Newswise — Administrators and faculty from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at the Seton Hall University School of Health and Medical Sciences will gather with fellow speech, language, and hearing professionals in Atlantic City, N.J., May 6-8 for the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s annual convention.
Coinciding with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Better Hearing and Speech Month, the conference provides a platform for practitioners in the fields of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology to share research findings and best practices, as well as raise awareness about communication disorders.
As part of the convention’s specialized pediatrics track, Associate Professor Nina Capone, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Seton Hall University, will be presenting a session on the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of late-talking toddlers.
“Parents usually become concerned that their child is having difficulty learning language around two years of age because their child either is not talking as much as other children or because they are using tantrums to communicate and express frustration,” Capone says.
The issue of late-talking toddlers comes at a time when Autism Spectrum disorders, diagnosis of which the CDC reports soared 800 percent nationwide between 1993 and 2003, have prompted a contentious, cause-and-effect debate among academics and healthcare practitioners. The heightened awareness of Autism, coupled with misinformation, also can cause parents of developmentally-delayed children undue concern.
“Many of the children who are late to talk will eventually outgrow their delays by school-age,” Capone adds. “When tested in school, they may perform at the low average—but still average—range. We tend to think these children are simply ‘late bloomers’ when it comes to language learning.”
Capone encourages concerned parents to seek an evaluation from their state’s early intervention program, which is typically free of charge and must be completed in a timely manner—often within 45 days of the child’s referral.
Capone’s colleague, Theresa E. Bartolotta, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, who is Associate Dean of the Seton Hall University School of Health and Medical Sciences, as well as President of the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association, will welcome attendees to the convention Thursday evening. Her formal remarks will set the stage for subsequent discussions of various Better Speech and Hearing topics, ranging from cognitive communication and feeding disorders, to aging, stuttering, and Aphasia.
In addition, the conference will highlight achievements in speech-language pathology and audiology at the Honors and Awards Ceremony, during which Brian B. Shulman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Professor and Dean of the Seton Hall University School of Health and Medical Sciences, will receive the association’s 2010 Distinguished Professional Service Award. This award recognizes Dr. Shulman, who also is an ASHA Fellow, BRS-CL, for his accomplishments in teaching, publishing and professional presentations, as well as his contributions to the field of speech-language pathology as a whole.
For full details about the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s 2010 convention, visit www.njsha.org/ceopps/convention/2010. To learn more about Better Speech and Hearing Month, which for over 80 years has aimed to educate and raise awareness about speech and language impairments—and, in so doing, improve the quality of life for those suffering from communication disorders—visit www.asha.org/bhsm.
About Seton Hall University School of Health and Medical SciencesEstablished by Seton Hall University in 1987 initially as the School of Graduate Medical Education, the School of Health and Medical Sciences (SHMS) as it is now referred to, is a professional school within the nation’s oldest diocesan institution of higher education. SHMS teaches the art and science of caring through a variety of unique and innovative graduate entry-level degree programs of study including Athletic Training, Occupational Therapy, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, and Speech-Language Pathology. Post-professional programs in health sciences are also offered, as well as post-medical school residency and fellowship programs. Located in South Orange, New Jersey, SHMS is just 14 miles (25 minutes) from New York City. For more information about SHMS, visit www.shms.shu.edu, or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
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