SLP students, faculty attend MSHA conference
A team of Mississippi University for Women speech-language pathology students emerged victorious recently, beating out teams of students from universities across Mississippi in the Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association (MSHA) Praxis Bowl at the annual conference, held in Flowood.
The Praxis Bowl is a trivia competition which pits teams of Mississippi university students against one another testing their knowledge and also featuring real Praxis exam questions. The Praxis-SLP is an exam which tests a student’s foundational knowledge and clinical skills. Passing the exam is a requirement for certification by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association as well as for licensure in Mississippi.
“These events are important to students in that they provide students opportunities to become more knowledgeable and engage in leadership and scholarship at the professional level,” said Dr. Hunter Manasco, graduate program director and professor of speech-language pathology. “This year our students assisted in presenting professors’ research, presented their own research, attended sessions where they learned new information and attended review sessions for the Praxis-SLP which is their national boards.”
A cohort of both graduate and undergraduate students, 35 in total, attended the conference with some participating in presentations and other activities. They were given the opportunity to network with other students and professionals in the field as well.
Three W faculty also attended the conference.
Katelyn Black, a second-year graduate student was the recipient of the Outstanding Clinician Award, one of the three Honors of the Association awards presented at each year’s conference.
Manasco and second-year graduate student Grayci Brantley presented a poster titled, “A modified VNeST approach for treatment of Apraxia of Speech.”
Dr. Jianwen Crump, Manasco and second-year graduate student Addyson Olive presented the poster, “Deficits and recovery following a late left childhood hemispherectomy.”
Crump presented a solo poster titled “Improving Clinical Competence in Medical Settings with High Fidelity Simulations.”
The final poster was created by first-year graduate student Katherine Marsh along with Dr. Catherine Cotton, and it was titled “Exploring Vocal Hygiene Education Across Three Disciplines.”
Presentations included: “Mindfulness Awareness of Undergraduate SLP Students,” by Cotton and Latasha Latham; “In ____ We Trust: Excluding/Including Cultural Religious Beliefs in Intervention,” by Cotton; and “SLPs Perception of Preparedness with Behavior Management Across Clinical Settings,” by Crump.
About Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association
MSHA is the statewide professional organization for its members and affiliates who are speech-language pathologists, audiologists, parents/caregivers, support personnel and students. The overall mission of the MSHA is to support audiologists and speech-language pathologists in Mississippi by providing resources, information and professional/continuing educational development opportunities; promote the highest ethical and professional standards; and advocate for legislation and regulation necessary for members to provide quality care for individuals with communication, hearing, balance and swallowing disorders.