15 minute read
Finding Their Voices
By Richelle Thompson
The newest master’s program at Mount St. Joseph University® is Lighting the Way for future clinicians to serve persons, from infants to the elderly, helping them find their voices and discover new opportunities.
Launched in 2023, the Master of Speech-Language Pathology (MSLP) reflects the values of the Mount, with a focus on academic excellence and service to others. Students are immersed in hands-on learning from the onset, taught by professors who are also active clinicians.
“We wanted a program that not only teaches the clinical skills needed but also emphasizes the importance of dignity, respect and service to others,” says Erin Redle Sizemore, Ph.D., chair of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. “Speech pathology is about more than treating a disorder—it’s about improving the quality of life for our patients and their families.”
The program’s groundbreaking approach is resonating with students—and the community. The number of students doubled from the first year to the second. And Sizemore expects the growth to continue, especially given the appeal of the Mount’s innovative 3+2 combined degree track. This allows students to complete their bachelor’s degree in three years, followed by their master’s degree in two. Students enter the workforce more prepared and a year earlier than most of their peers across the country.
“I keep telling everyone how lucky I am,” says Maddie Baker, who is finishing her third year in undergraduate Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and applying to the master’s program. “I’ll be able to graduate in five years from a program where the professors know my name and care about my success. And, I’ll have experience in all kinds of clinical environments… I feel like this program is preparing us to be the best speech pathologists possible.”
A Beacon To The Region
Sizemore came to the Mount in 2021 to lead the development of the master’s program. She and her team wanted to structure it in a new way, creating more opportunities for learning and helping shape clinicians into lifetime learners committed to service. The program has a robust professional development component and the faculty are all working clinicians, in addition to serving as professors.
At the heart of the Mount’s program is putting students in diverse clinical environments from day one. These clinics are no-fee, meaning people of any means can access needed therapies.
Sizemore says these program elements probably wouldn’t be approved at many universities because they want to know how they’re going to recoup the cost of such training.
“But when I pitched this approach to the administration, they said, ‘Yes. Let’s do it.’ This is consistent with the mission of the Mount,” she says.
As a result, the Mount is committed to “producing excellent, lifelong clinicians who also share in the mission of making the world a better place,” Sizemore says. “That’s a pretty fantastic return on investment.”
The work of speech pathology includes helping children with speech delays, assisting adults recovering from strokes or head injuries and treating swallowing disorders. At the Mount, students are exposed to a variety of specialties through a range of community partners.
Students work with young clients at Santa Maria Community Services and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, adults with developmental disabilities at the Ken Anderson Alliance, and the older sisters who live at the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse.
Over the summer, the program hosted a free speech and language camp with individual and group therapy for children, ages 3 to 6. During one of the weeks, the preschoolers explored the ocean with under-the-sea games and activities; another week, they explored a back-to-school theme, with sensory tables and interactive stories and songs. On-campus individual and group therapy continues throughout the year.
When students participate in the clinics, faculty are onsite, supervising and sometimes working side by side with the students, says Emily Buckley, the program’s director of clinical education.
“All of the faculty and students love the community partnerships,” Buckley says. “It’s an opportunity to give back— and for the faculty, it’s a reminder of why we wanted to become speech therapists in the first place: to help people.”
Changing Lives, One Letter at a Time
For the faculty and the students, speech pathology is more than a career. It’s a calling.
Baker wants to honor the speech therapist who taught her how to pronounce the letter R.
Sizemore was inspired by the struggles of her sister, who had severe speech issues as a child, and her neighbor, who had autism and accompanying speech challenges.
Assistant Professor Sisan Cuervo, Ph.D., remembers the challenges of learning English as a second language after immigrating to the United States from Colombia, when she was 12.
“I realized very early on that when a child had difficulty communicating, it could have a dramatic impact on their life,” Cuervo says.
She worked with children who had special needs and studied sign language until she discovered speech pathology.
“What drew me in was the ability to help people communicate, to give people their voice,” she says.
One of those persons is 3-year-old Christian. At his 18-month appointment, his mother, Christina Hoffman, says the pediatrician diagnosed him with a speech delay and recommended a program supported by speech therapists from the Mount. After a year of therapy with Cuervo, Christian can tell anyone who asks—and even those who don’t— all the names of his favorite dinosaurs.
“I don’t know where we would be without Dr. Cuervo and the program at Mount St. Joseph,” Hoffman says. Because of the therapy, “our son will be able to go to preschool without any delays. It means the world to us knowing that he will be able to fit in and make friends and have confidence in himself.”
What’s so special about the Mount, Hoffman says, “is the passion they have for helping kids. They go above and-beyond, and they truly make a difference.”
John Arand offers the same high praise. A devastating stroke six years ago at the age of 58 left him completely non-verbal. For six years, Arand worked with speech therapist Lauren Burke, an instructor at the Mount; at Burke’s invitation, he now meets with the graduate students to provide insight from a patient’s perspective.
“I credit Lauren with giving me back my voice,” Arand says. “She helped me relearn how to make sounds and move my tongue and mouth. She was a godsend.”
Having faculty who are practicing clinicians enhances the learning experience.
“We bring real life into the classroom,” Cuervo says. “I see patients one day, and I’m teaching the next. It’s different when you teach from experience and practice. This way, students get the best of both worlds.”
A Well-Rounded Education
The professional development plan is another hallmark of the program. Developed by Sizemore, it’s designed to encourage graduate students to go beyond academics. Every student must earn a certain number of points in different categories. So, for instance, in the category of service, students receive points for volunteering. Another category is advocacy.
“We know that in order to form whole clinicians, these areas are just as important as practice and academics,” Cuervo says. “Writing a letter to your senator advocating for hearing aid access is something that, as graduate students, you may not normally have time for. But if you are encouraged to do it and you’re getting points for it as part of the long-term requirements of the program, then you begin to see your role in a more holistic way.”
The focus on providing a well-rounded education was a big draw for Taylor Fenn when she was looking for a master’s degree program. She started with the program’s inaugural class and will finish with her degree at the end of this school year.
“I really feel like Mount St. Joseph has our best interest at heart,” Fenn says. “From the very start, they wanted to make sure we were well-rounded clinicians instead of having us home in on a specialty. The program has given me so many hands-on opportunities and experiences that I definitely feel like I’ll be well-prepared when I graduate.”
Life-Like Learning Labs
At the Mount, hands-on learning also means time in the simulation lab. Before Burke joined the faculty, she worked at a hospital with new speech pathologists. She found that increasingly, they lacked confidence in their skills because of a lack of hands-on training.
When the simulation lab program opened at the Mount, “it could not have been a more perfect fit for the things that I’m passionate about,” Burke says. “I want to train new speech-language pathologists who are career-ready and confident. And you gain confidence through making mistakes and failing and getting back up again and having some resilience. The whole point of the simulation and integration course that I teach is to give our students a space to make mistakes… so that when you go into a clinical setting, the hard part of doing it for the first time is already over.”
The Speech Therapy Skills Lab has what Burke calls “task trainers” and high- and low-fidelity mannequins, from those with realistic anatomy to primitive tools like PVC pipe and straws. There’s a private room in the back so Burke can conduct a therapy session and video stream it to the students in real-time. There’s also a nursing simulation lab with two mock hospital rooms and an observation room in the middle. Sometimes high-fidelity mannequins serve as patients; other times, “standardized patients” read from a script.
Another need for the growing program is a permanent location for an on-site clinic. The area currently being used is earmarked for another purpose, so the department needs to outfit a new space. It needs to be accessible, built to minimize background noise, and designed as patient friendly, especially for the children who come in for help.
Burke says that she doesn’t know of any other program in the country offering the same degree of dedicated simulation and integration coursework.
“I make it very clear from the beginning that I’m not grading them on the accuracy of their actions,” she says. “I’m looking for depth of learning … and if they failed, what they took away from that failure.”
In the future, Burke hopes to expand the simulation lab. She only has room for one of the task trainers/mannequins, so students have longer wait times, which takes up valuable class time. She’s made some of the task trainers herself, so having professional models would be valuable.
“I am really proud of the program we’ve built so far, and I’m excited about the possibilities of what’s next,” Sizemore says. “I love being a speech pathologist. The fact that I get to help a child say ‘mom’ for the first time or take a bite of food for the first time is a huge privilege. My excitement for teaching and for developing this program comes from sharing that passion with others and helping inspire them to go out in the world, to help people, and to make a difference.”
To give to the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program, visit www.msj.edu/give-hs.
Honorees
Even though the Master of Speech-Language Pathology program is new, faculty and students are already receiving accolades.
In March, a group of students and professors from the Mount’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences attend the 2024 Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association (OSLHA) Conference, where they were honored with three awards.
OSLHA named Erin Redle Sizemore, Ph.D., as “Fellow of the Association” in recognition of her contributions to speech pathology. Sizemore, the Mount’s chairperson of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and associate professor, also received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Mount. In addition to her work in developing the department, Sizemore has been a national leader in researching ways to support children who have been exposed to opioids in utero. She is also working with a team studying how to support graduate students with disabilities.
Taylor Fenn was OSLHA’s first-place Student Scholarship winner. Fenn was chosen for this scholarship based on community service involvement, interest in specialized areas, and passion for the field.
Maddie Baker received the Student Recognition Award. This award is given to a student with outstanding leadership qualities and who has made innovative contributions to the field.
Meet the Speech-Language Pathology Team
Erin Sizemore, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Chairperson and Associate Professor
Dr. Sizemore is a practicing speech-language pathologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. Her clinical focus is working with children and families in early intervention, including pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders, and early speech, language, and executive functioning development. She has been a co-investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education/Office of Special Education Programs. Her current projects include working with children and families impacted by the opioid crisis and investigating strategies to support graduate students with disabilities in their clinical training experiences.
Emily Buckley, MS, CCC-SLP, Director of Clincal Education
Buckley is a practicing speech-language pathologist with over 20 years of clinical experience in medical, educational, and early intervention settings. Emily has experience working with infants and children with feeding and swallowing disorders, multiple disabilities and autism, and adults with aphasia. Buckley has supervised professional teams, graduate student clinicians, and clinical fellows. Buckley’s interests include student supervision, pediatric communication disorders, and parent/caregiver counseling.
Sisan Cuervo, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Assistant Professor
Dr. Cuervo is an assistant professor and certified bilingual speech-language pathologist. She has practiced at a pediatric private clinic, various school settings, and as an early intervention provider for children with developmental delays. She has experience with childhood speech and language disorders and family centered care. As a Hispanic immigrant and first-generation scholar, Dr. Cuervo serves as a community liaison and advocate to support underrepresented communities.
Lauren Burke, MA, CCC-SLP, Simulation Coordinator / Instructor
A speech-language pathologist (SLP) for 15 years, Burke has cared for adults with speech, language, or swallowing disorders due to brain injury or stroke, patients with head and neck cancer, and patients with voice and upper airway needs. In her clinical roles, Burke has been involved in the development and leadership of new programs, extensive clinical supervision of graduate students, and using simulation to create meaningful learning experiences for SLP graduate students.
Heather Helinski, MSP, CCC-SLP, Instructor/Clinical Supervisor
Heather Helinski has served as a speech-language pathologist for more than 25 years, working with all ages in both medical and educational settings. For 16 years, she has also served as a school-based clinician for children in preschool through grade 12. Her passions revolve around early language and literacy skills, social communication, stuttering, and speech production issues. She has also supervised graduate clinicians and speech pathologists undertaking their clinical fellowships.
Wendy LeBorgne, Associate Professor
Dr. LeBorgne is an expert in the field of voice, voice disorders, and vocal athletes. Prior to joining the Mount, LeBorgne served as clinical director and voice pathologist at two private practice voice centers. She has authored textbook chapters, peer-reviewed articles, and, along with Marci Rosenberg, The Vocal Athlete. She has presented lectures and workshops, including her TED talk on Voice Branding™, around the world. LeBorgne is a member of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Health Care Economics Committee, serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Voice, and is the Vocal Health and Wellness Coordinator for the National Association of Teachers of Singing. LeBorgne is the CEO and owner of Dr. Wendy Voice, a premiere vocal athlete private concierge coaching and consulting firm.
Michelle León, PhD, CCC-SLP, Assistant Professor
Dr. León is a bilingual Spanish-English speech-language pathologist with ten years of clinical experience. She is passionate about bilingualism education and advocacy. Her research and clinical interests focus on bilingual language development and improving diagnostic and treatment outcomes for bilingual and bidialectal individuals. She works with children and families to support bilingual speech and language development, dispel myths, and promote native language use. She is dedicated to teaching students, supervising graduate clinicians, and efforts to better serve diverse populations and increase diversity within the field.
The Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
The Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences currently offers an undergraduate major in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (Pre-Speech-Language Pathology and Pre-Audiology). Eligible students also have the opportunity to complete a 3+2 program with the developing Master of Speech-Language Pathology. To learn more about what the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences has to offer, visit www.msj.edu/slhs.
