Pui Fong Kan (SLHS), Eliana Colunga (Physchology/Nueroschience), and Bhuvana Narasimhan (Linguistics) receives a Social Sciences Divisional grant to support undergraduate research. 

The researchers, from three different departments across campus, will launch a new interdisciplinary training program "Diversity in Child Language Acquisition Research" in Fall '24 to train a cohort of undergraduate students to investigate language development in children from marginalized and underresourced communities. Students will learn research and professional socialization skills through rotations in the Child Language Learning Lab (Pui Fong Kan), Developmental and Cognitive Adaptive Systems lab (Eliana Colunga), and the Language, Development, and Cognition Lab (Bhuvana Narasimhan).

Off

Karen Boyd, an instructor in our Speech Language and Hearing Science Department spoke

Off

Tanvir Kalam, a second year MA-SLP student, was one of the Minority Student Leadership Program's (MSLP) award recipients at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Tanvir Kalam, a second year MA-SLP student, was one of the Minority Student Leadership Program's (MSLP) award recipients at the American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationConference in Boston, MA. The MSLP is a leadership development program whose purpose is to provide focused educational programming and activities to build and enhance leadership skills to minorities that have been historically under-represented in the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology. Additionally, the program aims to provide an opportunity for program participants to interact with leaders in the profession of audiology and speech-language pathology. 

When asked what the MSLP taught him Tanvir states that "It taught me about the pivotal role of advocacy and policy-implementation in healthcare. It was also a great networking event where I met professionals from all across the nation. I have the privilege of attending discussion where leaders in the field tackled some of the most pressing issues facing the profession". Regarding how this experience will help Tanvir in his provisional career, he states "attending the MSLP will help in my professional career because of the networking it provides". 

Off

Where are you placed this year?

I am currently at Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, CO

Describe your "typical" day (or lack of "typical" day)

I work with Vets Monday through Friday every week. Most days of the week I am providing
hearing tests, hearing aid fittings/checks, or tinnitus appointments/group sessions (gaining lots of
cerumen removal experience too!). Right now I am also doing vestibular testing each week which
is interesting. Before my vestib rotation, I was in a telehealth rotation for the first part of the
summer. After vestib, I will begin my CI rotation. I am grateful to be getting experience in all of the
things that interest me!

What's something important that you've learned at your placement so far?

Taking a moment to reassess/evaluate the "big picture" is okay! As a student, I'm not expected to
know all the answers, so providing the best care to a patient then and there is my priority.

Any words of wisdom?

Be flexible when you are at your externship! Things do not always go according to schedule, and
it's good to be able to just go with the flow when things are out of your control.

Off

Where are you placed this year?

I am currently placed at Denver Health

Describe your "typical" day (or lack of "typical" day)

I work five days a week, and each day is split into half days. So one day I could be seeing infants and
pediatrics in the morning for diagnostics, and adult hearing aids in the afternoon. During any given week, I typically see a mix of diagnostic audios for peds and adults, adult hearing aid fitting appointments and follow up appointments, ENT clinic, and VNG appointments. Some
weeks I am in the OR completing sedated ABRs or intraoperative monitoring.

What's something important that you've learned at your placement so far?

Denver Health works with a lot of patients from different cultural backgrounds who speak languages other than English. I have learned very quickly to feel comfortable using interpreters almost daily, and conveying information efficiently and in a way that doesn't use a lot of
audiology jargon. The practice of using interpreters and working with different cultures has been great and really makes you think outside of the box on how to explain results in a way that would make sense.

Any words of wisdom? 

You are still a student during your fourth year, take advantage of it! You are not expected to know all of the things. Be open to doing things differently than how you were taught the past few years, whether that be the flow of appointments, or testing protocols. I think this is especially true if you are working on a big team of audiologists - so many different brains to pick about all things audiology and all with different backgrounds (educational, private practice, medical, etc). A lot of preceptors encourage you to try out different things, keep what you like, and not what you don't like! And lastly, your fourth year is only one year, choose a placement that fits your needs and what you are interested in learning more about while you are still a student!

Off

The SLHS department congratulates Dr. Barbara Bell-Lehmkuhler for her accomplishment!

Off

The SLHS Diversity Committee invites you to a workshop by Molly Fillippni: Bilinguals, Silent Period, & Selective Mutism. 

Time: November 29, 2023 9:05-10:30 AM
Location: SLHS Building Room 230 

Off

Where are you placed this year?

I am currently placed at Worth Hearing Center, which is a private practice in Albuquerque, NM. I love it here!

Describe your "typical" day (or lack of "typical" day)

A typical day for me means a variety of things. I do hearing evaluations for people scheduled to see ENT, hearing aid appointments (consultations, fittings, adjustments, problems, clean and checks, etc.), cerumen removal (my new favorite thing!), and I've recently started doing more VNG appointments a few days per week.

What's something important that you've learned at your placement so far?

Something that I've learned in my externship so far is that while being knowledgeable about hearing aids and being able to answer questions that patients have is important, being able to connect with your patients have is important, being able to connect with your patients have is important, being able to connect with your patients on a personal level is really what makes the differences. Also, if you don't know the answer to a question- it's okay! Patients really appreciate transparency, especially when their clinician is a student. Your time in the AuD program goes by incredibly fast, including the externship year, so soak up everything that you can and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Feel Free to contact me anytime about anything - I'm always happy to chat! 

Email: laura.howard@colorado.edu 

Off

Where are you placed this year?

I am placed at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center.

Describe your "typical" day (or lack of "typical" day)

I rotate through 3 different VA locations in the Los Angeles area. My typical day beings at 7am- I come in to prepare for my patient load that day until I see my first patient at 7:30am. I start my mornings with audiologic evaluations which are scheduled for 1-hour each (so nice!). The VA has a pretty thorough testing protocol for new patients (otoscopy, tymps,diagnostic reflexes, pure tones air and bone, tone decay or reflex decay, speech SRT & WRS, speech in noise testing (WIN or QuickSIN), performing the HHIE, then ordering hearing aids and taking earmold impressions if warranted). I also do hearing aid or BAHA fittings in the mornings. My Tuesday afternoons include vestibular evaluations, Thursday afternoons I'm leading a group Progressive Tinnitus Management (PTM) class virtually , and Friday afternoons I do Central Auditory Processing evaluations (CAPD). My day everyday finished up at 3:30pm. 

What's something important that you've learned at your placement so far?

I've learned a great deal about counseling at my placement. I have such a heart for counseling and I did not realize how much room I had to grow and improve my counseling skills until I saw some of my preceptors with our veterans, they're truly amazing. I'm learning how to see patients through a more person-centered lens, modifying everything from the appointment to how I communicate and compose myself based on what the veteran or their families show me that they need. I'm beginning to learn how to steer away from "checking off" MY list of what I need to complete during the appointment to really studying the veteran, learning their learning style and learning barriers, and thinking to myself throughout the appointment what is most important to them and how can I follow up to ensure they receive the quality of service necessary to be successful or have improved quality of life through the management of their hearing loss journey. 

Off

Where are you placed this year?

I am doing a hybrid externship with Rocky Mountain Ear Center and Cochlear Americas. Three days of the week I am at RMEC, which is an ENT practice in Englewood, CO that sees patients for hearing test, hearing aid appointments, Baha and Osia appointments, vestibular testing, ABR, and cochlear implant appointments. The other two days I work for Cochlear in the patient/provider support division and assist with some of their ongoing research project. 

Describe your "typical" day (or lack of "typical" day)

When I am seeing patients at RMEC I am either on the clinic/hearing aid side or the CI side and my days are usually pretty busy. When working on the clinic/hearing aid side, I see patient's half of the day for hearing evaluations, fittings, and checks, plus I regularly see patients for Baha and Osia appointments as well. Some days we have patients come in for vestibular testing. The second half of the day I perform audiometric testing on patients before they see the ENT. This part of the day is usually a bit hectic as we only have 15 minutes to do pure tone audiometry, sometimes including bone conduction and tympanometry. 

What's something important that you've learned at your placement so far?

I think more than anything I've learned to be graceful to myself when I don't know things, but also to be bold enough to try everything anyway. 

Off