Graduating senior Ariel Adams recently completed her research project analyzing the test-retest reliability of the Family Paradigm Assessment Scale (F-PAS). Ariel presented her results to faculty and students. The F-PAS looks at the way families view the world and use their resources. This project was funded by a Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant through the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Adams has been awarded a stipend and full tuition for the first 3 years of her study for a clinical doctorate in audiology at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. This money is part of a grant awarded to Gallaudet from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs to support the preparation of audiologists with a pediatric/educational audiology emphasis (PEAE) to work with culturally and linguistically diverse pediatric (0-21) deaf and hard of hearing populations.
Graduate students Morgan Poole and Kara Taylor have collaborated on research analyzing the characteristics of children with cerebral palsy and their relationship to the children’s communication performance. Taylor recently presented on this topic at the National Black Association of Speech, Language, and Hearing (NBASLH) in Tampa, Fla. This summer Poole and Taylor will give oral research presentations at the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) in Barcelona, Spain in July and the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) in Athens, Greece in August. Poole and Taylor have been selected to receive American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine’s (AACPDM) Student Travel Scholarships to the 64th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC from September 21-25. They will present a research poster: Hidecker, M. J. C., Poole, M.L., Taylor, K., Paneth, N., Rosenbaum, P., & Kent, R. (2010). Functional performance profiles of children with cerebral palsy. Also, Poole has been awarded a Conway Regional Medical Staff Scholarship for the summer and fall semesters. She was one of 15 students, all of whom are pursuing careers in a variety of health related fields, to receive a scholarship from Conway Regional. Adams, Taylor, and Poole’s research projects were mentored by Assistant Professor Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology.
Poole also is the recipient of 2010 National Member Honors for outstanding student performance and potential leadership in the profession of speech-language pathology. As a recipient of Member Honors, Poole is eligible to receive a complimentary registration to attend the 2010 ASHA Convention in Philadelphia.