ASHA Voices

After a harrowing year in which COVID-19 wreaked havoc, we're bringing you a show about your colleagues' outlook on the new year. Many are hoping for fresh starts and meaningful change. In the first segment, audiologists and SLPs share what they're looking forward to in 2021--including increased cultural responsiveness and improved physical and mental health. Then audiologist Carrie Spangler recou...

The podcast brings you a short update pointing you to the episodes you listened to most this year. We also preview some of what’s next, and how you can share feedback and topic suggestions.

We’re joined by the host of “The Swallow Your Pride Podcast.” A specialist in swallowing disorders, Theresa Richard shares what she’s learned while hosting the show aimed at SLPs managing dysphagia. We discuss Theresa’s path to the health care field, the origins of her podcast, and what it’s been like to speak to SLPs working on the front lines against COVID-19. Plus, Theresa shares a few of the e...

We’re talking about swallowing disorders in the time of COVID with two expert SLPs. Johns Hopkins’ Martin Brodsky joins us to trace the challenges facing clinicians tasked with managing dysphagia during the pandemic. He tells us what’s changed since the pandemic began, what he’s heard while serving on the Dysphagia Research Society (DRS) COVID-19 Task Force, and the important role of clinicians in...

As health care SLPs face rising COVID-19 numbers again, we're revisiting our earlier conversation with SLP Tami Altschuler. The patient-provider communication specialist shares stories of loss, recovery, sickness, and stigma as she walks us through the hallways of the NYU Langone Medical Center. She also shares lessons learned from facing a surge.

We bring you the story of how discussions of race between Ingrid Desormes and her rehabilitation unit's supervisor Christie Miller led to new learning--and friendship. Their talks began when Desormes joined the unit at Bethesda Hospital in 2019. In the time since, Miller says she’s changed the way she approaches racial issues in and outside the workplace. The two SLPs join the podcast for a conver...

Today we look at  ways   SLPs can work with families to cultivate a strong sense of self in children with autism. Of course, SLPs know the importance of  helping a child with autism  become empowered and  believe in themselves, and today’s guests make that a priority. SLPs Rachel Dorsey and Jessie Ginsburg share  strategies and examples of ways to help foster  this positive  outlook with a strengt...

Mask muffling. Decreased intelligibility. Backlogged hearing screenings. These are just some of the challenges educational audiologists face this academic year. Today on the podcast, we discuss how educational audiologists are adapting their practices for the times, with the past, current, and incoming presidents of the Educational Audiology Association (EAA). We also talk telepractice. What are i...

School is back in session. And it looks nothing like it normally does. After a summer of uncertainty about what to expect this fall, school-based SLPs are navigating back-to-back telepractice sessions, hybrid online/in-person models, and myriad infection-control measures. In this episode, we hear about how it's going. We asked five school-based SLPs: What has the start of the new academic year bee...

When referring to autism, some people use person-first language ( a person with autism ), while others prefer identity-first language ( an autistic person ). On this episode, we talk to ASHA members and autistic SLPs about their differing language choices, and excerpt a spirited discussion of the issue on the Autism Speaks podcast Autism POVs. Plus, acclaimed autism book author Barry Prizant retur...

Spurred by this summer's turbulent news, SLP Pam Wiley facilitated a series of town hall conversations on community policing, race, and voting. The 2020 ASHA Honors recipient talks with us about what was challenging, and what she heard. Wiley, president of the LA Speech and Language Therapy Center, joins us a year after she first spoke to us about her efforts to build understanding between law enf...

We mark last September’s podcast launch with a timely return to our first episode on law enforcement, de-escalation, and communication disorders. There’s been a growing public outcry against police-perpetrated violence against unarmed civilians, who disproportionately are people of color and/or people with mental health or developmental issues like autism. Experts discuss how to help young adults...

(1:00) Driving between appointments, SLP Samantha Koncak talks about how COVID-19 has changed her job. See how new realities like stepped-up infection control measures and unruly masks affect the daily operations of an SLP in the field. (15:25) Later in the show, SLP Lauren Sharpe shares stories of COVID-19's emotional impact on both patients and SLPs in home health, with social isolation as a maj...

On this episode of the podcast, higher education takes on the moment in two distinct ways. (1:13) We hear the story of a graduate student and a faculty member brought together by the need for increased support for minority students. They tell us how they used a series of seminars to raise diversity awareness among faculty and students in a CSD program. (14:04) Then, we head south to a course that...

Continuing our coverage of how COVID-19 is affecting CSD professionals, we head to what was once the major U.S. hotspot. SLP Tami Altschuler shares stories of loss, recovery, sickness, and stigma as she walks us through the hallways of the NYU Langone Medical Center. As health care SLPs around the country see COVID-19 numbers rising, Altschuler talks about her lessons learned from facing a surge.

In this quick summer check-in, we note the episodes that listeners flocked to--and look ahead to upcoming topics. Plus, we want to hear from you. Find out how to leave a voicemail that could feature on a future podcast episode. Back in two weeks!

COVID-19 is changing the way we work, but is it also changing the way SLPs bill? With ASHA Connect 2020 just around the corner, presenter, SLP, and billing and coding expert Dee Nikjeh joins the podcast to share three of the most interesting questions she’s received since the pandemic began.

SLP and NYU faculty member George Castle says one of his mentors, the late Kenyatta Rivers, taught him to live his life helping others advance in their careers while pulling himself up at the same time. He calls this the one-hand-up and one-hand-down philosophy. Castle joins ASHA Voices for a conversation about what mentorships mean in his life and career, and he shares memories of Rivers, who die...

In the latest episode of ASHA Voices, we talk to two audiologists making their way through unexpected experiences and circumstances--one reopening their practice during COVID-19 and the other with a new cochlear implant. (1:15) First, we explore what happens when an audiologist gets a cochlear implant. If you're Carrie Spangler, 2020 sounds different from 2019. Spangler was diagnosed with hearing...

From  telepractice to staff meetings to social commitments, we’re all interacting online in often back-to-back engagements. And  today’s guests say this can  take a toll on our  voices.(1:15) First, SLP Jennylee Diaz shares strategies for maintaining the voice health of ourselves and our clients in this new all-online world--based on her own experiences with voice strain while singing.(9:49) Then…...

Timing is critical when it comes to serving children birth to three and their families. Now, COVID-19 is making the process even more challenging for audiologists and speech-language pathologists. (1:45) Audiologist Karen Munoz shares three common COVID-19-related EI difficulties she’s hearing about from audiologists--and strategies you can use now to handle them. (14:06) Then speech-language path...

In his latest book, “Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World,” author and journalist David Owen (The New Yorker) writes, “Deafness is expensive. Earplugs aren’t.” ASHA Voices speaks with Owen about his recent book, and what he’s learned about our noisy world. Then, we’re joined by audiologist Vickie Tuten to discuss occupational hearing hazards and how fit-testing hearing protection can help...

This week on the podcast: We’re joined by author and SLP Barry Prizant. He’s the author of "Uniquely Human," an acclaimed book that conceptualizes autism as a difference, rather than a disability. In honor of Autism Awareness Month, Barry joins us to discuss the parent-clinician relationship, and the evolving roles families are playing in autism intervention. In the second half of the episode, we’...

This week on the podcast: What happens when health care workers are exposed to the coronavirus? We hear from two SLPs who share their experiences with potential exposure and self-quarantine. And, we continue our look at health care with a check-up. It’s been six months since the Patient Driven Payment Model went into effect. We ask what this new payment system has meant for those in skilled nursin...

COVID-19 is turning many lives upside down. We talk with audiologists and SLPs throughout the country about the pandemic's immediate and drastic effects on their work. From the Seattle area to New York City, they are facing significant challenges, but they are also rising to those challenges. Featuring voices of professionals in schools, private practice, academia, and health care, this late-break...