REMINDER: Serve on SAC’s Speech-Language Pathology Services in Private Practice Working Group or SAC’s Audiologists in Private Practice Working Group

 

The primary objective of the Speech-Language Pathology Services in Private Practice Working Group, hereafter referred to as the “Working Group”, is to prepare a report for the Board of Directors about professional resources required by speech-language pathology members working in private practice.

The Working Group will:

  • Review current speech-language pathology services in private practice in each province and territory including a member survey.
  • Identify issues of concern and importance.
  • Develop a report for review and approval by the SAC Board of Directors which includes a recommendation of resources to support SAC members and associates working in private practice.

Working Group Details

  • Name: Speech-Language Pathology Services in Private Practice
    Working Group
  • Purpose: To prepare a report for the Board of Directors about professional resources required by speech-language pathology members working in private practice.
  • Length of Term: Approximately 5 months (beginning in June 2022)
  • Working Language: English
  • Deadline to Apply: July 14, 2022

For a full description of the working group’s mandate, please see the terms of reference.

 

Eligibility and How to Apply

If you would like to apply to serve on SAC’s Speech-Language Pathology Services in Private Practice Working Group, please ensure you meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Be an SAC speech-language pathology member or communication health assistant associate.
  • Be available for the duration of the project.
  • Maintain your SAC membership throughout your term.

For more information about the requirements, please see the working group terms of reference.

Interested candidates should complete a Volunteer Expression of Interest Form (Word PDF) and submit it to volunteer@sac-oac.ca by July 14, 2022.

 


The primary objective of the Audiologists in Private Practice Working Group, hereafter referred to as the “Working Group”, is to further investigate the most significant needs and current issues facing audiologists who are working in private practice. This research will be used to prepare the Working Group’s report for the Board of Directors about professional resources required by audiology members working in private practice.

The Working Group will:

  • Develop an environmental scan of private practice Audiology Service in each province and territory including a member survey.
  • Identify significant areas of concern and importance to private practice Audiologists.
  • Develop SAC’s plans to support members and associates where private practice is concerned based on the findings of the group.
  • Develop a report for both review and approval by the SAC Board of Directors.

Working Group Details

  • Name: Audiologists in Private Practice Working Group
  • Purpose: To prepare a report for the Board of Directors about professional resources required by audiology members working in private practice.
  • Length of Term: Approximately 5 months (beginning in June 2022)
  • Working Language: English
  • Deadline to Apply: July 14, 2022

For a full description of the working group’s mandate, please see the terms of reference.

 

Eligibility and How to Apply

If you would like to apply to serve on SAC’s Audiologists in Private Practice Working Group, please ensure you meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Be an SAC audiology member.
  • Be available for the duration of the project.
  • Maintain your SAC membership throughout your term.

For more information about the requirements, please see the working group terms of reference.

Interested candidates should complete a Volunteer Expression of Interest Form (Word | PDF) and submit it to volunteer@sac-oac.ca by July 14, 2022.

 

 

 

Webinar – A Vision to Transform Canada’s Public Health System with Dr. Theresa Tam

The COVID-19 pandemic represents the biggest public health crisis that our country has confronted in a century. While our public health system and workforce extended itself to respond to COVID-19, public health was challenged in their capacity to address other important and public health issues. The pandemic has highlighted the strengths of our system but it has also exposed vulnerabilities. During this webinar, Dr. Theresa Tam discussed how we can join forces across communities and sectors to build the public health system that meets the needs of all people in Canada.

Click here to access the webinar

 

The Ida Institute Tackles Clinician Well-Being and Burnout with a Free New Course

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The Ida Institute Tackles Clinician Well-Being and Burnout with a Free New Course

Naerum, Denmark, April 25 – The Ida Institute’s newest Learning Hall course, Clinician Well-being: The Science of Self-care, launched April 25, 2022. The four-part course addresses causes and remedies for such things as vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

Hearing care professionals have the privilege of being part of their clients’ hearing care journeys. But sometimes, professionals inadvertently take on their clients’ distress over hearing challenges or other things discussed in appointments. On top of that, they face caseload challenges, business pressures, and environmental influences, which all add further stress. If clinicians are not aware and prepared, they are at risk of professional fatigue.

 

Self-care allows for better care of others

This course helps hearing care professionals exercise self-care for their own well-being. It explores the various forms of professional fatigue: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout, and identifies their early warning signs. By the end of the course, learners will be able to develop their own professional fatigue warning scale, a self-care strategy, and a framework for debriefing within a clinical setting.

Ida’s Managing Director, Lise-Lotte Bundesen, said, “While most of our resources focus on the needs of people with hearing loss, we know that burnout, stress, and other forms of professional fatigue are an ongoing concern for both employers and employees across industries. This course looks specifically at the risks and remedies of professional fatigue in a hearing care setting and gives clinicians the tools to evaluate their own needs and make self-care a part of their daily lives. Because we can’t help others if we don’t first look after ourselves.”

 

The course is structured in four parts:

1. Risk factors for clinician well-being

2. Making empathy conscious

3. Tools and strategies of self-care

4. Debriefing in the clinical setting
This course includes several knowledge checks, ethnographic videos, and a short exam at the end of each section. Passing all four exams enables learners to apply for CEU/CPD points with accrediting organizations.

 

Clinician Well-being:

The Science of Self-care is taught by Dr Dunay Schmulian, Director of Audiology at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland, Australia. Schmulian is the former Chair of Wellness and Culture at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland and a Women in STEMM Fellowship recipient. Her research focuses on the lived experience of patients and clinicians engaged in life-changing health conditions.

To view Clinician Well-being and all the Learning Hall courses, create a free account on the Ida Website at https://idainstitute.com/login/.

Learn more about the Ida Institute at idainstitute.com or sign up for the institute’s weekly newsletter.

You can also follow the Ida Institute at twitter.com/IdaInstitute, facebook.com/idainstitute or linkedin.com/company/ida-institute.

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Clint McLean at the Ida Institute ciml@idainstitute.dk

 

 

Survey: The Impact of Impairment: Exploring Speech Pathologists’ Measurement of Outcomes in School-Aged Students with Communication Difficulties

Are you a Speech-Language Pathologist who works with school-aged students (primary and/or secondary) with a primary diagnosis of speech, language or communication difficulty? If so, you are invited to participate in a study exploring current outcome measurements used by SLPs with this population being conducted by Masako Wong (Honours student), Associate Professor Jane McCormack and Dr Sharon Crosbie from the School of Allied Health at the Australian Catholic University. Participation will involve completion of an online survey which will take approximately 20 minutes. No personal details will be required and data gathered will be non-identifiable. Information from the survey will be aggregated to allow us to understand the outcome measurement tools currently being used and gaps in this area. If you are interested in participating in the study or require further information, please follow the survey link below to find the Participant Information Letter with further details about the study and the investigators, the consent form and survey questions.

Click here to complete the survey.

Academy of Aphasia 60th Annual Meeting – Call for Papers – Deadline Extended

Academy of Aphasia 60th Annual Meeting
October 23-25, 2022
Philadelphia, PA, USA and Virtual/Hybrid
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDEDMAY 27th, 2022 (11:59pm latest time zone on Earth)

The 60th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia will be held at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel (“The Notary”) in Philadelphia, PA, USA. We encourage onsite attendance, although we also offer the option to participate online via an interactive hybrid platform. Our opening night reception will be at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the USA’s first and oldest art museum and art school. The Academy welcomes submissions of original experimental, clinical, theoretical, and historical research from any field that contributes to the study of aphasia, including Speech-Language Pathology, Psychology, Neurology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, History, and Computational Modeling.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Dani S. Bassett (University of Pennsylvania). Dr. Bassett is the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Bioengineering, with secondary appointments in the Departments of Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Psychiatry. Their research is best-known for blending neural and systems engineering to identify fundamental mechanisms of learning, cognition, and disease in human brain networks, including work in language and aphasia. Dr. Bassett has received multiple prestigious awards, including the American Psychological Association’s ‘Rising Star’ (2012), Alfred P Sloan Research Fellow (2014), MacArthur Fellow Genius Grant (2014), Early Academic Achievement Award from the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (2015), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator (2015), National Science Foundation CAREER (2016), Popular Science Brilliant 10 (2016), Lagrange Prize in Complex Systems Science (2017), Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science (2018), OHBM Young Investigator Award (2020), AIMBE College of Fellows (2020), American Physical Society Fellow (2021), and has been named one of Web of Science’s most Highly Cited Researchers for 3 years running. Dr. Basset is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications with over 33,000 citations, as well as a forthcoming academic trade book (Curious Minds: The Power of Connection).

Now in its fifth year, the NIDCD-funded Academy of Aphasia conference grant (R13 DC017375-01) will sponsor student fellows to attend and present their work at the conference. They will also receive focused mentoring and training from seasoned faculty mentors at the meeting. Both U.S. and international students are eligible to apply – please contact Swathi Kiran (kirans@bu.edu) with inquiries. The grant also sponsors a state-of-the-art New Frontiers in Aphasia Research seminar. This year’s topic will focus on Computational Linguistics, and the speaker will be Dr. John Hale of the University of Georgia (UGA). Dr. Hale is Arch Professor of World Languages and Cultures in the Department of Linguistics at UGA. His scientific research focuses on fundamental questions of language comprehension, investigated through cognitive modeling using computer simulations. Prior to joining UGA, Dr. Hale was a full-time research scientist at the pioneering artificial intelligence laboratory Deepmind.

Submission types and details

Presentation types:
The annual meeting includes both platform and poster sessions. Platform speakers will be required to attend onsite. All posters will be presented virtually; onsite attendees may additionally present in person.

Platform sessions (in person) include:

  • Scientific papers – consisting of original research that has not yet been published.
  • Symposia – consisting of a number of papers focusing on a common theme from researchers representing different laboratories. These papers may report on previously published research.
  • Mini-Workshops – methodologically oriented sessions consisting of a number of papers (possibly from the same research group) reporting a unique approach to a timely topic.

Poster sessions (online and/or in person) include:

  • Scientific papers that can be presented primarily in a visual format.

The Academy considers poster sessions to be as scientifically meritorious as platform sessions. Poster sessions will not conflict with platform sessions.

Guidelines for abstract content:
The submitted abstract should provide a concise statement of the problem or hypothesis, procedures and analyses conducted, results obtained, and final conclusion(s) drawn. Abstracts should conform to the provided template (in Word) and may include a maximum of 500 words (excluding references) as well as one camera-ready figure plus one table.

Symposia and Mini-Workshops:
In the case of symposia and mini-workshops, the organizer should submit an abstract summarizing the topic, including the names and affiliations of all the participants, and the titles of the other abstracts. In addition, an abstract should be submitted for each of the individual presentations. Abstracts for those individual presentations will need to indicate the symposium they are affiliated with as part of the submissions process, in the Acknowledgments. To help in the planning of the program, it is recommended that organizers of symposia and mini-workshops contact the chair of the Program Committee by e-mail (duncan1@lsu.edu) about their plans, and to receive feedback on organizational issues.

Authorship of submissions: 
More than one abstract may be submitted by an individual, but an individual can be listed as first author on only one submission. Both members and non-members of the Academy are encouraged to submit proposals for scientific papers, symposia and mini-workshops. All submissions will be given equal consideration on the basis of their scientific merit and fitness for the Academy.

Conference participation:
The meeting is open to anyone interested in attending. However, Academy of Aphasia members, authors of accepted papers, and the first authors of rejected papers will have preference if onsite or virtual space limitations restrict the number of registrants.

  • American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available free of charge for eligible conference participants, pending approval of a cooperative agreement between Temple University and the Academy of Aphasia. The number of CEUs is anticipated to be approximately 2.0 (CEUs will be updated once the program is finalized, prior to registration).
  • Onsite childcare can be arranged for attendees who need it through our NIH funding support.

Submission procedures: 
Abstracts must be submitted online at tinyurl.com/aoa2022abstracts. Submission information is also available on the Academy’s website 

Student Awards: 
This award is given to the student presenting the most scientifically meritorious paper (either platform or poster presentation). Submissions are judged by the Program Committee on the basis of the abstract submission and the conference presentation itself. All full-time graduate students are eligible for the student award, although priority is typically given to students focusing on research. Student applicants must:

  • be enrolled full-time and be in good standing in a graduate program at the time of submission
  • be the first author and presenter of the paper submitted
  • not have received a student award from the Academy in the past

Students wishing to be considered must indicate this during the submission process.

Selection criteria for the meeting program:
Abstracts will be reviewed by the Program Committee. Selection of papers will be based on scientific merit, innovation, appropriateness for the Academy of Aphasia, and on the representation of topics in the program.

Notification regarding acceptance:
The Program Committee will email a decision no later than July 18, 2022. 

Program availability: 
PDF eBook with formatted abstracts will be available during the conference.   

Program Committee:
E. Susan Duncan (Chair), Paola Marangolo (Co-Vice Chair), Gloria Olness (Co-Vice Chair), Adrià Rofes, Tatiana Schnur, Shari Baum, Eva Kehayia, and Gabriele Miceli

Call for Members: SAC Regional Advisory Committee – Alberta & Saskatchewan

Join SAC’s Regional Advisory Committee!

SAC is calling for volunteers for an Alberta and Saskatchewan regional advisory group. As part of supporting and informing the work of the Alberta and Saskatchewan provincial advocacy managers, SAC is calling for volunteers for an Alberta and Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Committee.  Members who sit on each respective group will have the opportunity to advise the provincial advocacy managers on their priorities and messaging. These regional advisory groups are vital to ensuring that the advocacy work of each province is guided by the input and needs of our members.

SAC encourages applications from members who identify as First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and those who identify as gender diverse. Members with experience working with marginalized populations and knowledge of cultural safety and humility are also helpful to support the Board.  SAC is committed to achieving a diverse directorship representative of the public it serves and being inclusive towards all.
 

APPLY NOW

Terms of Reference – Alberta

Terms of Reference – Saskatchewan

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS May 18, 2022

If you have questions regarding the application process please contact us by email, at volunteer@sac-oac.ca.

 

Survey – Impact of Virtual Care in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Speech-Language Pathology Services for Children (Ages 0-12) in Canada

A team of University of Ottawa researchers are undertaking a study to determine the impact of virtual care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic on speech-language pathology services for children (ages 0-12) in Canada. The ethical aspects of this project have been approved by the University of Ottawa Research Ethics Board. Individuals who currently practice in Canada and work with the preschool and/or school age population (0-12 years of age) in any clinical setting and in any language are eligible to take part in this survey.   

We invite you to participate in this project—if you accept, you will be asked to complete a survey questioning your thoughts and experiences on the delivery of virtual speech pathology care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey is anticipated to take 20-30 minutes to complete. Your participation in this project is entirely voluntary and not work-related. Your work organization is not affiliated with this research project and will not know who has agreed to participate.  

If you are interested in participating, please find the consent letter and survey here.

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Allyson Cousineau Grant at agran3@uottawa.ca or Dr. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick at elizabeth.fitzpatrick@uottawa.ca.