This course will provide a brief overview on the construct of executive functions, in particular those that may relate to childhood stuttering. Empirical evidence on the role of executive functions in childhood stuttering as well as clinical implications for assessment and treatment will be discussed.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. This course will provide an overview of considerations for evaluation of pediatric and adolescent vocal athletes. This will include normal voice development and common vocal pathologies within this population.

This course describes an intervention procedure designed around SLP distinctive oral language competencies to improve expository speaking, writing and comprehension. Two preliminary treatment studies and clinical perspectives about implementation within and beyond the research setting will also be discussed. This course is presented in cooperation with the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders (ABCLLD).

Fluency disorders (i.e., developmental stuttering, late onset stuttering, cluttering) have a relatively low prevalence, but 30-40% of children who stutter show speech sound disorders and 15-30% show language disorders. Thus, it is incumbent upon us to plan and implement improvement in both or multiple disorders. This course will focus on how best to do that.

This course surveys best practices, regulations, and assessment options for monolingual and bilingual clinicians working with linguistically and culturally diverse children. Assessment protocols to help in differential diagnosis of language differences from genuine disorders are reviewed, including ethnographic principles, dynamic assessment, narrative analysis, and vocabulary measures.

To treat oral dysphagia, the SLP must select and use appropriate compensatory strategies, including bolus modifications and postural strategies, as well as implement rehabilitative techniques designed to achieve a change in physiologic function. Limited evidence exists for many oral phase rehabilitative techniques; therefore, this course will describe and discuss the related principles of neural plasticity, motor learning and neuromuscular treatments that the SLP must understand in order to effectively treat patients with oral dysphagia.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. This course will cover a number of basic treatment techniques for adults with a variety of types of dysarthria.

A large and complex feeling vocabulary is a prerequisite skill to emotional regulation and successful interpersonal interactions for children and adults. This course will provide information on evidence-based positive behavioral support (PBS) strategies for resolving and preventing challenging behaviors in young children (ages 18 months through 7 years) by recognizing, acknowledging and supporting children’s development of emotional literacy.

The Speech Language Pathologist’s role in palliative care is often misunderstood or unrecognized. This course will demonstrate how the SLP can make valuable contributions to the palliative care process throughout a myriad of settings - including home health, skilled nursing rehab, long-term care, assisted living and acute care - by helping the patient maximize his/her functional abilities to improve quality of life.

This course provides a brief overview on narrative and conversational discourse. Emphasis is placed on the importance of discourse in patient-centered care and various approaches to incorporating discourse in aphasia rehabilitation.