March of Dimes Canada Webinar: Unlocking accessibility on your smart devices (IOS) + Tech for Impact Fund (disponible en anglais seulement)

Tech for Impact Fund

March of Dimes Canada’s Tech for Impact Fund is providing $50,000 towards purchasing and delivering mobile devices, laptops, and adaptive aids that support the independent use of accessible technology.

Eligible participants who enter our draw by October 28, 2022 will have a chance to win.

To learn more, click here

 

Webinar: Unlocking accessibility on your smart devices (IOS)

This webinar covers accessibility features on iPads and iPhones for vision, hearing, physical access and memory/cognition categories. Delivered by our team of assistive technology specialists at March of Dimes Canada.

To view the webinar, click here

 

Survey: Assessing Dysphagia Readiness in Recent S-LP Graduates (disponible en anglais seulement)

The Aging Swallow Research Lab and the Oral Health and Swallowing Research Lab are seeking speech-language pathologists who currently work with adults in Canada, to participate in a student research project titled “A Survey to Determine Readiness for Clinical Management of Adults with Dysphagia After Completing Graduate School in Canada Among Speech-Language Pathologists.” This survey is being conducted by undergraduate student Christine Lee, under the supervision of Dr. Ashwini Namasivayam-MacDonald from McMaster University, Dr. Rebecca Affoo and Juliana McLaren from Dalhousie University and Zuleikha Wadhwaniya from University Health Network.

The purpose of this study is to determine the readiness and competency of Canadian speech-language pathology students in clinically managing dysphagia, immediately following their graduation. We aim to recruit currently practicing speech-language pathologists, who have graduated from a Canadian program within the last 5 years (Classes of 2018-2022). We are not collecting any identifying information and only aggregate-level data (i.e., data that summarizes the results) will be made public.

The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Please note, there will be no financial benefits associated with the completion of the survey.
If interested, please click here

If you have any questions about this study, please do not hesitate to contact Christine Lee via email at leec128@mcmaster.ca.
Note that this study has been reviewed by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (HiREB) under Project #15267. The HiREB is responsible for ensuring that participants are informed of the risks associated with the research, and that participants are free to decide if participation is right for them. If you have any questions about the rights of research participants, please call the Office of the Chair, HiREB, at 905.521.2100 x 42013.

 

Défense des intérêts en Saskatchewan août 2022

Membres d’OAC de la Saskatchewan,

Nous avons procédé à la collecte et à l’analyse des résultats du sondage que vous avez reçu plus tôt cet été. Ces résultats ont été transmis à votre comité consultatif régional afin d’établir les priorités immédiates. Nous sommes encouragées et ravies de pouvoir compter sur des membres aussi accomplis et passionnants pour s’occuper de vos besoins en matière de défense des intérêts!

Voici les trois principaux points relatifs à la défense des intérêts qui ressortent, par ordre d’importance :

  1. revendiquer l’augmentation des subventions gouvernementales pour des postes ÉTP en orthophonie et en audiologie;
  2. s’occuper des questions de recrutement et de maintien en poste;
  3. revendiquer l’élargissement de la couverture et augmentation du montant des remboursements par des tiers.

Voici les trois principaux points relatifs au milieu de travail qui ressortent, par ordre d’importance :

  1. les questions relatives à la charge de travail et au nombre de cas (nette majorité);
  2. la longueur des listes d’attentes pour accéder aux services;
  3. l’absence de couverture d’assurance pour les services.

Voici les mesures qui auraient l’effet le plus immédiat, par ordre d’importance :

  1. les questions relatives à la charge de travail et au nombre de cas (nette majorité);
  2. une plus grande reconnaissance de la part des tiers, des autres professionnels et du public;
  3. une augmentation de la rémunération.

Il importe de mentionner que plusieurs membres en audiologie ont souligné que l’utilisation du titre de « Dr » pour les personnes titulaires d’un diplôme et qui orientent directement des clients vers un ORL s’avère un élément prioritaire.

Notre première réunion a porté sur l’établissement d’un ordre de priorité et un remue-méninges pour les buts à court et à long terme en matière de défense des intérêts. À cet effet, vos gestionnaires chargées de la défense des intérêts en Saskatchewan se sont occupées des questions suivantes au cours de l’été :

  • Terminer la mise au point de notre plan de défense des intérêts pour la province, se concentrer sur les principaux décideurs et sur les messages que nous voulons faire passer en s’alignant sur les priorités fédérales, par exemple, l’apprentissage et la garde des jeunes enfants ainsi que les soins de longue durée, de même que traiter des retards causés par la pandémie de COVID-19. À cette fin, nous avons écrit à des députés et à des sous-ministres adjoints de divers ministères et nous avons même commencé à rencontrer quelques-unes de ces personnes.
  • Rencontres avec des personnes-ressources de l’Université de la Saskatchewan afin de déterminer comment nous pouvons faire front commun pour des questions comme la reconnaissance professionnelle, la formation continue, ainsi que le recrutement et le maintien en poste.
  • Contacter l’ACA pour demander où en est le dossier de l’acheminement direct aux ORL en Saskatchewan. L’ACA dirige cette initiative pour l’audiologie au Canada. Dave Gordey a mentionné qu’on a pris contact avec les principales parties prenantes dans la province et il nous tiendra régulièrement au courant de l’avancement de ce projet.

Durham College CDA Program Teaching Opportunity (disponible en anglais seulement)

Durham College is seeking an experienced and motivated professional who shares our commitment to quality and student success. The Faculty of Health Sciences requires a part-time professor to teach an Introduction to Audiology course for the Communicative Disorders Assistant program in the fall semester.

Interested candidates should send a resume to Gillian Dunn Associate Dean Faculty of Health Sciences gillian.dunn@durhamcollege.ca

 

Recruiting: Speech-Language Pathologists with Experience with Speech Amplification Devices for Clients with Parkinson’s Disease (disponible en anglais seulement)

Researchers in the Communicative Disorders and Sciences Department at the University at Buffalo are looking for speech-language pathologists who have experience using speech amplification devices with clients with Parkinson’s disease or parkinsonism to participate in an online interview study. By “using speech amplification devices”, we mean trialling, demoing, and/or prescribing these types of devices for the treatment of speech symptoms. Specifically, this study is looking to gather information about the experiences, perceptions, and opinions of the use of speech amplification technology for people with Parkinson’s disease and/or parkinsonism. This research has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University at Buffalo.

You are eligible to participate if you: 

1) Are currently practicing as a registered speech-language pathologist in the United States or Canada
2) Have experience assessing and treating clients with Parkinson’s disease and/or parkinsonism
3) Have ever trialed, demoed, and/or prescribed a speech/voice amplification device (example: Chattervox) for a client with Parkinson’s disease.

The interview will be conducted remotely and is expected to take 30 to 60 minutes during which a researcher will ask you questions about your experience assessing and treating clients with Parkinson’s disease/parkinsonism and your experiences using a speech amplification device. Participants will be compensated for their time.
If you are interested in participating and/or have additional questions, please email casa.lab.ub@gmail.com 

 

Webinar – A Vision to Transform Canada’s Public Health System with Dr. Theresa Tam (disponible en anglais seulement)

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 (disponible en anglais seulement)

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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 (disponible en anglais seulement)

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 (disponible en anglais seulement)

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