic? What sort of challenges have you experienced?

DAN FOGERTY: I’ve been teaching for a number of years and one of the things that I miss the most is the classroom environment. There’s an energy in the classroom where students are working together to solve problems. And while many of those activities or learning objectives can be translated to an online environment, for me, it’s been difficult to create and feel a sense of community. But on the other hand, the pandemic has really forced an opportunity to be creative about teaching. To re-evaluate things that I’ve done before, to seek out resources and how I can do things better. So through this process I’ve learned a lot. And I think that many of those tools and resources that have been discovered or created during this time was will still stay around and can still be used to enhance interactivity and engagement of courses, both online and in person in the future.

VINCE LARA: Commonly Dan, I find when I do these interviews, researchers had some sort of experience that they’ve had that inspires their research and I’m wondering what that was for you.

DAN FOGERTY: There have been the experiences that I’ve experienced both as a clinician and really just as an individual with members of my own family, where people have difficulty hearing. That poses significant challenges for them to participate in the life of others.

And this is a very common problem. So nearly one in three people between 65 and 75 have hearing loss. If you go over 75, half of individuals have hearing loss. And that hearing losses associated with cognitive decline later in life as well.

The good news is that hearing loss is also one of the largest modifiable factors for preventing dementia. Modifiable means that we can do something about it. We have the knowledge and the tools now to improve communication and cognitive function later in life. It involves protecting our hearing and it involves using appropriate hearing devices like hearing aids.

And in addition to just hearing loss, made listening environments are complex, they’re challenging. Think about going to a restaurant but there’s a lot of noise, or even trying to type at the TV on in the background. Listening in noisy environments presents even more challenges. Particularly, to those who have hearing loss, but really for anyone, even those who don’t.

Anyone can have difficulty with communication. And so what inspires me is that there is a real opportunity here. An opportunity to address a problem that so many people have difficulty with, to improve our ability to communicate with each other, to prevent cognitive decline. Communication is really central to our human experience and we can do something to increase access to that.

VINCE LARA: My background is communications, and so often in communications we talk about separating the noise from the message in order to facilitate communication. Is that similar to your research on interactions between speech and noise?

DAN FOGERTY: I think this is an interesting comparison. So we can think about noise really coming in two different types. We can think about noise as a purely acoustic signal. So you can think about road noise or the roar of a lawnmower or a hairdryer. And in the presence of that noise it can be hard to understand speech because these noises in the background mask the speech. They cover it up.

But in many cases, the noise that we hear can have its own meaning as well. So let’s say we’re in a lecture hall and we’re trying to listen to someone present but there are a couple of people in the back who are talking. In that context, we can think of that background speeches and noise that covers up what we’re trying to listen to, the presenter. But the people in the back of the room are also communicating real meaningful information.

And so we can also have competition from that meaningful information. So this is a sensory task, listening to speech that is partially masked by some other signal. But it’s also a cognitive task, one where we’re trying to find the message and separated out from competing sources of information. And I think it’s that latter task that we can really draw some parallels here.

So how do you hear the message you are trying to find when there are so many other sources of information that can be competing for your attention.

VINCE LARA: Part of your research looks at factors that predict how people perform in noisy conditions. And I’m wondering, what does that entail?

DAN FOGERTY: So it entails these sensory abilities. The ability to detect, to process sound, to detect moments in time when the intended speech pops out above the background noise. But it also entails certain cognitive and linguistic abilities. So this can be the ability to attend the message, to inhibit competing messages, to hold information in memory, and be able to use that information to facilitate future understanding and processing.

And these abilities can also interact with our previous experiences and skilled language as well.

VINCE LARA: Dan at an R1 university, research is always going on. You always have that next project you’re working on while you’re working on projects that are currently in front of you. So what’s next in your research pipeline?

DAN FOGERTY: So we already know a lot about the types of conditions that make it difficult for us to understand speech, and general principles that we can employ to improve understanding for groups of listeners. But people can have challenges understanding speech for different reasons and therefore, they can make different errors in understanding the message. And those errors have real consequences in terms of the actions someone might take.

So you can think about someone misunderstanding health information from their doctor. So I’m interested in identifying not just if someone is having difficulty, but why they’re having difficulty. How it might be different from someone else who might have the same level of performance, in terms of understanding it but they’re having different errors, different underlying sources that are resulting in that difficulty.

And this can lead to potentially different consequences for the individual. So I want to be able to characterize those individual differences and really look at what we can do to intervene on an individual level to maximize speech understanding.

VINCE LARA: My Thanks to Dan Fogarty. For more podcasts on Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences, search A Few Minutes With on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, radio.com and other places you get your podcast fix. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

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Tags: A Few Minutes With, Dan Fogerty, Podcast

Alumni Spotlight—Megan McKenna

March 08, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences have myriad career options thanks to the tremendous diversity of programs. We periodically will put the spotlight on an alum to find out what they’re doing now, what experiences they had and what AHS means to them. This week, we talk to Megan McKenna, who got her B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science in 2011 and her clinical M.A. in Speech & Hearing Science in 2013. Currently, McKenna is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and certified autism specialist at two suburban hospitals within Northwestern Medicine.

Q: Why did you pick AHS?

A: After graduating from high school, I started my undergraduate studies at a small liberal arts college and quickly found that it wasn’t the right fit for me. Knowing that I wanted to become a speech-language pathologist, I quickly discovered that the University of Illinois had a well-respected Speech & Hearing Science department. I was fortunate enough to be accepted and start at Illinois for the second semester of my freshman year. I was worried about the change from such a small college to a large university, but I found that AHS was the perfect balance. My classes within AHS were smaller than my general education courses, so I felt I had a better opportunity to really retain coursework and get to know my professors and classmates. I also ended up becoming very interested in research, and AHS allowed me to participate in research as an undergraduate and graduate student. That is definitely not an option at many other universities!

Q. Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: Dr. Pamela Hadley was incredibly impactful during my time in AHS and beyond. It was in her undergraduate class on child language that I became fascinated by the language development process in young children, and I was drawn to her passion on the topic. I ended up completing my James Scholar Honors project, writing a master’s thesis, and working as a research assistant all under her guidance! Since my graduation, we have co-authored a paper together in one of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s journals. I also enjoyed courses with Dr. Cynthia Johnson and Dr. Raksha Anand Mudar.

Q: What course did you most enjoy?

A: I really enjoyed most of my courses within the SHS department but also the courses I took from other departments in AHS for my interdisciplinary minor. My favorite courses focused on child language, language disorders, and language and the brain. I also loved completing independent study coursework as part of my James Scholar project because I was able to build experiences specific to my interests.

Q: Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?

A: When I started college, I already knew I wanted to study to become a speech-language pathologist, but I had a particular interest in working with the adult population. I even completed an interdisciplinary minor in Aging Studies within AHS! However, after my interest in child language and development was peeked in course and experience working in the Applied Psycholinguistics Laboratory within SHS, I became convinced that working with the pediatric population was actually a better fit for me. My experiences within AHS helped me to identify my true passion and guide me to the career I have now.

Q: Did your AHS experience lead to your current job?

A: My experiences in AHS and the department of SHS really helped me to identify my passion for working with the pediatric population. I had the opportunity to begin clinical hours in speech therapy as a senior and continued into graduate school. I was able to be placed in a wide range of clinical assignments—far more than other SLPs I know that attended other schools. I felt really confident in my clinical skills when I started my first job as an SLP in the Illinois public schools. After 4 years working in schools, I transitioned to the outpatient clinic setting. I know that all of my clinical experiences within AHS gave me the background I needed to be successful across these different settings, and my coursework and research experiences made me comfortable applying evidence-based practice and pursuing new responsibilities, training, and certifications.

Q: What is your current job?

A: I am a pediatric speech-language pathologist and certified autism specialist at two suburban hospitals within Northwestern Medicine. I specialize in providing speech therapy to pediatric patients at-risk or diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, but I see pediatric patients 14 months of age to 18 years of age with a wide range of diagnoses and needs. I also serve on an interdisciplinary early intervention medical diagnostic team and complete autism diagnostic assessments to support physicians’ clinical decisions. I am fortunate to be able to work closely with parents and my colleagues in other disciplines.

Q: When did you graduate and with what degree?

A: I graduated with a B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science in 2011 and with a clinical M.A. in Speech & Hearing Science in 2013.

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?

A: Where to begin?! I worked for campus housing at the front desk and as an RA, and I loved building relationships with my co-workers and the residents on the floors. So many fun times! I was also part of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and had the opportunity to volunteer on campus as well as the communities surrounding Urbana-Champaign. The University of Illinois is a busy and exciting campus—there are so many options as far as joining groups/clubs, attending events, and going out with friends! There is always something to do or somewhere to go.

Q: What would you say to recommend AHS to a prospective student?

A: AHS is a smaller college on campus, so you get to know your classmates and faculty more personally. AHS allows you to experience a more tight-knit, community feel within the large university setting that Illinois is. It’s the best of both worlds!

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Spotlight

Alumni Spotlight—Monique Mills

March 03, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences have myriad career options thanks to the tremendous diversity of programs. We periodically will put the spotlight on an alum to find out what they’re doing now, what experiences they had and what AHS means to them. This week, we talk to Monique Mills, who got her bachelor of science in SHS and a Ph.D. in SHS. Currently, Mills is an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston.

Q: Why did you pick AHS?

A: After taking a class in Special Education, titled Exceptional Children, I decided that I wanted to become a speech-language pathologist, to help persons who are nonverbal communicate. This led me to begin taking courses in Speech & Hearing Science.

Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: All of my professors impacted me. Most especially Dr. Ruth Watkins, my doctoral advisor and Dr. Adele Proctor, who first introduced me to subject I’ve been studying since: narrative assessment in school-age African-American children. My dissertation committee deeply influenced my thinking around qualitative research methods (Anne Hass Dyson) and how African-American English was presented in children’s literature (Violet Harris, Betsy Hearne). Then, there were professors within my department who influenced me through their stellar teaching (Cynthia Thompson) and clinical research (Pam Hadley).

Q: What course did you most enjoy?

A: As an undergraduate, I most enjoyed courses in SHS that focused on child language development. I also quite enjoyed the Kinesiology course on ice skating that I took with a friend. As a doctoral student, I most enjoyed coursework in Curriculum & Instruction because I met an interdisciplinary group of friend I remain in touch with. I also very much enjoyed learning situation modeling from Elizabeth Stein-Morrow in Psychology.

Q: Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?

A: I knew that I was interested in speech-language pathology. It’s interesting, Education led me to AHS.

Q: Did your AHS experience lead to your current job?

A: Yes, I majored in Speech & Hearing Science (SHS) in the undergrad program at UIUC, the master’s program at Ohio State University, and the doctoral program at UIUC.

Q: What is your current job?

A: Currently, I’m an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders.

Q: When did you graduate and with what degree?

A: I graduated with a bachelor of science in SHS and a PhD in SHS from UIUC. So I have two degrees from AHS. At the time, it was ALS.

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?

A: My favorite on-campus experience was partaking in all of the yummy food on Green Street and strolling across the quad, of course.

Q: What would you say to recommend AHS to a prospective student?

A: I would say AHS values excellence. As an undergraduate student I was on the Dean’s list a lot, and it felt good to be appreciated publicly in receptions at mom’s day weekend.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Spotlight

SHS freshman Abbie Keasler talks about campus and COVID

Nov. 30, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Freshmen are entering college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with new AHS students about campus life, why they decided to come to campus—or stay home—and how COVID-19 changed their expectations. Today, we speak with Abbie Keasler, a student in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

Q: Were you on campus?

A: I was not on campus this semester. I studied remotely from home, but my home is not in the Champaign-Urbana area.

Q: What was the deciding factor to stay home, rather than come to campus?

A: There were several factors that influenced my decision to stay home. When weighing all of the variables in my situation, I felt it was best for me to stay home. One thing I contemplated was the money I could save on housing and food by staying home. Another factor was limiting my possible exposure to COVID-19 by staying home. To be honest, I thought universities were not going to keep students on campus for much of the semester. Regardless, I am glad many college students were able to stay on campus until late November!

Q: What challenges did you discover with remote classes?

A: Surprisingly, my remote classes treated me well. But of course, there were difficulties. On my end, there were times when my internet was slow and uncooperative. I didn’t necessarily have any technology issues; the issues I had were rooted in the fact that I was a remote student. It was definitely difficult to find motivation to do my coursework and occasionally challenging to connect with my classmates. I thankfully never had issues with navigating Compass2g or connecting with my instructors.

Q: What are the differences between your high school remote learning experience, and here at Illinois?

A: I did not have much experience with remote learning from my high school before the pandemic hit. My high school did the best they could given the abruptness of the situation, but with my experience at Illinois, it has been similar to the experience I had when I took online dual-credit courses at my local community college. Both institutions utilized an online learning medium that organized assignments, course information, modules, etc. At Illinois, it has been nice to be able to have some virtual face-to-face time with instructors, whether that has been during class or in office hours.

Q: What is the one thing you can’t wait to do when you arrive on campus?

A: I have been asked this question many times! I can’t wait to just simply be on campus! I am looking forward to being in an educational environment with other students, meeting new people in a new atmosphere, and being able to experience the culture and life of University of Illinois and Champaign-Urbana.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

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SHS Freshman Abby Martinez talks about campus life in the COVID era

Sept. 17, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Freshmen are entering college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with new AHS students about campus life, why they decided to come to campus—or stay home—and how COVID-19 is changing their expectations. Today, we speak with Abby Martinez, a student in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

Q: Are you on campus?

A: I am on campus!

Q: What made you decide to be on campus?

A: Since it is my freshman year, I thought it’d would be nice to explore campus, get to know more people, and be involved!

Q: What challenges have you found in navigating campus?

A: I haven’t found any. It’s been easy! The buses are always there so I haven’t encountered any problems at all.

Q: What challenges are you discovering with remote classes?

A: With remote classes, expectations are looking a little bit different. Whether it is asynchronous or synchronous learning, having a mix of both is confusing for me. I realize that I am behind in some of my classes when it comes to readings, so I’ve been struggling with that.

Q: Tell me what you think about the COVID testing process. Has it been easy to find a testing site?

A: I think the process is great! It’s super quick and you don’t have to wait long for your results, so that is definitely a bonus. It has been easy finding a testing site, there’s one not so far from where I am staying at!

Q: What are the differences between your high school remote learning experience, and here at Illinois?

A: When I was in high school, everything was asynchronous learning. Here at Illinois, I have a mix of both. Every one of my instructors have been pretty specific with what they are expecting from us, and the assignments are not confusing at all!

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

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Freshman Brooklyn Clough talks about campus life during COVID-19

Sept. 10, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Freshmen are entering college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with new AHS students about campus life, why they decided to come to campus—or stay home—and how COVID-19 is changing their expectations. Today, we speak with Brooklyn Clough, a student in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

Q: Are you on campus?

A: I am on campus this semester because even though all of my classes are digital, I believed being on campus would give me the motivation I needed for my classes that I wouldn’t be able to find at home. Also, I wanted the experience; it is only my freshman year so I truly don’t know what I am missing with COVID-19 regulations.

Q: What challenges have you found in navigating campus?

A: Since all of my classes are digital, I don’t travel much on campus, but I do struggle with the bus system. Long story short, I was trying to head to my dorm and ended up in downtown Urbana.

Q: What challenges are you discovering with remote classes?

A: Digital classes have been a complete internal battle because many of my classes are asynchronous as well; So I must organize my schedule on my own and try to remember all of my due dates for different courses.

Q: Tell me what you think about the COVID testing process. Has it been easy to find a testing site?

A: Testing has been painless since I live in Nugent, which is connected to the SDRP (Student Dining and Residential Programs) where a testing center is. I also surprisingly have started getting better at finishing the testing faster, since I have been doing it for a while.

Q: What are the differences between your high school remote learning experience, and here at Illinois?

A: My high school remote learning was a lot less motivated than here at Illinois. I did take a remote class in Fall 2019, which was me cramming at the last minute before due dates and after the school went completely digital in spring 2020. I put in little effort because our grades couldn’t be negatively affected if we showed active participation. Here at Illinois, these classes matter and are important; However, it is quite similar in that I have few check-ins and mostly work is on my own.

Tags: COVID-19, Freshmen, Speech and Hearing Science

Grant to help researcher study difference in hearing for preterm babies

June 08, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Project aims to compare fetal auditory exposures in the womb and in the neonatal intensive care unit

*Brian Monson in his office (Credit: Brian L. Stauffer)*

A researcher in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences has received funding to determine the difference in language exposures for preterm infants relative to what they would be hearing if they were still in the womb.

SHS assistant professor Brian Monson earned a $300,000 grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders for his project entitled, “Auditory experience during the prenatal and perinatal period.”

Monson said the aims of the project include comparing typical fetal auditory exposures in the womb to preterm infant auditory exposures in the neonatal intensive care unit, and assessing the effect of these exposures on auditory neurodevelopment. The study, he said, is being conducted in collaboration with Carle Hospital, with the long-term goal of optimizing auditory exposures for preterm infants to foster healthy brain development in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“We also hope to see whether these differences in exposures have an effect on later brain and language development,” Monson said.

The grant from the NIDCD—which is part of the National Institutes of Health—helps extend upon research Monson undertook with funding from a Center for Health, Aging & Disability (CHAD) pilot grant.

Monson said the plan is to enroll 100 preterm infants and 100 pregnant women who carry to full term, with recruiting done locally of pregnant women from the Champaign-Urbana community and NICU patients from Carle Hospital. He said data collection had begun and that he had about 30 subjects in each group.

Once differences between exposures in the NICU vs. the womb are established, Monson said, the next step would be to develop an intervention that enhances NICU auditory exposures (e.g., by increasing language exposure) and assess the effects of this intervention with a clinical trial. “We also plan to continue following up with the current study’s babies later in childhood,” he said.

“One out of every 10 babies born in Illinois is born premature, which is similar to the national rate,” Monson said. “Because of this, we feel this project is critically important as it will lead to improved health outcomes for our community’s tiniest human beings.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Brian Monson, email monson@illinois.edu.

Tags: Brian Monson, Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Prenatal, Speech and Hearing Science

Alumni Spotlight: Lynn Bielski

June 01, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences have myriad career options thanks to the tremendous diversity of programs. We periodically will put the spotlight on an alum to find out what they’re doing now, what experiences they had and what AHS means to them. This week, we talk to Lynn Bielski, who got her B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science in 2001, Master of Arts in Audiology in 2003 and Ph.D. in Audiology in 2013. She is now an assistant professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Ball State University.

Q: Why did you pick AHS?

A: I selected AHS because the Department of Speech and Hearing Science was part of it and had the major I selected. When I began my undergrad degree I wanted to become a speech-language pathologist. Later, I changed focus to audiology after taking a Hearing Science course with Dr. David Gooler.

Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: I was very fortunate to work with many wonderful professors and clinical supervisors including Drs. Charissa Lansing, Ron Chambers, Cynthia Johnson, David Gooler, Lou Echols-Chambers and Carol Parker.

Q: What course did you most enjoy?/Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?

A: I began as an undergrad thinking I wanted to become an speech-language pathologist. Then I took a hearing science course with Dr. David Gooler, and I changed my mind. I learned more about audiology and realized the blend of anatomy/physiology, physics, neuroscience and clinical practice was perfect for me.

Q: Did your AHS experience lead to your current job?

A: Yes, the mentorship, training and experience I received from AHS and Speech and Hearing Science led me to my current position.

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?

A: This is so hard to answer! One of the most exciting experiences was watching the Illini beat No. 1 Wake Forest at Assembly Hall (Dec. 1, 2004). The energy was electric!

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Spotlight

COVID-19 has brought telepractice into forefront of SLP, AUD treatment

May 01, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Free telepractice services in speech‑audiology advanced during COVID‑19 pandemic

*Telepractice was an effective option during the lockdown phase of COVID. (Stock image)*

The COVID-19 outbreak has radically altered life in the United States. It changed how we work, communicate, spend time with families, exercise and shop. It has also forced students to change how they learn and how they go about fulfilling the requirements of preparing for life after school.

Students in the Speech and Hearing Science Department of the College of Applied Health Sciences at Illinois have had to alter how they can complete internships, a necessary part of their coursework. Fortunately, the state of Illinois recently granted a temporary variance to allow speech-language pathology and audiology students to count telepractice hours even if the student and supervisor are not in the same room.

That decision has given students such as Nina Iraci, a first-year graduate student in the speech-language pathology program, a chance to work with clients, even if it’s via phone or video conference.

“We’ve had to be adaptable and creative in how we deliver our services,” Iraci said. “I found (telepractice) has been more of a tool than we thought. Telepractice is a great option. It’s very convenient. It’s surprised us.”

Caitlyn Boni is a second-year master’s student in SLP and her externship at an elementary school was altered by the virus outbreak, forcing her to quickly adapt to telepractice. That has allowed her to learn something about herself and her future work.

“I have learned that it is important to be a flexible clinician and be willing and prepared to improvise if needed,” she said. “Much of my service delivery was individual or one-on-one in the classroom. However, since switching to teletherapy, I have participated in more large group (classroom-level) meetings where I provide general language support to parents. The biggest change I would say is that there is much more parent involvement than would be typical in my school placement. Typically, parent collaboration is limited to IEP meetings. However, due to the extended school closures, many of the children’s’ devices have been sent home with them, and parents are becoming more oriented with their child’s device as well as how to support their child in using it to communicate.”

For Taylor Mekus, a first-year audiology grad student who has been working to create educational videos about audiology and hearing health during the shelter-in-place order, has also found telepractice to be surprisingly effective.

“I did not realize how expansive telepractice can be, but being faced with this scenario the field of Audiology seems to be coming up with new and exciting ways to deliver services via telepractice,” she said. “We always have to be adaptive to change and find new ways to help our patients.”

Monique Dang is a second-year audiology grad student, and she has been working closely with Clark-Lindsay Village, focusing on hearing loss in adults, whether it’s noise-induced or age-related hearing loss. Last semester—also known as BC (Before COVID-19)—she worked to get the Audiology Clinic service into Clark-Lindsey to perform monthly cleanings and checks of the residents’ hearing aids. That’s been put on hold, forcing the clinic to “to move to alternative avenues of care,” she said.

“We have worked to connect with our hearing aid patients and express our availability virtually in this difficult time,” Dang said. The clinic—which is offering its services free—is troubleshooting hearing aids, walking through care and maintenance and offering other adjustments, Dang said. “I’m learning this transition to telepractice is a learning curve,” she said.

CHANGE AND CHALLENGES

As Dang mentioned, the transition to telepractice doesn’t come without its challenges. For one, the students miss working directly with their clients. “It goes without saying that I just miss human interaction in general,” Iraci said, “but another thing that’s a challenge is if we need to do any sort of manual manipulation, any sort of oral mechanism examination, that’s pretty difficult.”

Hannah Smith, a second-year audiology grad student, said the main obstacle was lack of prep time.

“As students, teaching assistants, research assistants, and clinicians, we had approximately one week to prepare for an online transition for the remainder of the semester,” she said. “This proved to be very difficult and time consuming for the first few weeks and required a lot of creative problem-solving skills to navigate these unknown waters.”

Dang agreed.

“(Telepractice) requires trial and error, and a lot of planning and collaborative efforts. Simply put, it’s not at all the same as providing traditional face-to-face services,” she said. Technology is part of the problem, she said, as well as trying to set up group appointments at a time when that is being discouraged.

“Our elderly patients seem reluctant to use technology,” Taylor added, “so we are facing the challenge of helping patients to step out of their comfort zone and utilize technology.”

Still, Taylor said, patience was vital.

“We need to consider that working with technology in order to utilize telepractice may be more of a learning curve for them. We have to remember since our patients have hearing loss, communicating via video call may be more difficult and we will have to adapt to each individual circumstance.”

The obstacles are not only associated with the elderly. For Boni, working with children has had its share of issues.

“It can be difficult to provide therapy in a way that will keep the child engaged and willing to participate in the session,” she said. “It is very helpful to have a parent nearby to provide behavior management since it is nearly impossible for me to do via teletherapy. For example, after five minutes of therapy a child said to me, ‘OK, I’m done with speech. BYE!’ and ran away from the screen. Luckily, her mom intervened and brought her back to the session.”

TELEPRACTICE HERE TO STAY?

Despite the trials of telepractice, the budding practitioners see the advantages in a post-COVID-19 world.

“Telepractice is a great thing, especially during this time and when it comes to trying to provide appropriate access to care to those in rural communities,” Dang said.

Boni said patience and understanding is needed, but she definitely sees the benefits.

“Telepractice can provide unique opportunities that may not be possible with typical face-to-face sessions,” she said. “Some things are difficult, but with a little creativity it is possible to find a work-around to most challenges and I do believe my clients are benefiting from teletherapy.”

Smith agreed.

“Telepractice initially may seem rather intimidating, however, from my personal experience, patients have really enjoyed the convenience and quick turnaround of services,” she said. “We are moving into an ever-changing technology-centered society so patients who are interested in that are embracing telepractice services from the comfort of their own home. Telepractice will continue to develop and improve so it is very exciting to see how this will impact the way in which we serve our patients.”

An added benefit is that the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic is not charging clients for its telepractice service through Aug. 6.

Iraci believes telepractice has a place, even after the COVID-19 threat is extinguished.

“Telepractice is a great option, especially for adults, because they’re typically very busy and only have time for a moment of teletherapy, in their car, or on a break at any time. It’s very convenient.

“It would be a great service for our clinic to provide, regardless of the stay-home order.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Podcast: A Few Minutes With … Clarion Mendes and Amanda Lawrence on non-essential care during COVID-19

April 10, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

*The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic (Photo provided)*

Vince Lara of the communications office of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois speaks with Clarion Mendes, clinical assistant professor and director of Clinical Education in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, and Amanda Lawrence, clinical assistant professor in SHS, about the impact of COVID-19 on so-called non-essential health issues such as speech-language pathology and audiology and how those patients are treated.

Listen to the podcast

Transcript

VINCE LARA: Hi. And welcome to another edition of A Few Minutes With, the podcast that showcases Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences. I’m Vince Lara. And today I’m speaking with Clarion Mendes and Amanda Lawrence from the speech and hearing science department to talk about how the SHS clinics are impacted by the coronavirus crisis. I know Speech and Hearing Science operates the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic and the audiology clinics. And are those still open?

CLARION MENDES: So that’s a great question. The physical location of the clinic is currently closed for the safety of our clients, our patients, our families, and our students and staff. So we’re following CDC recommendations as far as that’s concerned. However, like most of the rest of the world, we are diving deep into the world of telepractice, tele-interaction. So from the speech-language pathology standpoint, we have started to introduce telepractice for our patients and clients, and their families.

For audiology, it’s a little bit more complicated because of the types of equipment that are often used for audiological assessment and intervention. So what we’re doing currently for audiology patients is working with them to make sure that their hearing aids are up and running appropriately and making sure that their equipment is running smoothly. So repairs are still up and running for audiology.

VINCE LARA: How do you get hearing aids repaired without having that kind of face-to-face interaction?

AMANDA LAWRENCE: So there’s a couple things. So if a hearing aid’s malfunctioning, everything from– sometimes we can talk them through it. Because there’s a handful of things you just do to start, like, say, diagnosing what the issue is. And sometimes that fixes the issue. So that can be everything from just talking them through appropriate cleaning, just making sure there’s not wax that’s the problem or a microphone that’s blocked to that extent.

So once we’ve worked through that, if need be– current pandemic– one of the things that we can do is, if a patient were to– most of what I need to know in trying to assess or diagnosis is what their problems or the difficulties are, what’s happening with the actual instrument.

They could bring it in without– either drop it– I mean, set it on a bench or a t– outside the clinic. I would be there at the same time, pick it up, go in the clinic, diagnose it. I mean, figure out what’s happening– does it need to be sent in? Is it something I can replace or fix in the clinic?

Once I verify that it’s functioning properly, I can clean it back off and disinfect it, and set it back somewhere for the patient to come back and pick up. I mean, it would be sitting there in the meantime, so not just sitting out for somebody to just come by and pick it up. So that can be done.

And most the time, the same thing can even happen even if they need– if it’s a sound– like if I need programming adjustments, those kind of things. Usually, most, vast majority, 90% or better, I can do without the patient sitting there at all.

The only issue I would have is sometimes the problem is actually wax in the patient’s ear. And I cannot do anything about that without seeing or touching the patient, though medical offices are open. So primary care or somebody could do that. But most things I can assess or take care of just by their feedback. It works.

VINCE LARA: You raise a good point, though. What are some of the complications for getting care for what people might deem as non-essential care during this time? And I think you know you bring up one of them. If a patient has an ear wax issue that’s going to affect their hearing aid, I don’t know, is that considered essential care? Is that something they could go to get care for?

AMANDA LAWRENCE: I don’t know how they’re doing it. Do we know how the system is set up here? So this I can tell you, just because I’ve had a friend who’s had to go in Florida, who’s in the same kind of stay-at-home.

So what they were doing was, well patients, not, say, for a primary care, they were doing those all in the morning. And if anyone– ill or sick, then they were separating them out and seeing them in the afternoon so that they disinfect in between. So I can tell you there. I haven’t tried to go to the doctor here, so I don’t know what that means here.

I don’t know if Christi and Carl are not seeing any well patients at all, if a patient or somebody called and said, I cannot hear at all, and this is the reason, like if somebody said they could not hear, if it would actually be considered a medical emergency. And if it ended up just being earwax, that would be a great day for their PCP. I mean, because that’s something they can actually fix.

VINCE LARA: And Clarion, for someone with a speech-language issue, how would that be handled? And is that considered essential care or not?

CLARION MENDES: That’s a great question. So it’s going to depend quite a bit on the particular type of diagnosis that we’re dealing with. So for instance, one of the specialties of speech-language pathologists is dysphagia, or difficulty eating and swallowing. And dysphagia is often frequently coupled with respiratory issues.

So for speech-language pathologists that are working in a acute care setting or an ICU, they’re going to be pretty busy right now. And those services are kept up and considered essential. And of course, it’s going to vary on a case-by-case basis from medical facility to medical facility. Something that we’ve been seeing a lot right now is, for individuals that have acquired neurogenic language or cognitive issues, having SLPs who can communicate with individuals to explain what COVID is and what their limitations are currently. That’s something that has also been popping up in their speech-language pathology community quite a bit.

VINCE LARA: Clarion, I’m directing this toward you only because I know you’ve worked with geriatric populations a lot. And in fact, I think you’ve said in the past it’s your favorite population to work with. Since they’re most at risk at this time, what extra steps, if any, would you have to take to ensure their health?

CLARION MENDES: So that is incredibly difficult right now, both from the that they’re staying healthy, because they are at the highest level of risk of contracting the virus, but the other challenge is– I don’t mean to stereotype, but they’re not digital natives. And so currently, the way that the world is going with managing all aspects of health care in this current state is to do everything as digitally as possible. And so because they’re not digital natives, this has been very, very problematic.

I can speak for– I think I speak about my grandmother a lot when I’m interviewed by you, Vince. She’s currently 89 at home. And she’s talking with my parents on the phone, but she’s excluded from the family Zoom meetings and all that kind of thing. So I wish I had a great answer for you, but currently I don’t.

VINCE LARA: And Amanda would you– how about from an audiology side of things?

AMANDA LAWRENCE: It’s the same. That’s [INAUDIBLE]. It’s how tech savvy they are or have interest in being. So some, it’s just frightening all the way around. And there is no interest, little interest, more just out of the anxiety of it or misunderstanding of it. And then some are interested, if you can help them work through it and how well you can do that via telepractice, or just some really does depend on auditory skills. I mean, there is something about telepractice that does depend on the institution.

And the other issue with hearing aids and the older population is, when we have declining visual acuity, hearing aids are very small. Everything about them is very small. So sometimes that alone is one of the things that they need more support with or something they miss clinic when the clinic is an open, because I’m asking them to look for something or wax in an area that’s about the size of the head of a pin. And if your visual acuity is not there– it’s not because they’re not trying. It’s because they can’t see it, so the same issues.

But we have a lot of– I mean, the older population around here a in Champaign-Urbana is definitely a little bit of a sliver or a slice of just a very unique group in that many tend to be retired professors. And so they sometimes have an interest, or at least more inclination, into things that are different, and a lot of times, I would say above average willingness to try. Something that’s a little bit different, particularly in my hearing aid population, which can certainly be helpful. But that doesn’t change their visual acuity or the dexterity issues that can come with managing hearing aids.

VINCE LARA: We’ve touched on telehealth a little bit. But I’m wondering, in general, how has the buy-in been from patients with calling them about issues?

CLARION MENDES: So I’ll get started with that. This is Clarion. I have jumped in, maybe cart before the horse, with telepractice with many of my voice clients. And I was tentative. I was nervous.

But surprisingly, the buy-in has been pretty good. And I think the reason is, one, I have found overall everybody is in this mood of, we’re all in this together. We’re collaborating together. We’re all figuring out those unknown territories together. And so people have been extraordinarily gracious and understanding that this is something we’re all working through.

And I’ll say, as far as my client population, a lot of folks are stuck at home. And so people are just happy to have a piece of normalcy, even if it’s delivered in an alternate model. And so, so far it’s been it’s been very positive.

And we’re starting to work with this with children as well. And there’s some great evidence that suggests that telepractice works very nicely with kids. And to be honest, I think parents are grateful to have somebody else be educating their children and supporting their communication needs right now during this complicated time.

VINCE LARA: That’s well put. How about you, Amanda? Are you finding the same thing?

AMANDA LAWRENCE: Yeah. So in audiology and telepractice, you are more limited to being able to give some type of verbal instruction with a device. Otherwise, a lot of what we do is diagnostics, which, it does not lend. Because we have so much equipment. It does not lend to telepractice as well. But making the contact, or to know that somebody can be there via– even if that is just phone, but if it needs to be talked through, that kind of thing, that there is an availability there. But in general, large swaths of what we do, if it’s diagnostic in nature, the equipment just isn’t available to be supported through telehealth practices, telepractice.

VINCE LARA: And I think that works well with what my final question is, is that, what are students doing to replace internships, replacing what have to be in-person internships? Clarion, do you want to start with that?

CLARION MENDES: That’s a very interesting question. So I have been e-mailing and calling my certifying body, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the Council on Academic Accreditation, the Illinois Department of Federal and Professional Regulation, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and many other entities. Because currently, students are not allowed to participate in telepractice and count it for their certification in the state of Illinois for speech-language pathology and audiology.

As of this recording, every other state permits it for speech-language pathologists. But Illinois is an isolate. So we have been working pretty around the clock to try to get our Practice Act updated so that students can participate in this important aspect of care that I imagine is going to be just becoming more and more common in our current state of affairs.

So that’s something we’ve been working towards. And we check the updates daily, sometimes hourly, for changes in telehealth rules, regulations, and certification. So this has been keeping me up day and night. I have not gotten much sleep recently, to tell you the truth.

CLARION MENDES: I am overjoyed to share this update with you since you interviewed Dr. Lawrence and me on Friday, April 3, 2020. The Illinois Practice Act for Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology has been revised. Effective today, April 6, 2020, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, is allowing, through 7/31/2020, students of speech-language pathology and audiology, to provide their services via telepractice, provided that, per best practice, there is a licensed and certified clinician overseeing all services in real time. This variance is congruent with current best practice for speech-language pathology and audiology, and allows our students to successfully continue a high quality, clinical education while meeting the communication needs of our community during a pivotal time in health care. We are excited to step up and offer this medium of service delivery to our current and future clients. This opportunity, for our energized and dedicated students to offer services with the supervision of experts, allows us to maintain and enhance our standing as a highly-ranked program in audiology and speech-language pathology.

VINCE LARA: Well, I appreciate you both being on today to talk about these really important issues. And I hope that we can see a return to campus and to normalcy very soon. My thanks to Clarion and Amanda.

For more podcasts on Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences, search A Few Minutes With on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, radio.com, and other places you get your podcast fix. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

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