The ASHA Leader - August 11, 2009 - (Page 3)

Meet New Members of the Board of Directors Four ASHA members were recently elected to the Board of Directors (BOD). Each brings a unique blend of professional experience and personal dedication to the positions. They will take office on Jan. 1, 2010. Checkmate: Syntactic Complexity Chess can help school-aged children produce more complex sentence structure, according to a University of Oregon study in the Journal of Speech, Hearing, and Language Research (search “chess” at http://jslhr. asha.org). An adult examiner who had little or no chess experience interviewed 32 chess-playing children (average age 10.9 years) and measured their general conversation, chess conversation, and chess explanation. The researchers found that when children were presented with a motivating and challenging topic, they rose to the occasion to explain the details to a naïve adult. Paul R. Rao, PhD, CCC-SLP President-elect ASHA’s 2010 president-elect, Paul Rao, spends day and night with speech-language pathologists. During the day he is vice president of clinical services, quality, and compliance, at National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C. His free time is spent with his wife and daughter, both SLPs who offer frequent feedback, Rao says, on “schools, private practice, and pediatric rehab practice.” Teamwork energizes Rao. “My 24 years as a leader in a rehabilitation hospital has taught me to think and act as part of a team,” he said. “I value process improvement and data gathering to achieve a successful solution, and understand the role of emotional IQ and integrity to gain consensus and lead an organization to meet new challenges.” An expert on reimbursement issues and a longtime advocate for the professions on Capitol Hill and in his home state of Maryland, Rao hopes to support ASHA “in this momentous national debate on health care policy.” He has served on a number of ASHA boards and committees, including the Board of Ethics. Ethics have become even more important during the current recession, when corruption has surfaced in areas of the economy, he said. “We need to reinforce education and training on the ASHA Code of Ethics in every area of the professions,” Rao said. “Professional integrity is the keystone for what we do for others and for our cred- Paul R. Rao Jeanne Wilcox Karen I. Kirk Jaynee A. Handelsman ibility as professionals in audiology and speech-language pathology.” Rao will serve on the BOD for three years—in 2010 as president-elect, in 2011 as president, and in 2012 as past president. With ASHA work ahead, his fondest hope is that his wife and fellow SLP Martina “will tell me at the end of this three-year stint that these were some of the best years of our married life!” Jeanne Wilcox, PhD, CCC-SLP Vice President for Academic Affairs in Speech-Language Pathology Jeanne Wilcox knows she has big task ahead of her. As she acknowledges the ever-evolving scope of practice in speech language pathology, ASHA’s newly elected vice president for academic affairs in speech-language pathology also wants to infuse academic programs with fresh faces more quickly. Despite the dwindling numbers of doctoral students, she wants to help ensure that there are high-quality academic programs that continue to 2009 Dues Deadline Change T he deadline to renew 2009 ASHA dues and certification is Aug. 31. Certification and membership will be dropped for those who do not renew by this date. Members whose certification and/or membership is dropped must go through the reinstatement and/or certification process to rejoin or become recertified. Members interested in Life Membership (and its associated reduced membership fee) should note that if their membership is dropped, their years of consecutive membership revert to zero. Renewing online is quick and easy—go to www.asha.org/renew.htm, click on “Renew Your Dues,” enter your eight-digit ASHA member number and last name, and click the login button. To renew by phone, call 888-321-2742. produce a future supply of highly qualified faculty researchers and educators. “I want our university training programs throughout the country to offer high-quality, cutting-edge learning opportunities at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels,” she said. “I hope to be able to work with all stakeholders toward maintaining the quality of current programs, while also exploring opportunities for targeted enhancements to meet pressing needs. We must continue to think about ways to address this problem, both to preserve and promote science within the discipline and to ensure access to a quality education for future SLPs.” Wilcox, director of Infant Child Research Programs and professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at Arizona State University, comes from a perspective of 30 years’ experience in academia. She has trained countless undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students and has been involved in state, regional, and national communities of practice, all of which have contributed to her well-honed vision for practice excellence. “I hope to lead by ‘guided participation,’” Wilcox said. “I see my role as one of listening, clearly articulating strengths and needs, and then recruiting key participants so we can collaboratively develop and implement strategies to build on strengths and systematically address needs. I have reached a point in my career at which I feel that I can make a contribution at a national level and am gratified that ASHA’s membership chose to provide me with this opportunity.” See Board of Directors page 20 TV and Child Language Researchers have found that watching television–even as background noise—can rob young children of crucial language development opportunities. The study at the Children’s Research Institute (Seattle) found that for each hour a child watched television or was near a television that was on, there were reduced vocalizations, vocalization duration, and conversational turns, and a 7% decrease in words the child heard from an adult. For more information, visit www. seattlechildrens.org/home/ about_childrens/press_room. Autism Drug Ineffective Researchers have found that Citalopram, a drug believed to alleviate repetitive behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders, is ineffective and may actually increase behavioral problems. The study (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/19487623), sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, found that Citalopram was no more effective than a placebo and was more likely to cause adverse side effects such as increased energy, impulsivity, decreased concentration, hyperactivity, and increased repetitive movements and behaviors. August 11, 2009 http://jslhr.asha.org http://jslhr.asha.org http://www.seattlechildrens.org/home/about_childrens/press_room http://www.seattlechildrens.org/home/about_childrens/press_room http://www.seattlechildrens.org/home/about_childrens/press_room http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19487623 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19487623 http://www.asha.org/renew.htm

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ASHA Leader - August 11, 2009

The ASHA Leader - August 11, 2009
Contents
Four Members Elected to Board of Directors
Readers Respond
Audiology
Congress Begins Health Care Reform Debate
Medicare Private Practice Poses Concerns for Some SLPs
Custom Fit Your Marketing
Personal Music Players
From the President
Convention Preview
2010 Dues Change
Ethics in Private Practice
Missouri SLPs Win on School Retirement Issue
Classifieds
A Deluge of Human Kindness
First Person on the Last Page

The ASHA Leader - August 11, 2009