UW to Host Maggie Scarlett Summer Speaker Series June 27

The University of Wyoming’s Division of Communication Disorders in the College of Health Sciences will host its second annual Maggie Scarlett Summer Speaker Series (MSSS) Thursday and Friday, June 27-28, at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.

The MSSS is an educational forum with a special emphasis on the continuing education of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) across Wyoming and the region. The speaker series is endowed by Maggie and Dick Scarlett, who recognized the importance of a lecture series designed for SLPs and students. Maggie Scarlett earned her bachelor’s degree from the speech-language pathology program at UW in 1963. She worked as an SLP for more than 21 years in both school and medical settings.

This year’s MSSS will focus on two themes: “The Landscape of Pediatric Speech-Language Services in Telepractice” and “Advanced SLP Practice Considerations for the Management of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI).”

Joneen Lowman will present Thursday’s seminar, “The Landscape of Pediatric Speech-Language Services in Telepractice,” starting at 9 a.m.

Lowman is a professor in the Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Kentucky. Her teaching and research focus on language disorders within the school-age population and telepractice.

She is co-principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health R01 award for the purpose of adapting and evaluating a parent behavioral training program for use with parents of children with hearing impairments. Lowman is on the coordinating committee of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Special Interest Group 18, Telepractice.

Kathryn Hardin will discuss “Advanced SLP Practice Considerations for the Management of mTBI” starting at 8 a.m. Friday.

Hardin is an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her clinical work is at the Marcus Institute for Brain Health, which is a Center of Excellence for the assessment and rehabilitation for the persistent effects of mTBI.

Hardin has assumed a national role for SLPs and concussion management. In 2015, for her work in concussion, she was granted a “trailblazer” designation for “innovative/transformational work in the field of speech-language pathology” and wrote the cover article for the ASHA Leader on the revised evidence base for SLPs in concussion management. Hardin advocates for the critical role of SLPs in concussion, persistent concussive symptomatology and long-term effects of mTBI.

“The Maggie Scarlett Summer Speaker Series is the division’s way to thank all of the externship supervisors and the hospitals, schools and clinic sites around the state and country that train our students,” says Mark Guiberson, director of the UW Division of Communication Disorders. “It also is our way of building a community of practitioners across the region.”

This year’s event also will include research posters and an open house Thursday at 4 p.m. Members of the community are invited to attend, Guiberson says.

UW students from all disciplines, health care providers and educators are invited to participate in the speaker series. Current and prospective educators who attend the MSSS will receive credit through the Professional Teaching Standards Board. ASHA continuing education credit also is available.

For more information, including registration and a schedule, go to www.msss.craven.management/.