WIUSSLHA officers Chad Cunningham, senior, McHenry, IL, President; Courtney Richardson, senior, Chanderlervill, IL, Internal Vice President; and Morgan Leffelman, senior, Amboy, IL, External Vice President traveled by train. While members Alexandria Blair, senior, Manito, IL;  Emily Borrison, senior, Mediapolis, IA; Allison Lee, senior, Colona, IL;  Ryanne Nason, senior, Sutter, IL;  Alycia Owens, senior, Havana, IL; and Ashley Schwingle, senior, Lamoille, ILaccompanied Jane Brown, WIUSSLHA co-advisor, in a university van. Emily, Allison, Alycia and Ashley also served as volunteers during convention, helping with registration and assisting convention staff.

The students attended convention presentations which provide continuing education credits for professionals in the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology and included topics of new research in neuroscience, autism, stuttering, brain injury, and cleft palate.

The students came away with some new information, pride in the fact that they could understand the information, and a new appreciation for the professions. They were particularly excited about the explosion of the use of apps for the iPad for speech-language therapy.

The students and advisor would like to thank Dr. Maureen Marx, Chair of CSD, for supporting this experience.

WIUSSLHA students and guests have fun at their picnic

Members of the Western Illinois University Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association put on a Picnic and Play-Day for the clients and families of the WIU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic on Saturday, April 21, 2012, from 12:00 – 3:00 p.m.

About 30 people, including clients, family members, WIUSSLHA members, faculty, and staff enjoyed a picnic lunch of hot dogs, chips, veggies and dip, cookies, and fruit punch at the Glenwood Park Stone Pavilion.

Hawaiian leis and decorations set the theme for the party. It was a cool day (literally) but the sun and company made it warm enough to enjoy fun on the playground, blowing bubbles, playing with hula hoops and bouncy balls, and running under and helping wave the colorful parachute.

WIUSSLHA hopes to make this a traditional end-of-the-year event.

WIUSSLHA officers and advisor with a guest.

Dr. Maureen Marx retires

COFAC and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) hosted a retirement party on April 27, 2012 for Dr. Maureen Marx, who wraps up 28 years of service to the university on July 31, 2012.

Marx has been CSD’s Program Director since 2004 and its first chair since 2006 when CSD became a department.

The festivities were held on the second floor lobby of the CSD Department and the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. Cake, punch, hot appetizers and a cash bar were provided. A crowd of over a hundred people made up of current and former students, colleagues, and friends came to wish Marx well.

Chad Cunningham, WIUSSLHA President, aka Mr. Rogers and special guest.

The Western Illinois University Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (WIUSSLHA) of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders held their annual Halloween Party for clients and families of the WIU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic on Thursday, October 27, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. As advertised, it was a “spooktacular event”! The students decorated the clinic lobby, halls, and therapy room areas and were in costume to greet the attendees, young and not so young, also in costume. Face painting, cookie decorating, coloring, trick-or-treating, story reading, witch’s hat ring toss, and pin the tail on the black cat were among the activities provided, along with refreshments and plenty of candy and prizes. The event was well attended by clients and their families and caregivers. Officers of WIUSSLHA are President Chad Cunningham, Vice President-Internal Courtney Richardson (co-chair of the event), Vice President-External Morgan Leffelman, Secretary Kaytee Loudenback (co-chair of the event), and Treasurer Kara Newell.

She-Devil from Bridgeway.

Face painting.

Clinician Nicole, aka angelic grad student, supervises bucketball.

Clinicians Morgan and Courtney with a friend.

Friends of CSD enjoy an Open House in their newly renovated space in Memorial Hall.

Homecoming weekend for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) was special this year. On the evening of September 30, CSD held an Open House to toast its new academic offices, state-of-the-art laboratories, and speech-language-hearing clinic all of which are now housed on the entire second floor of the newly-renovated Memorial Hall. After four years in the basement of Currens Hall, CSD completed its move to Memorial in December of 2010.

The weekend provided a huge turnout, with current CSD students, alums, current and retired CSD faculty, and members of the university community connecting and reconnecting over wonderful hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and excellent music by the President’s String Quartet.

CSD Faculty celebrate the Maureen G. Marx Scholarship kick-off. Front row, Jane Brown, Maureen Marx, Donna Quesal, Amanda Silberer. Back row, Kate Pohlpeter, Ellen Ehrgott, Amy Burke, Cheri Gipson, and Bob Quesal.

CSD provided a delicious appetizer buffet during their Homecoming 2011 Open House.

A WIU Jazz Ensemble warms up the evening for the CSD dinner at the Macomb Country Club.

Departmental tours were offered between the homecoming parade and the football game on Saturday, October 1. The weekend ended with a dinner-silent auction Saturday evening at the Macomb Country Club. The dinner and silent auction provided a kick-off of the Maureen G. Marx Undergraduate Academic Excellence Award, which marks the first undergraduate scholarship established by CSD in honor of Maureen Marx, who will retire in July 2012.

The evening was another huge success made even more special with music by a WIU five man jazz ensemble. A great time was had by all and the scholarship is on its way!

Donna and Bob Quesal, seated third and fourth from far right, attend the National Stuttering Association conference.

Bob Quesal, PhD, participated the National Stuttering Association (NSA) Research Symposium on July 5-6 in Ft. Worth, TX.

Bob, Donna Quesal, CSD faculty and Kevin Mahoney, CSD grad student, attended the NSA conference, July 7-9. Donna and Kevin were minority participants, as most participants are people who stutter (PWS) of all ages.

David Seidler, screen writer of The King's Speech, presented at NSA.

David Seidler, screen writer of The King’s Speech was the keynote speaker, and shared his personal story as do others at this conference.

Participants attended workshops on therapy strategies, current research in stuttering; met people who stutter and their families from all over the world; and talked to anyone and everyone they met for a few days. There are parent, sibling and family sessions; open mikes for PWS; sessions for speech language pathologists; and community activities for socialization in a comfortable communication environment.

For more information about the NSA programs for people who stutter, go to www.westutter.org.

WIUSSLHA members, students from the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, family members, faculty, and clients from Mosaic group homes participated in the fun.

This event has become the major fundraiser for the group, with this year’s proceeds going to Autism Speaks, an organization that exists for the support and dissemination of information to families and the public about autism spectrum disorder. WIUSSLHA was able to purchase a communication device for a client during this school year using past funds generated by this event.

WIUSSLHA wishes to thank the many Macomb businesses that donated money and/or prizes for the raffle held at the event.

WIU CSD Students at ISHA

Faculty and students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department attended the Illinois Speech-Language- Hearing Convention at the Rosemont Convention Center on February 11-13th. The faculty and students attended sessions on dysphagia, autism, and stuttering. Some of the main presenters at the convention were Jeri Logemann, Jeanane Ferre, and Ehud Yairi.

Students who volunteered and attended the convention were: Allison Rolinskas, Lauren Kubik, Kayla Rossi, Jamie Monier, Jill Kevorkian, Bailey Crenshaw, and Kevin Mahoney.

The department is located on the second floor of the newly renovated Memorial–all the CSD faculty offices, the Speech Language and Hearing Clinic, the therapy rooms, and the audio booths.  Everything is in one place.  Classrooms are to follow as the physical plant is creating the electronic  environment for the most tech savvy classrooms available.

The brand new soundproof audio booth was lifted by crane into the building piece by piece and then constructed on site.  It’s pretty amazing to see this freestanding room-size booth in the consultation room.

Faculty and administration are waiting on some new furniture, but otherwise they are making themselves at home in their very bright, very clean, very new digs.

Becca Sims, senior, Macomb, in the consultation room

Becca Sims at the double door of the audiology booth

Becca Sims in the clinician side of the audiology booth