COE students gain valuable knowledge from communication disorders institute

With graduation on the horizon and a teaching job lined up, Georgia State University student Margaret Cary made sure to attend the 12^th annual Summer Institute in Communication Disorders, hosted by the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in the College of Education.

“I think it’s important to learn about the social use of language in early development before we go into teaching because we may need this information in the field,” Cary said.

Cary was one of about 70 students, faculty and professionals who attended the two-day event June 24-25 and received valuable information on how to assess and treat communication disorders in young children.

Geralyn Timler, a faculty member of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, was this year’s main speaker.  She presented concrete ways to assess children using examples from her own experience, and emphasized how a speech-language pathologist’s work can help address children’s communication problems.  

“A teacher is busy teaching a classroom of kids, and that’s why I think it’s so important for you to be able to go in and really look at their interactions because you have the time to look at children individually,” Timler said during her presentation. “It’s important to find efficient ways to assess students in the classroom.”

In addition to her speaking engagement, Timler talked with several attendees between her presentations and ate lunch with some of the students from the College of Education.

“I find it really stimulating because a lot of these students and professionals come with experience and they have real-world issues to deal with,” she said. “They asked a lot of good questions and are really interested in the material.”

Debra Schober-Peterson, director of the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and the summer institute’s event coordinator, said she was pleased with this year’s institute.

“Participants received so much helpful information that they can apply to their work setting immediately,” she said. “Dr. Timler used video examples to illustrate case studies and they were very helpful in learning the information presented.”

 

Guest speaker Geralyn Timler discusses ways to assess children with communication disorders during the 12th annual Summer Institute in Communication Disorders.

For more information on the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, visit http://education.gsu.edu/epse/1791.html.