Founded in 1977, LinguiSystems was the first company to be founded and operated by speech-language pathologists. According to their website, they "vowed to always have the products you need and the tests you want, to guarantee them forever, and to give you the service you deserve".

Ever since, their "mission has been to provide innovative, effective, affordable, and therapeutically-sound materials for speech-language pathologists", including:

* authors who are experts in their field
* speech pathology editorial staff
* design experts who understand the needs of the youngest and oldest client
* field-tested and research-based content

In addition to a variety of products that help educate professionals and prepare them for exams, they offer
FREE Online Continuing Education courses. Course topics include attention disorders, evidence-based practice, intervention strategies for ELL, and courses on a variety of disorders. They also have free material samples and demos for downloading. Have you taken advantage of their free CEU's? If so, sign in and tell us about it at the bottom of this blog.

For more information on LinguiSystems free CEUs go to http://www.linguisystems.com/ceu_intro.php

On January 29-30, the 2010 Metro Speech-Language Symposium Conference, titled Partners in Progress, will be held in Littleton, Colorado at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows.

Keynote Speakers this year include Drs, Roanne and Alejandro Brice and Dr. Diane Frome Loeb. The Keynote presentation will cover intervention strategies for ELL students as well as school-aged language interventions. The new Colorado Severity Rating Scale will also be presented.

For more information visit http://www.metrospeechlanguagenetwork.org/HTML/conference.html or call 1-800-686-2767 (toll free) or 303-925-0004

Metro Speech Language Network's general website is http://www.metrospeechlanguagenetwork.org

Altruism within?

According to an article By NICHOLAS WADE, published November 30, 2009 in the NY Times, children might be altrusitc by Nature.

The somewhat surprising answer at which some biologists have arrived is that babies are innately sociable and helpful to others. Of course every animal must to some extent be selfish to survive. But the biologists also see in humans a natural willingness to help.

Michael Tomasello expands upon this theory in his book “Why We Cooperate,” published in October. Dr. Tomasello, a developmental psychologist, is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Tomasello finds the helping is not enhanced by rewards, suggesting that it is not influenced by training. It seems to occur across cultures that have different timetables for teaching social rules. And helping behavior can even be seen in infant chimpanzees under the right experimental conditions.

“It’s probably safe to assume that they haven’t been explicitly and directly taught to do this,” said Elizabeth Spelke, a developmental psychologist at Harvard. “On the other hand, they’ve had lots of opportunities to experience acts of helping by others. I think the jury is out on the innateness question.”

For full article see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01human.html?_r=1&ref=educatio...

ASHA Convention Program Cover '09

After a return to New Orleans as convention central, ASHA is winding down their 2009 convention with final sessions and celebrations. As usual, a strong program was scheduled and included The Katharine G. Butler Symposium, sponsored by the Specialty Board on Child Language Advances in Research, titled Identification and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Young Children, ASHA fund rasiers, and special NSSLA "Knowledge Bowls" with prizes. For details, see the following website and watch for the 2009 session archives to be added as they become electronically available. http://www.asha.org/events/convention/

Kathe Perez,'86 blogged about her experience at ASHA this year. Read it at http://katheperez.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-orleans-is-loud.html
We'd love to hear about other alumni experience at the convention. Just log in and add your comment below.

Since January, 2007 ASHA has maintained a YouTube Channel where they post videos pertaining to the field. As of Oct. 20, 2008, the main video posting was a welcome to the 2009 ASHA convention in New Orleans to be held November 19-21 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (see video below)

To access the ASHAWeb YouTube website go to:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ASHAWeb

Do you have an excellent overview of the SLP field or...have you just finished your exit exams and want to share your expansive knowledge while it's fresh? Wikipedia, the amazing "peoples" internet encyclopedia which is developed by users has a page on Speech and Language Pathology. Unfortunately, it's incomplete. They state; "This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can." Would be a great project for graduate students! Here's the website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_and_language_pathology

How Wikipedia (pronounced /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/ or /ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə/)sees itself: It is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based mostly on anonymous contributions. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative Web site) and encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About

In a letter from the developers they releal that "330 million people use Wikipedia every month, making it the world's most frequently used online knowledge resource. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have built and maintained the different Wikimedia projects in the last eight years." See the full letter calling for experts and planner at:
http://volunteer.wikimedia.org/

Photos from Autism Votes Flyer

Autism Speaks has a Major Ad Campaign Aimed at Urging Congressional Support for Autism Insurance Reform. The Autism Treatment Acceleration Act (ATAA) is under consideration in the U.S. Senate.

Legislation to cover autism treatment has been considered and passed in many states. RDI Connect is also encouraging involvement and states that "the legislation mandates insurance coverage for behavioral treatments for autism, but does not specify coverage for other valuable, evidence-based interventions, including the category of cognitive-developmental interventions". RDI connect writes, "The ATAA currently is being considered for 'markups' (language changes) by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. During this time there is something that we can do to make an impact. Members of the Championing RDI group have put together a petition that can be accessed by anyone online, http://www.petitiononline.com/RDI4US/petition.html. The petition includes a wonderful document citing the evidence for RDI practices. The signature section has a place for brief comments, where each signer can add a few words from the heart." They enourage you to "take the time to look at the petition, read the comments and then add some of your own!"

For further ATAA history, fact sheet, legislative contacts, and a flyer you can download, see the Autism Votes website below:

http://www.autismvotes.org/site/c.frKNI3PCImE/b.4784269/k.C0E5/ATAA.htm

See past article we did with RDI Co-Director Dr. Rachelle Sheeley. http://www.speechlanguagepractice.org/?q=node/118

RDI's newest publication, 2009

RDI Connect announces that "After four years of research and development, the RDI Program has evolved into RDIConnect, a company with a series of programs not only for individuals diagnosed with ASD, but for other populations as well. Along with a Consultant Training program, RDIConnect now offers the Family Guided Participation Program, Dynamic Education Program and the RDI Program for ASD, each accompanied by tools that help organize, expedite and create a continuous dialogue between professional and parent. RDIConnect is thrilled to apply the quality assurance, level of treatment and training that has been central to our internationally known program and apply it to a new audience." They invite you to visit the new website at: www.rdiconnect.com.

Scene from Adam/Fox Searchlight Pictures

This movie Adam billed as A Story about Two Strangers: One a little Stranger Than the Other could serve as an excellent teaching & discussion tool for SLPs. Is the characterization realistic? Is there humor in the affliction? Do Adults need continued intervention? These are but a few questions that could be raised regarding the fictional portrayal.

See details on film in our latest entry in our SLP and the Arts section. Go to: http://www.speechlanguagepractice.org/?q=node/32

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association has announced that My CU Network has been renamed to the Forever Buffs Network having undergone a major redesign to help support the Forever Buffs initiative. Other key changes were outlined in an e-mail sent to alumni which include:

>An improved community experience that makes it easier for you to find what you are looking for
>A smarter and more user-friendly, tab-driven top navigation
>Real-time feeds of class notes and upcoming Alumni Association events on your My Profile page
>Online event registration for Alumni Associaiton events
>E-mail tools are centralized in one place:
>Update your e-mail address
>Check your e-mail status
>Set up or edit your forwarding e-mail address
>Identify how you want to hear from CU

The Alumni Association encourages you to "become part of our new online Ask a Buff program where you can help change another Buff's career path by providing professional and relocation advice to alumni and students through e-mails and/or phone calls."

If you become an Ask a Buff expert in the Forever Buffs Network and get five other alums to do the same, you could win some cool CU Nike gear! Once they have done this, send me their full names by Oct. 15 to be entered into the drawing. Go to: http://www.foreverbuffsnetwork.org/