Student Research

 Jeff Gierer, 2010.

Children in poverty:  Current SLP practices and future directions. Master’s Project (in progress).

Jeff is a 2nd-year graduate student at PSU, aspiring school-based clinician and freelance graphic designer. For the past eight years, Jeff has worked in anti-poverty, youth-serving nonprofits in direct service, volunteer management, and development. Most recently, Jeff worked in development for Stroke Camp Northwest(www.strokecampnorthwest.org), a program that provides supported communication strategies for persons living with aphasia and their loved ones along with outdoor recreational opportunities. Jeff lives in Portland with his partner, their cat and 50,000 honeybees.

 Emily Snyder, 2010.

A comparison of single word identification, connected speech samples, and imitated sentence tasks for assessment of children with SSD. Master’s Thesis (in progress).

 Elsa Dawson, 2010.

A survey of SLPs and current assessment and treatment practices for children with autism and suspected CAS. Master’s Thesis (in progress).

Elsa grew up in Canby, OR and graduated from Concordia University in Portland, OR with a B.A. in psychology in 2005.  Before entering the master's program at PSU, Elsa worked for three years as an ABA therapist for children with autism.  Elsa is currently a 2nd year master's student and, when she graduates, plans to continue to specialize in the area of autism. Elsa lives in West Linn with her husband and their two dogs- a Border Collie named Cooper and a Great Dane named Titus.

Matthew Olson, 2009.

Speech intelligibility in typically developing English-speaking preschoolers. Master’s Thesis (in progress).

  Brooke Powers, 2009.

Typical and atypical speech sound development for Spanish preschoolers: Establishing local norms. Master's Thesis (in progress).

Rain Daniel, 2009.

Efficacy of integral stimulation therapy. Master’s Project (in progress).

Lynn Keating, 2009.

Changes over time in cross-linguistic influences of Spanish on English in sequential bilingual preschoolers. Master’s Thesis.

  Denice Edeal, 2008. 

Integral stimulation deconstructed: A treatment efficacy study for Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  Master’s Thesis.

Integral stimulation deconstructed. Poster presentation at the annual American Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

Before becoming an SLP, Denice earned a B.A. in Music from Northwestern University. She lived & worked in Chicago for 10 years before moving back to Oregon. Denice completed her CFY with the Multnomah Early Childhood Program serving children 3-5 in their natural environments. She is currently working for Evergreen School District in Vancouver, WA. She is writing an article for publication with Dr. Gildersleeve-Neumann based on the results of her thesis and would love to become involved in more research projects in the future.

Monte Bassow, 2008.

Efficacious therapy for Spanish-English children with communication disorders. Master’s Special Project.

Mark Canty, 2008.

Developing a study guide for speech and hearing sciences students. Master’s Special Project.

Sara Checkal. 2008.

An acoustic study of vowel development in Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers. Master’s Special Project.

Jennifer Weber, 2007.

Voice onset time of initial stops and /s/+stop consonant clusters in ENglish-speaking adults and 4-year-old children. Master's Thesis.

Hillary Koning. 2006.

Working with English language learners: A survey of speech-language pathologists in the Oregon public schools. Master’s Special Project.

Hillary was born and raised in California and attended Willamette University for her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Spanish. She currently works as an SLP at The Hearing and Speech Institute in Portland, where she specializes in working with bilingual families and children with literacy difficulties.  Hillary lives in the Portland are with her husband and her energetic Australian shepherd, Kodi.  Her family will be growing very soon - Hillary is experting her first child, a little baby girl, in June 2009!

Hilary Donovan, 2005

Bilingual speech development in sequential bilingual Spanish-English children aged 3-4 years. Master’s Thesis.

Anita Jensen, 2005.

Effects of integral stimulation therapy on speech intelligibility of a child diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Master's Thesis.

Effects of integral stimulation for a child with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Poster presentation at the annual American Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference, San Diego, California.

Christina Rowe, 2005.

Principles and possibilities: Cognitive motor learning, treatment tools, and developmental motor speech disorders. Master's Special Project.

     Christina entered the department as a post baccalaureate student with a degree in psychology. Upon graduating from PSU she worked in Florida for 2 years providing SLP services for children from ages 1-14 in a private practice setting and in a variety of schools. She returned to Portland  in 2007 and currently works with young adults attending Portland Public School's transition program. She enjoys spending her free time making her own soap, cooking and light hiking. She lives in SW Portland with her husband.

Jennifer Stertzbach, 2005.

Parent report as a screening tool of speech disorders in Spanish-speaking preschool children. Master's Special Project.

Parent report as a screening tool of speech disorders in Spanish-speaking preschool children. Technical presentation at the annual American Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference, San Diego, California.

Jennifer grew up speaking Greek & English at home while learning to read, write, & speak French at an immersion school in Denver, Colorado. She studied French as well as Spanish throughout her academic career. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1997 with a BA in Geography and a minor in French. She taught English as a second language and Spanish in Aspen before relocating to Portland. She received an MA in SLP from PSU in 2005, and was awarded the ASHA Student Travel Award to present her master's project at ASHA's annual conference. Currently she lives in Arizona with her husband and son, and works in a private practice.

Kira Wright, 2005.

Typical phonological development in English: Effects of a bilingual Russian/English language environment. Master's Thesis.

English speech sound development: Effects of a Russian-English environment. Poster presentation at the annual American Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference, San Diego, California.

Before coming to PSU, Kira lived and worked in Russia and then, upon moving to Portland, worked with Russian-speaking refugees at a non-profit resettlement agency. She believes that in supporting the weakest among us, we all benefit - both those who are enabled to tell their stories, and those who are able to hear them. She lives this mission as an SLP with local Portland agency SLP Service, where she works part-time in the public schools and part-time observing and supporting other contractors. Her husband and 2 children keep her happy and busy, and in her spare time she enjoys knitting, gardening, running, and studying Chinese and Spanish.

Christine Gimpel, 2004.

A qualitative approach to understanding the cultural view of speech and language disorders and the role of language therapists in Ecuador. Master's Thesis.

Megan Costello, 2003.

Application of oral motor strategies in the treatment of functional speech disorder.  Master's Thesis.