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News and Events

November 2022

CSD’s ASL faculty member, Dr. Tina Childress, provided several professional development sessions for faculty, students & staff on working with members of the Deaf/deaf community. This included training on how to work with interpreters, how to effectively use technology in clinical settings and the classroom, and conversational etiquette to help make meetings easier to navigate for people with communication impairments.  

CSD STRIDE hosted an Admissions Open House for prospective students who are first generation and from minority backgrounds. This meeting was held on Zoom on November 17, 2022 at 6 PM (CST). Contact Ebony Berry or Alise Holloway for more information.

October 2022

CSD STRIDE hosted a presentation on Spanish-English Bilingualism in honor of Hispanic Heritage month. 

CSD’s NSSLHA chapter hosted a presentation from CSD alumna, Alexis Jones, speech language pathologist and owner of Adaptive Accents. Ms. Jones, who is a member of the Gullah Geechee community, created her business to ‘increase awareness regarding the importance of effective communication, as it relates to accents and dialects, and provide services to under-represented populations. It is her mission to educate clients and the world that accents and dialects are not deficient – they are simply different.’

September 2022

CSD hosted a Family Voices of Tennessee Event featuring Marvin Miller of the Deafhood Foundation. Mr. Miller is a third-generation Deaf man with Deaf children of his own; a published author, educator, & Deaf historian/scholar. As an experienced public speaker, Mr. Miller shared insights into Deaf values and reframing how Deaf people are viewed by Service Providers due to intersectional bias, audism, or lack of cultural understanding.

CSD’s ASL faculty host bi-weekly ASL language and culture lessons for faculty & staff. Through the fall semester, members of our ASL program faculty have been hosting ASL lessons for faculty & staff. Thus far, they have worked on learning the alphabet, a significant number of words and counting as well as cultural etiquette around turn-taking etc.

August 2022

CSD STRIDE (Students to Raise Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity) formed
A group of CSD students, with support from Dr. Sandy Banks, created a DEI student group to ‘be a welcoming and inclusive group, providing support to all members of the Memphis CSD community with a focus on celebrating differences, expressing oneself with creativity, and inclusion of all persons regardless of race, creed, or culture.’ 

CSD began offering a B.A. in American Sign Language & Deaf Studies. Graduates with this major will have:

  • have functional skills in American Sign Language, including use and comprehension of the language in a variety of settings;
  • understand the history and culture of the Deaf; 
  • demonstrate fundamental understanding of communication science; and 
  • advocate on behalf of those with communication differences.

June 2022

Memphis Pride Festival 

Seventeen of our faculty, staff and students hosted a booth at the Memphis Pride Festival. They presented information about MSHC’s Gender Affirming Voice Therapy services and passed out water to Pride participants. 

February 2022

CSD Schoolwide DEI Training

CSD Memphis hosted a school-wide DEI training led by faculty and staff from the Student Counseling Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The training featured a presentation on microaggressions followed by group discussions to generate ideas about how to confront and respond to microaggressions in the classroom and in clinical settings.

52nd Mid-South Conference on Communicative Disorders

Our NSSLHA chapter hosted the 52nd Mid-South Conference on Communicative Disorders in late February. This year’s conference featured a variety of DEI related talks including:

  • Cutting Edge Strategies to Develop Independent Executive Function Skills
  • Basic American Sign Language & Deaf Culture for SLPs & AuDs (offered by a CSD ASL faculty member)
  • Culturally Responsive and Evidence-Based Evaluations: SLAM Language Elicitation and Analysis
  • From One Horse’s Mouth: Thoughts on ASD in Clinical Practice (presented by a current MA student)
  • Speaking the Alphabet: Providing inclusive and informed LGBTQ+ healthcare (presented by an alum of our AuD program)

January 2022

Executive Function Support Group

In January 2022, two of our MSHC Clinicians, Justine Springs and Katherine Mendez, created an Executive Function Support Group to offer services to neurodivergent CSD graduate students. See our article from the Spring 22 newsletter for more information about their efforts.