Campus News Society & Culture

UGA hosts Communication Sciences and Special Education Summer Institute June 13-15

Athens, Ga. – Almost 200 speech language pathologists, audiologists, educators and students from across the state will hear the latest research and best practices in their fields at the University of Georgia’s fourth annual Communication Sciences and Special Education Summer Institute at the UGA Hotel and Conference Center at the Georgia Center June 13-15.

Participants will gain insights, strategies and knowledge related to the topics of behavior management, current issues in educational law, Individualized Education Program compliance, assistive technology, brain-based education, and spelling instruction and intervention. A pre-conference program will be held prior to the event on June 13.

The Summer Institute will feature three keynote speakers: William Jenson, Carolyn Philips and Kenn Apel.

Jenson is a nationally known author, researcher and professor in the educational psychology department at the University of Utah. His research interests include behavioral interventions for tough children, parent training, generalization of treatment effects and autism. He directed the Adolescent Residential Unit in Las Vega, Nev., and the Children’s Behavior Therapy Unit for Salt Lake Mental Health. CBTU is a day hospital program for severely emotionally disturbed and autistic children. Jenson has authored and coauthored more than 100 articles, chapters and books, including The Tough Kid series.

Phillips is a nationally recognized consultant in the field of assistive technology, advocacy and self-determination and is director of Georgia Tools for Life. She provides consultation for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Human Services, and to colleagues, business owners, students, attorneys and others professional groups. Phillips has owned her own consulting and executive coaching company, Phillips Consulting, for 11 years. She also is a licensed clinical social worker in Portland, Ore.

Apel, a professor and director in the school of communication science and disorder at Florida State University, is a distinguished researcher on the underlying linguistic components that support the development of reading and spelling. He also leads the Research on Orthographic Learning Laboratory, or ROLL, graduate and doctoral program at FSU. ROLL offers students an opportunity to learn how to develop research questions, practice critiquing scholarly works, obtain permission to conduct studies, and to analyze and present data. His research interests include literacy development and disorders, orthographic processing and the effects of morphological awareness on reading and spelling. Apel also holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech language pathology.

The College of Education’s department of communication sciences and special education sponsors the summer institute. The registration deadline is May 30. For costs and details on the pre-conference and Summer Institute, see http://www.coe.uga.edu/cssesummer/.