Speech Language and Hearing Sciences

Using both sides of brain to speak American Sign Language

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:26:43 +0000

Using both sides of brain to speak American Sign Language Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/08/2023 - 17:26

Maxwell Garby

At a talk Thursday evening, CU Boulder researcher Karen Boyd spoke about two of her studies on American Sign Language (ASL) conducted with colleagues in linguistics and psychology

American Sign Language is both a spatial and visual language, meaning it uses both hemispheres of the brain. Even for something as simple as pauses, different brain functions are necessary to best communicate in American Sign Language (ASL).

University of Colorado Boulder researcher Karen Boyd, an instructor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, has studied which brain hemispheres are used for specific parts of the grammatical structures and pauses in ASL.

Boyd was born to deaf parents and has deaf siblings, so ASL is her heritage language. Growing up, she struggled to learn English, but had a breakthrough when she began to understand the language “not through a normal English class, but through a linguistics class,” she said at a Thursday afternoon talk focused on her research findings.

CU Boulder researcher and ASL instructor Karen Boyd (center, at her Thursday presentation) studies which brain hemispheres are used for specific parts of the grammatical structures and pauses in ASL.

Boyd highlighted a prominent aspect of her research: the second-language learner perceptions of spatial tracing constructions in ASL.

“There's a formal term within ASL called size and space specifiers, also known as SASSes, which help describe a person or an object,” she explained. “This study focuses on your perceptions of understanding where my hands move in space, how your brain and those hemispheres can cross and understanding what exactly you're seeing being constructed in space.

“I decided on the research topic of learning ASL as a second language and how that affects your dominant hand. While you are signing, you are required to pick one hand that acts as the dominant throughout your formation of the language. In ASL, there are signs that only require one hand, but there are also two-handed non-symmetrical signs, where your non-dominant hand stays stationary and your dominant hand is the one that moves, and two-handed symmetrical signs.”

However, Boyd noted that these differences in signs are what can cause issues for second-language learners.

“In my research, I noticed that some people would incorrectly switch their dominant hand when indicating shapes. So, why is it that the brain is switching things?”

Boyd chose to focus on the right hemisphere, the part of the brain that deals with deals with objects in space. She cited a study by her mentor, Karen Emmorey of San Diego State University, that found second-language learners struggled with their spatial awareness compared to people who are deaf.

“The brain is a phenomenal thing,” Boyd said. “You may be wondering, do hearing people use their right hemisphere? And they do, but not in the same way that I do, because I have to sign every day.”

Translating pauses

Boyd also had researched the use of pauses in both spoken English and ASL.

“Something that I noticed that was quite cool in hearing culture is called Utterance Boundary Pause,” she explained. “With spoken language, we're used to pauses in a sentence, where we use filler words such as ‘ah,’ or ‘um.’ I wanted to see what the people were looking for within these pauses and how that translates over into ASL.

“When language is involved, where there is a greater vocabulary, there are more pauses. Within spoken language, there tend to be pauses right after the end of a word. In ASL, it follows almost the same rules, except if we were to have a pause while signing, we would repeat the last signed word over and over. That's considered a pause. You can't really do that in spoken language. It is very unique.”

Boyd notes this difference in how pauses work in each language can also bring up some issues, especially when someone is speaking a blend of the two languages.

“It is important that these pauses are conveyed to students in educational settings, especially in K-12 settings,” she said. “For example, a deaf child might get a little frustrated if they’re listening to the English that’s being spoken by the teacher, and the teacher takes a pause. The interpreter will never convey that pause with an ‘um,’ or a pause, which might lead the deaf children to think that spoken language is always perfect and that they are able to speak without issue. That's not true.

“The interpreters must convey to those deaf kids that the speaker is struggling for the word to teach the child that when you are stuck trying to think of a word, it's OK, that’s perfectly normal.”

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At a talk Thursday evening, CU Boulder researcher Karen Boyd spoke about two of her studies on American Sign Language (ASL) conducted with colleagues in linguistics and psychology.

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Study finds correlation between hearing loss and cardiovascular disease

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Study finds correlation between hearing loss and cardiovascular disease Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/21/2023 - 00:00

Jaxon Parker

Researchers believe their findings will help doctors identify and treat the onset of hearing impairment for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and some risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes are on the rise. A study published in Scientific Reports sheds new light on the issue by tracing how hearing loss is related to cardiovascular disease risk factors, highlighting the heart’s interconnection with bodily senses and opportunities for early treatment.

Rachael Baiduc, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and the paper’s lead author, is the director of the Hearing Epidemiology and Research Diagnostics (HEARD) Laboratory, which investigates cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and its relationship with adult-onset hearing impairment and the inner-workings of the ear.

Rachael Baiduc is a hearing scientist with expertise in public health. She is the director of the Hearing Epidemiology and Research Diagnostics (HEARD) Laboratory.

“The inner-ear is actually a delicate structure,” Baiduc says. “It’s really susceptible to any damage from ischemia (inadequate blood supply) and hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in body tissues). It is highly susceptible to any microvascular compromise,” or dysfunction in the circulatory system of small blood vessels.

In collaboration with Eric Vance, a statistician and associate professor at CU Boulder, Baiduc used data from electronic health reviews from thousands of patients at UCHealth to observe connections between CVD risks, such as diabetes, smoking and hypertension, and hearing loss.

“We developed models to understand the connection between these risk factors and hearing loss while we accounted for other potential confounders such as age, body mass index and noise exposure. We tried our best to isolate one risk factor at a time in a clinical population,” Baiduc says.

Isolating CVD risk factors helped narrow down the population of patients who are most susceptible to hearing loss: diabetics, smokers and those with hypertension.

“This study is important for people who have diabetes or hypertension, because it shows that they are at greater risk of developing hearing loss,” Vance says. “Not every person who goes to the doctor gets checked out for hearing, and yet hearing loss is a major problem.”

The study also uncovered that the association between CVD risk factors and hearing loss was more prevalent for men than women—likely because of sociocultural and biological factors—but that the association was found to be significant in both sexes.

“There are sociocultural differences in men and women in terms of their exposure to risk factors for hearing loss as well as cardiovascular disease risks. For example, men are more likely to be smokers than women, and lifestyle factors such as smoking and diet choices do play a role” in CVD risk and hearing loss, Baiduc says.

On the biological side, the study notes that hypertension does not appear as a significant risk factor in women for developing hearing loss. Researchers’ hypothesis for this is that estrogen provides protective effects against toxicity and other potential damages to the ear.

The connection between cardiovascular and hearing health usually surprises experts, but Baiduc and Vance hope their research will make an impact on medical research and health care communities in identifying and treating the onset of hearing loss for populations with CVD risk factors.

Even when I go to conferences and talk to a variety of folks from cardiologists to endocrinologists, a lot of them are not aware of this connection at all between smoking, diabetes and hearing loss. The first step is to educate healthcare professionals and diabetes educators.”

“Even when I go to conferences and talk to a variety of folks from cardiologists to endocrinologists, a lot of them are not aware of this connection at all between smoking, diabetes and hearing loss,” Baiduc says. “So, the first step is to educate healthcare professionals and diabetes educators.”

“In terms of the big picture, just making general practitioners aware of this connection with their patients with one or more of these risk factors and encouraging them to get hearing screenings over time would be really important, especially those with diabetes; that’s the big one right now that stands out,” Baiduc says.

For Vance, who is the director of the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Statistical Analysis (LISA), their research exemplifies how the collaboration between data analysis and medical research can benefit humanity.

“There are a lot of things about the body that are interrelated that we don’t quite understand. We’re still discovering and learning about ourselves,” Vance says. “It’s really important to have collaboration between statisticians and medical experts, since it allows us to understand from a large collection of patients what’s really going with the human body and why.”

Since their collaboration, Baiduc has published a new study in Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology about the relationship between hearing loss and CVD risk factors in African Americans.

Researchers believe their findings will help doctors identify and treat the onset of hearing impairment for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Doctor’s diagnosis for the Earth: a terminal human malignancy

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 22:02:54 +0000

Doctor’s diagnosis for the Earth: a terminal human malignancy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/08/2022 - 15:02

Clay Bonnyman Evans

In Homo Ecophagus, physician with CU Boulder ties sees humanity devouring itself—and the planet

“At the moment,” writes Warren Hern, “we are the most misnamed species on the planet: Homo sapiens sapiens—‘wise, wise man.’ Not.”

Hern, 84, physician, long-time abortion-rights advocate and adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder, thinks the name he coined for his new book provides a much more accurate description of humanity in the 21st century.

“I propose that the new scientific name of the human species be Homo ecophagus … ‘the man who devours the ecosystem,’” he writes in Homo Ecophagus: A Deep Diagnosis to Save the Earth (Routledge, 2022). “Homo ecophagus is a rapacious, ubiquitous, predatory, omni-ecophagic species that is a malignant epiecopathologic process engaged in the conversion of all plant, animal, organic and inorganic planetary material into human biomass or its adaptive adjuncts and support systems.”

At the top of the page: A pelican covered in oil, reminiscent of Homo Ecophagus' cover (Louisiana GOHSEP/Flickr). Above: Warren Hern.

Hern (Spch, Anth, Chem’61) traces the roots of the book all the way back to 1952, when he was working as a 14-year-old gravedigger in Englewood, south of Denver.

“I was standing on the hill, doing my thing and looking out north of the cemetery. Something was wrong. All I could see was the Capitol and the (Montgomery) Ward building through the brown cloud” of smog, he recalls.

Throughout his long and varied career, from his Peace Corps work in Brazil to public health work in Washington, D.C., graduate school in North Carolina and medical school at CU, he slowly came to see humanity’s unfettered population growth and voracious demand for resources as a kind of global plague, an affliction that is mindlessly, inexorably killing its host, and thus, itself.

“Maybe we are not god’s gift to creation, the flower of the universe,” Hern muses. “Maybe we are something much, much worse: a malignant process on the Earth.”

Homo Ecophagus is wide-ranging, deeply researched, full of citations—not to mention some lovely color photographs—impassioned and, despite its stark thesis, persuasive.

The first third of the book serves as a kind of mini-autobiography and roadmap to Hern’s eventual identification of what he sees as a truly existential problem. In the second third, he describes example after example of the kind of destruction being wrought on the planet from pole to pole.

Finally, he renders his grim diagnosis: humanity is a cancer, and that’s neither hyperbole, metaphor nor analogy, he argues. Hern notes, for example, that cities, like cancer:

Invade and destroy adjacent normal tissues (i.e., ecosystems);
Metastasize to ever more distant locales;
Are progressive (i.e., growing); and
Resistant to death.

The cover of Homo Ecophagus.

Citing several further similarities, he concludes that, “Human communities and human activities in general are ecophagic: they devour the ecosystem.”

“Rapid, uncontrolled growth is the sine qua non of cancer. As long as the human population is growing at all, there is no hope of solving these major ecological problems,” he says. “All the rest is secondary stuff.”

He notes that while the rate of global population growth has dropped from about 2% a year in the mid-20th century to 1% per year in the third decade of the 21st century, even at half the rate, humanity continues to grow along a “logistic, or asymptotic curve, which is the same growth curve seen in malignancies” and that (italics in original) “the declining growth rate of cancer occurs just before death of the host organism.”

“We are conducting the Anthropocene Extinction Event, and we are on our way to becoming casualties of it. Soon,” he writes. “Is that our goal?”

What, then, must we do? Hern admits he is not optimistic.

“Speaking as a physician, I would say the prognosis is not good, at least for the biosphere and the web of life as we know it, and that means extinction for us,” he writes.

But he notes that there is one key difference between humanity and cancer: “We can think and decide not to be cancer,” he says. “Right now, we are choosing extinction. But we can change what we are doing and no longer be a cancer on the planet.”

In keeping with his long-time advocacy for reproductive choice and population control, Hern suggests those concerned about human destruction of the planet vote for candidates who “don’t force women to have babies they don’t want,” who promote an “efficient economy based on good ecological principles, resource conservation instead of the next guy who wants to drill for oil in national parks” and take climate change seriously.

“We have choices to make,” he says. “We can choose to change what we are doing and not be a cancer on the planet, stop changing the biosphere irreversibly. But the longer we wait, the harder that choice is to make.”

In "Homo Ecophagus," physician with CU Boulder ties sees humanity devouring itself—and the planet.

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AAUW awards grants, fellowships to four CU Boulder scholars

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 23:19:44 +0000

AAUW awards grants, fellowships to four CU Boulder scholars Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/12/2022 - 17:19

The funding will allow the scholars to pursue projects related to artists documenting ecological devastation in Southeast Asia and geopolitics in Iran, as well as for career development

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has awarded four 2022-23 fellowships and grants to scholars at the University of Colorado Boulder. The recipients will pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls.

The fellowships and grants are part of a larger $6 million award that AAUW is providing to 320 scholars and community projects for the academic year.

“We’re proud to support the work of these outstanding scholars and community leaders,” said AAUW CEO Gloria L. Blackwell. “These exceptional awardees are dedicated to making contributions in a wide range of fields. We’re impressed by their work and can’t wait to see the great things they’ll accomplish throughout their research and careers.”

The CU Boulder award winners are:

At the top of the page: A multimedia installation, titled Dioramas for Tanjong Rimau, by Zarina Muhammad, Joel Tan and Zachary Chan that was featured as part of Brianne Cohen's research. Above: Brianne Cohen is the recipient of the AAUW's American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship.

Brianne Cohen, the recipient of the American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, who researches art history and criticism. AAUW awarded Cohen $30,000 for her project, titled: The Emphatic Lens: Contemporary Art, Ecology and Kinship in Southeast Asia.

Cohen’s research highlights art from Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore, where local artists use photography and video to show ecological devastation in the region and to call for renewed attention to the kinship between humans and nature.

“These artists are having their works shown around the world in major art shows, but there’s still not being much written about their wonderful artwork,” said Cohen, who plans to publish a book in 2023 highlighting the art and artists.

“And the kinds of things they are doing right now is particularly pressing and timely in terms of environmental destruction in the region and thinking about larger questions of ecological sustainability.”

AAUW’s American Postdoctoral Fellowships, like the one awarded to Cohen, support women scholars who are pursuing full-time postdoctoral research. Candidates are evaluated on the basis of scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions or fields of research.

A. Marie Ranjbar, the recipient of a $30,000 AAUW American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, researches critical human rights, environmental justice and decolonial and postcolonial feminist theory by integrating feminist political geography with scholarship.

Since 2012, she has conducted research in Iran, where she examines evolving relationships between social justice movements, international institutions and global civil society.

A. Marie Ranjbar is the recipient of a $30,000 AAUW American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship.

During her fellowship, Ranjbar will be developing her book project, “From Persian Empire to Pariah State: Environmental Injustice, Racialization and Coloniality in Iran,” which examines state repression of environmental movements in ethnic minority regions of Iran.

“I am elated to be the recipient of the AAUW fellowship,” Ranjbar said.

Like Cohen, Ranjbar’s award was an AAUW American Postdoctoral Fellowship, which supports women scholars who are pursuing full-time study conducting postdoctoral research.

Lisa Peete, the recipient of an $11,125 career development grant from AAUW, is pursuing an MA in speech-language pathology. Peete’s award will provide her with financial support to attend conventions and training seminars essential to her profession and future academic goals, including pursuing a doctorate.

In an AAUW press release, Peete said it is an honor to win the prestigious award. She added that she is passionate about providing assistance to those with cognitive and phonological disorders.

AAUW career development grants like the one Peete received go to women who hold a bachelor’s degree and are preparing to advance or change careers or re-enter the workforce in education; health and medical sciences; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); or social sciences.

Neha Pazare, the recipient of an $18,000 AAUW award as part of the International Master’s/1st Professional Degree Fellowship, is pursuing a master’s in engineering. Pazare’s area of specialization is radio frequency microwave and high-speed digital design.

AAUW’s International Fellowships support women pursuing full-time graduate or postdoctoral study in the United States to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and who intend to return to their home country to pursue a professional career.

AAUW is one of the world’s oldest leading supporters of graduate women’s education. Since 1888, it has awarded more than $135 million in fellowships, grants and awards to 13,000 women from 150 countries.

Educational funding is especially important for women, given that they are disproportionately burdened by student debt, which is exacerbated by a lifelong pay gap that affects women in nearly every profession, according to AAUW. The association said its awards alleviate financial stress so women can focus on their educational and career aspirations.

The funding will allow the scholars to pursue projects related to artists documenting ecological devastation in Southeast Asia and geopolitics in Iran, as well as for career development.

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New grant provides clinical services to adults with neurogenic communication disorders

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:31:52 +0000

New grant provides clinical services to adults with neurogenic communication disorders Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/11/2022 - 11:31

CU Boulder’s Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic receives grant from the NextFifty Initiative to expand clinical and therapy services along the northern Front Range

Faculty from the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences have won a $143,750 grant to provide services to an often-overlooked population along Colorado’s northern Front Range.

The NextFifty Initiative grant, awarded on Aug. 1, will fund the CU Adult Clinical Initiative for one year as it seeks to assist adults over the age of 50 with neurogenic communication disorders—ailments caused by damage to the central or peripheral nervous system. The initiative will offer therapy services and educational opportunities to improve the quality of life for adults affected by these disorders and their caretakers. The program begins Oct. 15.

Neurogenic communication disorders hinder an individual’s communication ability through speech, hearing or language impairments. These disorders include a range of issues such as aphasia, apraxia, dysphagia and other motor speech impairments.

“We will treat the whole person,” said Jack Damico, a speech-language pathologist and one of the leading members of the initiative. “We want to give people with aphasia their voice back.”

Jack Damico is one of the intiative's leading members.

The members of the Adult Clinical Initiative plan to accomplish this through outreach programs and coordination with other medical centers. In combining resources from the Transdisciplinary Center of Aging, the Rocky Mountain Stroke Center and the CU Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, they will be able to supply an array of services.

Services will include educational talks, screenings of neurogenic communication disorders, counseling at the Rocky Mountain Stroke Center, recovery plans, support systems, direct therapy services and group therapy work.

The initiative will employ graduate students, helping instruct those students on how to work with older clients while increasing the program’s number of helping hands. Every client can be paired with a student, said Damico. He added that instructors can teach their students how to work with transdisciplinary services.

“The work here will reintegrate subjects back into society,” said Shelley Sheppeck, the clinic director of operations and another leading member of the initiative.

Damico handled the clinical research aspect of the grant, while Sheppeck oversaw financial and administrative side of things. The two said the effort has been collaborative.

Damico has 40 years of experience researching cognitive issues and speech-language pathology. Sheppeck has an extensive background with grant writing and managing clinical faculty as well as graduate students.

The CU Boulder speech-language program was ranked in the top 20 by the U.S. News and World Report. According to the initiative’s members, these qualities helped the CU Adult Clinical Initiative receive funding from the NextFifty Initiative, a Denver-based private foundation that funds initiatives dedicated to improving the lives of the older adults and their caregivers. NextFifty has granted resources to a select number of university-derived programs prior to this one.

The initiative does not seek to compete with hospital aid. Instead, it aims to offer an alternative for individuals who are not insured or who experience other troubles that prevent easy access to hospitals.

Damico, Sheppeck and their colleagues hope to make the initiative self-sustaining so that it continues to provide services to older adults with neurogenic communication disorders even after the NextFifty funding is depleted.

“This is a great opportunity to extend services to a population (that is) often overlooked,” says Sheppeck.

CU Boulder’s Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic receives grant from the NextFifty Initiative to expand clinical and therapy services along the northern Front Range.

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Scholars in speech therapy, theater help aphasia clients stage a play

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 21:36:05 +0000

Scholars in speech therapy, theater help aphasia clients stage a play Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/03/2022 - 15:36

Clay Bonnyman Evans

They perform 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' in second CU Boulder production, and speech therapist notes that doing this in front of an audience ‘just blows me away’

At the end of Ronald Dahl’s classic children’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—and the no-less iconic 1971 film version, Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder—Charlie Bucket is the only child remaining after a wild tour of the manic chocolatier’s magical factory.

The other four children who received “Golden Tickets” to join the tour have all been literally thrown away, flushed away, shrunken or inflated and turned blue, punished for succumbing to their ingrained bad habits. Wonka rewards Charlie, the only well-behaved, polite and unselfish child, by giving him the entire factory.

Though presented as dark, knowing comedy on both page and screen, and beloved for generations, the novel’s ending is also starkly uncompromising.

At the top of the page and above: Client actors in a therapy group for aphasia, a neurological condition—often caused by stroke—that impairs the ability to speak and understand language, perform in a theatrical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (top photo by Christina M. Riseman).

So when clients from a University of Colorado Boulder’s therapy group for aphasia—a neurological condition, often caused by stroke, that impairs the ability to speak and understand language—performed the play on June 26 and 27, they devised an alternate ending.

“They constructed the end of the play to be much more inclusive than the actual movie or book,” Gerland says. “It was really special and quite beautiful.”

The cast of nine even wrote a crucial response for Charlie when (Willie Wonka) asks what he wants to do with the factory: “Can I share it?”

“The clients decided they would like to bring everybody back … so (the characters) could share what they learned from the process,” says Oliver Gerland, associate professor of theatre and dance and chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the second play performed by actors from the therapy group, following 2019’s The Wizard of Oz. Christina Riseman and Holly Kleiber, clinical faculty members and speech therapists in speech, language and hearing sciences, initially approached Gerland about putting on a play, inspired by similar Chicago’s Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment, where drama therapy has improved client communication and mood, and the Adler Aphasia Center in New Jersey.

The idea, in part, was to help people with aphasia gain confidence in communication and other skills that translate from stage to the rest of their lives, says Gillian Nogeire, a theatre and dance PhD candidate who played an integral role in both productions and defended her dissertation on using theatrical practices as an intervention for aphasia in April.

Nogeire began working with clients on the second production during the summer of 2021, exploring four potential stories to perform: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lord of the Rings, Romeo and Juliet and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The group played scenes from all four and eventually settled on Dahl’s classic tale.

“It’s really important to our group that the play not be about aphasia,” says Nogeire, who will graduate this summer. “The Adler Center is doing plays that aren’t about aphasia, and that aligns with the … ‘life participation’ approach, which helps (clients) to develop skill sets they can use in their outside lives, where aphasia is not the focus.”

Three new actors from the program joined six Oz veterans for the new production.

“We had a lot of the same actors … and it felt like they could take on more of a leadership role and become more involved. They were more comfortable in coming up with the story itself and speaking out—‘How about we try this instead?’” Riseman says.

The whole Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cast and production team.

Indeed, cast members weren’t shy about asking for more lines or creatively solving technical issues, for example, when the group reworked the comeuppance character Mike Teavee. In the novel and film, he is shrunken to the size of a chocolate bar through a bit of fanciful technology, but the group conjured a more believable scene in which Mike is “disappeared” through an Old West-style showdown with Wonka. What’s more, when the actor playing Mike was not able to perform, the daughter of the actor playing Wonka was able to step in at the last minute.

“The actors literally came up with that the day before the performance,” Gerland says. “We are growing a group of actors who can improvise and create in the crush of the moment.”

On the speech-therapy side of things, Kleiber says the evolving nature of the production and its various challenges echoes the reality of human interactions and conversation beyond the stage, in the real world where clients live.

“I hope folks feel like they are better communicators at the end of this,” she says. “This is what conversation is. You don’t know what the other person is going to say, and it’s important to be able to improvise in the moment.”

The new production was funded in part by a donation from CU Boulder’s Nature, Environment, Science and Technology Studio for the Arts, or NEST, a network of centers and other campus units that combine artistic practice and scientific research to explore modes of communication.

I hope folks feel like they are better communicators at the end of this. ... This is what conversation is. You don’t know what the other person is going to say, and it’s important to be able to improvise in the moment."

Students in both departments participated in the production, helping the actors prepare in myriad ways, from running meetings to working scenes.

“Our role was to use strategies we’ve learned to work with (clients) to help them refine their skills in the play,” says Arielle Stein, who is studying speech language pathology and worked on the production as a graduate clinician. “Whether we were giving cues or helping them come up with lines, we were just encouraging them to learn how to communicate in a different way and to gather confidence to communicate … using gestures more, making your voice louder.”

When they performed before an invited audience of friends, family and members of the production team, clients got the boost that every actor is looking for, the rush and exhilaration of being onstage, pushing through any jitters they may have had.

“In that moment, they forget there is anything wrong,” Riseman says.

And all their hard work paid dividends both on and off stage.

“The heart of this group … is incredibly supportive of one another. One person’s successes are everybody’s, one person’s struggle is everybody’s struggle,” Kleiber says. In the rest of their lives, “they are vulnerable every day. Every time they try to communicate, they might expect trouble. To do that in front of an audience just blows me away.”

They perform 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' in second CU Boulder production, and speech therapist notes that doing this in front of an audience ‘just blows me away.’

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Seventeen students are named 2022 Van Ek Scholars

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 19:56:20 +0000

Seventeen students are named 2022 Van Ek Scholars Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/28/2022 - 13:56

The award, considered one of the College of Arts and Sciences' highest honors, is given to students for academic achievement and service

The College of Arts and Sciences has awarded the Jacob Van Ek scholarship, one of the college's highest honors, to 17 exceptional undergraduates.

These students were nominated by faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder for their superior academic achievement and service to the university, the Denver and Boulder communities, or larger national and international communities. The five-person Van Ek Scholars Award committee selected the winners, who receive a $230 award and a certificate of recognition.

They have done so much for the CU Boulder community, as well as in their respective communities."

"We had amazing nominations submitted from faculty this year," says Brenda Navarrete, scholarship coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences. "They have done so much for the CU Boulder community as well as in their respective communities."

"They are very deserving, and I am excited to see the amazing things they will achieve after graduating!”

The award is named for Jacob Van Ek, who arrived at CU as a young assistant professor shortly after earning his doctorate at what is now known as Iowa State University in 1925. Within three years he was a full professor and, by 1929, he was dean of the College of Liberal Arts, serving until 1959.

The following students are this year’s Jacob Van Ek Scholar Award recipients:

Areyana Janae Andrea Proctor, journalism
Elicia Azua, psychology
Evi Judge, linguistics and speech, langauge and hearing sciences
Jack Barker, environmental studies
Julia Hoa Leone, international affairs and Jewish studies
Kelila Rose Fitch-Cook, women and gender studies
Kathryn Hoesly, Chinese
Leen Salah Eldin Abbas, integrative physiology
Mackayla Coley, political science
Morgan Knuesel, physics and mathematics
Megan Lenard, psychology and sociology
Michelle Tracy Leung, environmental studies and ecology and evolutionary biology
Nicole Bouzan, molecular, cellular and developmental biology
Noopur Naik, molecular, cellular and developmental biology
Ruth Woldemichael, ethnic studies and international affairs
Sophia Choubai, integrative physiology
Ty Donovan McCaffrey, ecology and evolutionary biology

The award, considered one of the College of Arts and Sciences' highest honors, is given to students for academic achievement and service

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Rita S. Weiss, speech language pathologist, dies at 99

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:40:42 +0000

Rita S. Weiss, speech language pathologist, dies at 99 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/08/2021 - 16:40

Launched program to improve language development in young schoolchildren, served as associate dean of College of Arts and Sciences

Rita S. Weiss, a University of Colorado speech and language pathology professor who developed a special program to improve language development in young schoolchildren, died May 29, 2021, in Boulder. She was 99. The program, INREAL (Interreactive Language Learning), has been used in schools in more than 33 states and several foreign countries.

Rita S. Weiss in an undated photo with her husband, Lawrence G. Weiss, also a faculty member at CU Boulder

Born in Newark, NJ on Jan. 5, 1922, she was the daughter of Joseph and Dorothy Hochberg Shapiro. She received an undergraduate degree from Simmons College and her master's and PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder. In June 1942, she married Lawrence G. Weiss in Boston.

She moved to Boulder in 1954 and worked as a speech pathologist at the Laradon Hall School for Exceptional Children in Denver. She then played a major role in expanding the speech therapy program in the Boulder Valley Public Schools.

She joined the CU faculty in 1960 and was associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the time of her retirement in 1987.

Her INREAL program, financed by a series of federal grants, involved working with the language problems of children in their regular classrooms instead of removing them for individual therapy. Under the program, hundreds of school teachers and specialists received INREAL training in reactive teaching and therapy techniques.

She was a former president of the CU Retired Faculty Association and a member of the Advisory Council of the CU Graduate School. She served for many years as a marshal at CU commencements and was an active member of a university committee that worked to bring about improvements in CU commencement ceremonies. She was a founding member of the Democratic Women of Boulder County and a member of the Colorado Women’s Forum and Colorado Women’s Foundation.

Survivors include: a daughter, Carolyn Judith Weiss, of Boulder; a son, Jonathan Lawrence Weiss, of Interlaken, NY; three grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and two brothers: Eugene Shapiro, of Prairie Village, KS, and Wilbur Shapiro, of Suffern, NY.

Rita S. Weiss, a University of Colorado speech and language pathology professor who developed a special program to improve language development in young schoolchildren, died May 29, 2021, in Boulder.

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Speech-language pathologist fosters communication in hard cases

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 23:45:06 +0000

Speech-language pathologist fosters communication in hard cases Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/03/2021 - 16:45

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Program launched by speech-language pathologist (and musician) helps kids with complex communication needs and is taking flight

Sherri Tennant was working three jobs when she had an idea; one that could bring the jobs together in a project to benefit Denver youth with complex communications needs due to a variety of medical conditions, including Angelman’s syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Since 2016, Tennant has been a part-time member of the clinical faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder’s speech, language and hearing sciences (SLHS) department, where she specializes augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, which helps people communicate using nonverbal means, everything from gestures and signing to technology.

Sherri Tennant

She was also working as a consultant hired to train staff at the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) and had a small, private speech-therapy practice in Boulder.

“I saw how extensive the need was at DSST. I’m only a sole proprietor with a small practice, but I started thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to write a grant and get (SLHS) graduate students involved down here, to reach more people (with AAC)?’” Tennant says.

She began talking to Christine Brennan, assistant professor of SLHS, explaining the situation.

“She said, ‘Let’s go for it,” Tennant says.

They got administrators and teachers at DSST on board, opened up a Google document and began collaborating on an award application. They soon received a $9,000 CU Boulder Outreach Award for the program, and in fall 2019, kicked off the program.

Tennant trained four graduate students, each of whom received a $1,000 stipend, to complete AAC assessment for students with complex communication needs. The team actively involves primary caregivers in the therapy, so they understand it and can assist the students.

“A lot of determination and collaboration must take place to advocate for their needs. It really does take a whole community and the professional team to help these teenagers get what they need,” Tennant says.

Through Medicaid, the team procured AAC communications systems to nonverbal middle and high school students, then worked with the students to teach them how to use the technology, including AAC systems with vocabulary that can be activated with eye-gaze interaction.

“Some aren’t able to use their hands, so they can’t just touch an iPad,” Tennant says.

Follow-up assessments show that students who participate in the grant project have improved their competency as communicators by at least one skill set level, she says.

Speech-language pathologists that work in schools have an average of eight students, who use AAC systems, on their caseloads."

In 2020, Tennant and Brennan applied for and received a $12,000 outreach award, which brought four new graduate students into the program. And they recently applied for a third award in the maximum amount of $24,000, in hopes of involving eight students next fall.

The program is working not just for the DSST students, but for the graduate students.

Christine Brennan

“What I’m teaching in class is the theory, meta-analysis and use of AAC systems. In this project, there is evidence that it really works when a therapist or another communication partner is modeling language (students) … across their day, which is similar to what we know from current research,” Tennant says.

The need for AAC is only going to grow in the future. 91��Ƭ�� 8% of children in the U.S. already need some kind of speech-language therapy, Tennant says, and the survival rate of infants with disabilities is going up.

“Speech-language pathologists that work in schools have an average of eight students, who use AAC systems, on their caseloads. So it’s really important that graduate students learn about this,” she says.

Tennant originally came to Boulder from the Midwest to earn a master’s degree at Naropa University that combined music therapy and speech-language therapy. But she also felt stifled by the drumbeat of what she calls the “Midwestern work ethic—work, work, work,” and wanted to live somewhere that would foster her creativity.

Boulder seems to have been a good choice: Tennant plays guitar and keyboards and is a vocalist with Crow Song Trio, with lead guitarist and vocalist JD Cordlé and cellist Ellen Rice. She describes the trio’s repertoire as “Americana.” All three members contribute to songwriting.

“(Cordlé) comes from a blues background, and (Rice) has a little more folk influence,” Tennant says. “I have more of the rock side.”

“Our music incorporates elements of folk, blues, rock and more, with a focus on songwriting and improvisation,” the trio writes on its website. “Crow Song plays original music like nothing you’ve heard. Do crows sing? Come find out.”

The trio released its first CD, “Healing Flight” last year.

“COVID put a bit of a damper on our performing, but we did quite a few outdoor shows in the summer,” Tennant says.

Program launched by speech-language pathologist (and musician) helps kids with complex communication needs and is taking flight.

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Artists whose medium is courage visit ‘Oz’

Anonymous — Fri, 01 May 2020 17:01:22 +0000

Artists whose medium is courage visit ‘Oz’ Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/01/2020 - 11:01

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Cross-discipline production of ‘Wizard of Oz’ at CU Boulder inspires confidence in actors with aphasia

The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid. — L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”

One of the key themes in the 1900 children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—the first of L. Frank Baum’s classic series of children’s stories set in his mythical land, and the book behind the enduringly popular 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz—is the young protagonist Dorothy’s recognition of her own agency.

Whirled off to Oz by a terrifying storm, Dorothy wants nothing more than to return home to her family in Kansas. But only after an epic journey with a curious collection of friends—an animate scarecrow, living tin man and cowardly lion—is she able to see herself clearly.

“Dorothy had the power to go home all along, but she didn’t know it,” says Christina Riseman, a clinical faculty member and therapist in the speech, language and hearing sciences department at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Students from the SLHS department dressed up as munchkins and supported their clients with aphasia by providing cues throughout the play (from left to right: Dave Whalen as the Wicked Witch, student Andrew Blake, Carl Tinstman as the Mayor of Munchkin Land, and Yvonne Eyk as Dorothy)

Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the department of theatre and dance. From Left to Right back row: Wynne Royer, Dr. Oliver Gerland, Jeff Pincus, Mikayla Dennelly, Middle Row: Amanda Rose Villareal, Madeline Young, Sarah Fahmy, Front Row Samantha Piel, Gillian Nogeire, and Ashlyn Barnett . Or maybe we could just say faculty, grads, and undergrads from the department of theatre and dance

From left to right - SLHS clinical faculty members Holly Kleiber and Christina Riseman, Nicole Yehl as Dorothy, and graduate student from theatre Gillian Nogeire

Clients of a CU Boulder therapy group for aphasia—a neurological condition, often caused by stroke, that impairs the ability to speak and understand language—undertook their own journey to epiphany in fall semester 2019, rehearsing and performing in a production of The Wizard of Oz, a collaboration between the departments of speech, language and hearing sciences and theatre and dance.

“One of the people who played Dorothy,” Riseman recalls, tearing up, “was not particularly confident in her communicative abilities, but actually turned out to be a great communicator. At first, she thought, ‘No way, no how,’ but here she is pulling off one of the lead roles in such an amazing way and coming out so much more positive, thinking she could do much more.”

The first bricks on this collaborative yellow-brick road were laid in a couple of far-away lands: Chicago’s Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment, where drama therapy has improved client communication and mood; and the Adler Aphasia Center in Maywood, New Jersey, where Riseman’s mother had been a client following a 2007 stroke and speech-language pathologists used theatrical productions as part of their therapy program.

After a previous client mentioned the idea, Riseman and her fellow clinical faculty member and speech-language therapist Holly Kleiber contacted both centers to explore whether they might do the same at CU Boulder.

“Sure, we can do this crazy idea,” Riseman concluded. “Except we really don’t have that acting experience.”

And so, much like Dorothy, Riseman and Kleiber set about gathering faithful companions for the journey ahead. Jen Lewon, clinical assistant professor in the department, sent an email to her sometime-collaborator, Associate Professor of Theatre Beth Osnes. Osnes posted to the department email list seeking interested faculty and students.

The project caught the attention of Associate Professor Oliver Gerland and doctoral student Gillian Nogeire, who had written her master’s thesis on the value of teaching Shakespeare in prisons. Having studied cognitive neuroscience research, she knew that theater could be a tool to develop empathy, confidence and a host of other qualities.

“I wanted to do more outside the department in the field of science, to expand on and learn more about what happens in the brain when you do theater,” she says.

Gerland, Kleiber, Nogeire, Riseman, with an occasional assist from Lewon, began meeting in spring semester 2019 to ponder possibilities. By summer, they had found funding for the project through the MINDSOURCE Brain Injury Network at the Colorado Department of Human Services. By fall, the therapists were asking members of their therapy group what kind of play they’d like to perform.

“We knew it was going to be a devised piece”—a collaborative, rather than strictly scripted, work sometimes referred to as collective creation—“and we presented two options, a show about aphasia, or a story that didn’t have anything to do with aphasia,” Gerland says.

“But regardless of what kind of show you do, ultimately, it’s going to be about the people on stage, and if the people on stage have aphasia, it’s going to be in some way about aphasia.”

The clients floated various ideas, finally settling on the Wizard of Oz. Nogeire was soon meeting with 15 speech, language and hearing sciences clinical graduate students, coaching them on how to lead weekly rehearsals, beginning with basic theater exercises and advancing week to week.

“The way Gillian set it up, it was so well scaffolded,” Riseman says. “Initially, it seemed to (the performers) that they were just playing games, and they didn’t really see how it relates to a play. … Gradually, it turned into something quite amazing.”

As dress rehearsals for the Dec. 7 performance approached, theatre and dance students joined the production to help with wardrobe, lighting and filling out the cast as the Wicked Witch of the West’s cadre of flying monkeys.

As the performers gained confidence, they began adding people to their lists of invited guests.

“Part of project was to help them get back to active life so they feel they are meaningful and participating in society again,” Kleiber says. “It was really nice to see the audience getting larger and larger because it meant individuals had something to look forward to, to be proud of. It was something to give to their families, not just ‘I need a ride to therapy.’ It became, ‘I’ve been working really hard on this, I want to entertain you, show you something I’m proud of.’”

Finally, on Dec. 7, the cast took the stage in three adjoined multi-purpose rooms at Kittredge Central Hall, with a fourth serving as a backstage area, performing before an audience of some 200 family members, friends, students, faculty, staff and others, to rousing applause.

The cast’s confidence didn’t ebb after the curtain fell. One man reported that he’d been cured of his lifelong stage fright, while others, embracing the camaraderie they’d developed, some began spending time together outside therapy. And while the play may have only marginally improved their speaking ability, it greatly expanded their ability to communicate.

Theater is a way that you perform not just with a voice, but with emotions, hands, feet, multiple communication channels."

“Doing a play that was not about aphasia released them, creating a kind of space for them to inhabit with their imagination,” Gerland says. “Theater is a way that you perform not just with a voice, but with emotions, hands, feet, multiple communication channels.”

Nogeire, who also teaches undergraduate acting classes, came to see the cast as particularly well suited for acting.

“Because they had to develop strength and courage living with aphasia, they were almost more prepared to be actors than acting students,” she says. “They have the courage to be vulnerable, in the moment, on stage. They weren’t just actors. I was working with artists who were courageous.”

Although currently stymied by the coronavirus pandemic, the collaborators have “every plan” to mount productions with future therapy clients. Meanwhile, Kleiber and Riseman collected data through before-and-after surveys of cast members and their families, to document changes in communication and thinking skills, emotions and social relationships.

“This kind of project is what we should be doing at CU Boulder,” Gerland says. “The ability to work across disciplinary divides, involving so many different people, faculty, students. It’s a service project, an art project, and educational project, and a wonderful example of what the College of Arts and Sciences can do.”

Cross-discipline production of ‘Wizard of Oz’ at CU Boulder inspires confidence in actors with aphasia

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