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Speech Language Pathology Professors and Special Education Professor at UMass-Amherst prevail in DOE training and research-to-practice grants.

 

Drs. Mary Andrianopoulos, Elena Zaretsky, Shelley Velleman and Patricia Mercaitis in the Speech Language Pathology (SLP) program (School of Public Health and Health Sciences), and Mary Lynn Boscardin (Special Education Concentration, SPED, School of Education), have just been informed that their 2nd U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Personnel Preparation Grant 84.325K in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has been funded a total of $796,809.00 for a four-year period.


This brings the total amount of money brought in by these specific SLP faculty in Communication Disorders in conjunction with Dr.Boscardin (from SPED) from U.S. Department of Education grants in the past five years to a total of$2,329,642.00. These faculty were funded thanks to their significant contributions to the professions and empirical research.                                                                                                                                                                                                        Dr. Mary Andrianopoulos

The two Autism Personnel Preparation grants together will have supported 48 master's students in Speech-Language Pathology between 2005 and 2013. The U.S. DOE Leadership grant will support 5-7 Speech-Language Pathology doctoral students planning to major in topics related to SLP with a minor in Special Education between 2009 and 2013 years. Both grants allow the SLP concentration in Communication Disorders to attract and recruit higher-caliber students to the department, and also to enhance their national reputation as a program. The 2008 U.S. News and World Reports ranked the Speech-Language Pathology Program in the Department of Communication Disorder sat UMass-Amherst in the top 30 graduate programs in the country. Moreover, the SPED Concentration at UMass-Amherst was ranked in the top 50 programs nationally.
                                                          
                                                                                                             Dr. Elena Zaretsky

The autism training grants also provide strong support for the Communication Department's service mission, as they increase and improve the clinical services for people with autism in the Center for Language, Speech and Hearing (CLSH). The CLSH is an on-campus
graduate teaching clinic which provides assessment and treatment services to individuals in the Pioneer Valley and across New England.The SLP professors and grant-related supervisors also send their highly qualified practicum students to carry out graduate internships in local area schools, early intervention programs, and other acute care and rehabilitation agencies; they also contribute to community awareness and support for families with children with autism spectrum disorders.                                                                                         
            

                                                                                                               Dr. Shelley Velleman

In addition, the autism training grants enhance and support the current research focus in the SLP program within the Department of Communication Disorders with respect to neurodevelopmental communication and motor speech disorders as well as literacy development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Graduate students supported by the grant carry out cutting-edge research projects and as members of the autism community, including school systems, learn about their work and volunteer to assist in the research endeavors of Drs. Andrianopoulos, Zaretsky, Velleman, Mercaitis, and Boscardin. This team of nationally and internationally renowned faculty also network and collaborate with other autism specialists in the Pioneer Valley and across the state, as well as in other countries, including Greece, Morocco,India, and South Africa.

                                                                                                              Dr. Patricia Mercaitis

The U.S. DOE Leadership grant will assist in decreasing a critical shortage of speech-language pathology Ph.D.'s in this country.It will also further the UMass-Amherst SLP program's research mission, as an increased number of full-time speech-language pathology doctoral students initially serve as research assistants to grant-affiliated faculty, and then go on to develop their own research programs. In addition to contributing to the next generation of research scientists and faculty in Institutes of Higher Education, doctoral students will conduct empirically-based research to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficacy, or lack of, various remedial approaches to manage and educate individuals with communicative disabilities, including ASD.

                                                                                                           
                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                      Dr. Mary Lynn Boscardin

For more information, please contact Mary Andrianopoulos at 413-545-0551 or mva@comdis.umass.edu