Sandra Petitt Aldrich, M.S. Educational Consultant Richmond, Virginia Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 1. Working with Families and Teams

Sandra Aldrich is an educational consultant whose primary interest is professional development.  As a former specialist at the Virginia Department of Education, she facilitated projects involving licensure for special education teachers and speech-language pathologists, initiated National Board Certification, and assisted in the development of the Virginia State Improvement Grant for Special Education.  Ms. Aldrich is a former administrator of programs for hearing impaired and autistic, a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, and a teacher of gifted and academically talented.  She currently chairs the Financial Aid Awards Program for the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Carolyn Brown, M.S., CCC-A / SLP, LSLS Cert. AVEd. Carolina Children's Communicative Disorders Program, Program Assistant for Development University of North Carolina Hospitals, Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 2. Speech Acoustics

From 1993 to 2009, Carolyn Brown served as Program Director for the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Team and the Carolina Children's Communicative Disorders Program (CCCDP) at the North Carolina Neurosciences Hospital.  As of 2009, she is currently CCCDP's Program Assistant for Development, and is an Assistant Professor in the UNC Department of Otolaryngology / Head & Neck Surgery.  Trained as both an Audiologist and Speech/Language Pathologist with over 25 years experience working with cochlear implants, she has been instrumental in building a model state-wide network of clinical and teaching professionals prepared to work with children who are developing spoken language with cochlear implants.

Laurie Cochenour, M.Ed., CED (former) Program Director, FIRST YEARS (current) E-Learning Policy Coordinator University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 1. Working with Families and Teams

Laurie obtained a BS in Deaf Education from Texas Tech University and a Masters in Early Intervention from Lewis and Clark College and Infant Hearing Resource in Portland, OR.  Employed by centers and schools in Texas, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, she has worked as a teacher of the deaf and as an early interventionist for more than 15 years. As an assistant professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC - Chapel Hill Laurie was Project Director for FIRST YEARS until summer of 2008.  Laurie is now E-Learning Policy Coordinator for UNC - CH.

Elizabeth B. Cole, Ed.D., CCC-A , LSLS Cert. AVT CREC Soundbridge, Director Wethersfield, CT  Course author/course facilitator: Course 3 - Basic Speech Acoustics (2004-2010)

Elizabeth Cole is presently Director of Soundbridge, a statewide (Connecticut) public school program that provides a wide variety of services to approximately 500 children with hearing loss (birth through secondary school) who are learning spoken language through audition.  Prior to coming to Connecticut in 1996, Dr. Cole was a professor at McGill University in Montreal for 16 years, where she taught acoustic phonetics, language, speech, and aural habilitation courses to students in the Auditory-Oral (Re-)Habilitation and Education of Hearing-Impaired Children (AORE) program, as well as audiology and speech-language pathology students.  Most of her published articles, chapters, and books have been focused on how to foster listening and spoken language development in young hearing-impaired children. Her most recent publication is the book Children with Hearing Loss: Developing Listening and Talking, Birth to Six (2nd ed., 2011), that she wrote with Carol Flexer.

Karen Erickson, Ph.D. Department of Allied Health Sciences, Yoder Distinguished Professor Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, Director University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 6. Emerging Literacy

Dr. Erickson is a UNC Faculty Engaged Scholar, a Professor and in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, and the current Director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  A former classroom teacher of children with multiple disabilities, Dr. Erickson's current research focuses on emergent and conventional literacy assessment and instruction for children with a broad range of developmental disabilities. One of her current projects is Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and ADA-accessible books on a wide range of topics.

Donald M. Goldberg,  Ph.D., CCC-SLP/A, FAAA, LSLS Cert. AVT Professor, Communication Studies and Communication Sciences and Disorders, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio Professional Consultant, Hearing Implant Program, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio Course co-facilitator: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey (2005 - present)

Donald M. Goldberg is Consultant, Professional Staff, Hearing Implant Program (HIP) at the Head and Neck Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio and, as of fall 2010, Full Professor at The College of Wooster. In addition, Dr. Goldberg was recently selected by the AG Bell Board of Directors as the association's President-Elect for the 2010-2012 term.  He serves on the Board of the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language, having served as President of the Academy from 2008-2010. Goldberg is a teacher, clinician, and researcher. He is the co-author of  the seminal text:  Educational Audiology for the Limited Hearing Infant and Preschooler:  An Auditory-Verbal Program (Pollack, Goldberg, and Caleffe-Schenck, 1997).

Judith Gravel, Ph.D.,  CCC-A (deceased) (former) Director, Center for Childhood Communication William P. Potsic Chair in Pediatric Otolaryngology and Childhood Communication The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia   Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 3. Audiology Interpretation

Dr. Judith Gravel was Director of the Center for Childhood Communication at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia  and Adjunct Professor of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Her primary interests were in behavioral audiologic assessment of infants and young, the effects of otitis media with effusion on child development, and early identification of hearing loss in neonates, infants, and young children. Dr. Gravel participated in numerous projects involved with the development and implementation of universal newborn hearing screening programs, both at the state level (Pennsylvania Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Board, New York State Department of Health Newborn Hearing Screening Demonstration Project) and national level (NIH-NICHD, NIH-NIDCD, ASHA, American Academy of Pediatrics). Representating ASHA, she chaired the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH), 2003-2005, contributing to the JCIH 2007 Position Statement. FIRST YEARS mourns her passing.

Gayla Hutsell Guignard, M.A., CCC-A/SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT  Indiana: EHDI, Program Director Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 5. Normal Aspects of Speech, Language and Auditory Development

Gayla Hutsell Guignard is Indiana's State Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program Director and a consultant with the National Center on Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM). Previously, she was the Chief Programs Officer at the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Washington, DC, and prior to that, a Supervisor/Instructor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in the Child Hearing Services program. She received her B.S. from Purdue University in 1987 and two M.A. degrees (Audiology-1988 and Speech-Language Pathology-1999) from the University of Tennessee. Gayla became a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist in 2003. Gayla's professional interests relate to systems change for children and their families, to formal family support mechanisms, and to maximizing the impact of early hearing detection and intervention on the life of a child. Gayla serves on a national EHDI-Part C Work Group that is working towards positive links between EHDI and Part C early intervention systems. Gayla is the current chair of ASHA's Division 9 (Hearing and Hearing Disoders in Childhood).

Melody Harrison, Ph.D.,CCC-SLP, CED Professor and Coordinator of Master's Studies Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course facilitator: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey (2003-2004)

Dr. Harrison is an associate professor of speech-language pathology in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her clinical and research interests include early intervention with children with hearing loss and working with the families of children with hearing loss. She is a recent recipient of the "Favorite Faculty Award," which is given annually by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Division of Student Affairs.

Deborah Hatton, Ph.D. Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Visual Impairments Program, Associate Professor Vanderbilt Peabody College, Department of Special Education, Nashville Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 1. Working with Families and Teams

Deborah Hatton currently leads the Visual Impairments Program at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. Prior to that position, she was Principal Investigator/Project Director at UNC-CH's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments. Her research interests and outreach projects focus on visual impairments and blindness, fragile X syndrome, and autism. She received her Ph.D. in early intervention/special education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995. Deborah also has a master's degree in visual disabilities from Florida State University and a bachelor's degree in education from Auburn University. Prior to receiving her Ph.D., she was an early interventionist in the area of visual impairment, a teacher of children with and without disabilities, an administrator of programs for young children with visual impairments and for children who are developing typically, and a consultant in the area of visual impairment and early childhood special education.

Heather Porter, AuD. Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences Vanderbilt University Course co-facilitator/author: Course 2 - Audiology Interpretation and Hearing Technologies (2009 - present) Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey

Heather Porter, AuD, manages the Pediatric Auditory Development Laboratory, at Vanderbilt University, where she is involved in both behavioral and neurophysiologic research projects.  She was trained in Deaf Education at Michigan State University and worked in the public school system in suburban Washington D.C.  She completed her AuD at Vanderbilt University, with a clinical externship at Boys Town National Research Hospital, and is now prusuing her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt.  The focus of her current research in pediatric audiology includes:  emotion recognition and Theory of Mind development, early-intervention setting comparison, and outcomes for children with minimal hearing loss.

Lyn Robertson, Ph.D. Department of Education, Associate Professor Alford Center for Service Learning, Director Denison University, Granville OH Course author/faciltator: Course 5 - Literacy Development in Young Children with Hearing Loss (2004 - present); co-facilitator (2012 - present)

Lyn Robertson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Denison University and, as of 2010, the Interim Director of the Alford Center for Service Learning. Coming from the field of reading and cognition, she is interested in literacy development in children who have learned language through the Auditory-Verbal approach. Dr. Robertson is on the Board of  Directors for the A.G. Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language.  Her latest textbook,  recently (2009) published by Plural Publishing, is Literacy and Deafness: Listening and Spoken Language.

Karen Rossi, M.A., CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd. Tucker-Maxon Oral School, Executive Director Portland, OR Course author/facilitator: Course 4 - Normal Aspects of Speech, Language and Auditory Development (2004-2008) Course contributor: Course 4 - Listening & Spoken Language Development & Intervention  (2009 - present)

Karen Rossi is the Executive Director of the Tucker-Maxon Oral School in Portland, Oregon. Previously, she was Executive Director at Omaha Hearing School for Children, a position she held from 1985-2009.  While in Nebraska, she was an instructor in the University of Nebraska at Omaha's master's program in special education. Lecturing nationally, Karen's work has focused on early childhood oral deaf education, with emphasis on the crucial role of families. She is the author of Learn To Talk Around The Clock: A Professional’s Early Intervention Toolbox (2003), Learn To Talk Around The Clock ® at Childcare (2007) and I Promise to Be a Good Parent (2008).

Patricia A. Roush, AuD. Pediatric Audiology Services, Director University of North Carolina Hospitals, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 4: Hearing Technologies

Patricia (Pat) Roush, AuD.,  has been a pediatric audiologist for over 20 years.  A graduate of the University of Iowa, she has worked with infants and young children at Henry Ford Hospital, Children's Hospital of Denver, Children’s Hospital of Boston, and Duke University Medical Center. She is currently an Associate Professor in the UNC School of Medicine, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. She directs the pediatric audiology program at UNC Hospitals where she specializes in working with newly identified infants and young children and their families.

Holly Fryauf-Bertschy Teagle, AuD. Carolina Childrens Communicative Disorders Program, Director UNC Department of Otolaryngology, Associate Professor  University of North Carolina Hospitals, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 4: Hearing Technologies Course author/co-facilitator: Course 2 - Audiology Interpretation and Hearing Technologies

Holly FB Teagle, a graduate of the Universities of Arkansas, Iowa and Florida, has been involved with clinical care and research in cochlear implants since 1986.   She currently is an Associate Professor in the UNC Department of Otolaryngology and is Director of the UNC Carolina Children's Communicative Disorders Program (CCCDP).  In addition to providing clinical services to children with cochlear implants, she is the primary investigator of the collaborative NIH  sponsored study, Childhood Development after Cochlear Implantation, and oversees clinical research within the CCCDP program.

Anne Marie Tharpe, Ph.D. Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Professor and Department Chair Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences Vanderbilt University Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 3:  Audiology Interpretation Course author/co-facilitator: Course 2 - Audiology Interpretation and Hearing Technologies (2004-2008)

Dr. Tharpe's clinical and research interests are in the area of pediatric audiology, specializing in three areas: 1) amplification for children with hearing loss (fitting strategies for infant hearing aids and the use of frequency modulated (FM) technology for children with minimal hearing loss); 2) auditory capabilities of special populations, including children with autism and children with deaf-blindness; and 3) the assessment and documentation of the changing auditory responsiveness of infants during the first year of life. Dr. Tharpe also serves as associate director of education for the National Center for Childhood Deafness and Family Communication within the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and is a research investigator with the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.

Ellen Thomas, M.A. CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT  University of Michigan Hearing Rehabilitation Center Ann Arbor MI Course co-facilitator: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey (2010 - present)

Ellen Thomas is senior speech-language pathologist at the University of Michigan Hearing Rehabilitation Center and serves on the University of Michigan cochlear implant team. In addition to supervising other speech-language pathologists, Ellen provides direct intervention to children with all degrees of hearing loss using the Auditory-Verbal approach.  Since 2004, she has worked on the Sound Support grant, a matching grant between the University of Michigan Department of Otolaryngology and Michigan Medicaid, which provides outreach throughout the state to bridge the medical and educational needs of children with hearing loss.  Ellen obtained her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville after completing a Bachelor's degree in German at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.  She has been AVT certified since 2000.

Sherri Vernelson, M.Ed., LSLS Cert. AVEd. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Education Consultant Raleigh NC Course author/co-facilitator: Course 4 - Listening & Spoken Language Development & Intervention  (2009 - present)

Sherri Vernelson has been teaching children with hearing loss since 1993, with a slight hiatus to have children of her own.  She has been an itinerant and a classroom teacher through the years.  Sherri has worked with children in Auditory Verbal, Auditory-Oral, and Cued Speech approaches.  She received her Master's degree from the John Tracy Clinic/University of San Diego Program and is an LSLS Certified Auditory-Verbal Educator.  Sherri currently works for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as an Education Consultant.

Beth Walker, M.Ed., CED, LSLS Cert AVT  Private Practice Dadeville, AL Course author/co-facilitator: Course 4 - Listening & Spoken Language Development & Intervention  (2009 - present) Course facilitator: Course 3 - Basic Speech Acoustics (2011 - present)

Beth Walker earned a Master's in Deaf Education and has been teaching and learning from deaf children and their parents for 30 years. She has used a variety of approaches including Auditory-Verbal, Oral, Cued Speech, and Total Communication in public school and private settings. She has trained and supervised speech and hearing professionals in public and private settings and taught as a college-level instructor. She has served as educational consultant to numerous programs in the U.S. and abroad. She is currently a practicing Auditory-Verbal therapist and educational consultant in private practice. Beth Walker was recently honored with the 2011 Daniel Ling Award for Outstanding Service. Presented by the NC Chapter of AG Bell and the Carolina Children's Communicative Disorders Program, the award recognizes professionals who have exhibited exceptional commitment and dedication to the education of children with hearing loss and their families in North Carolina.

Kathryn Wilson, M.A., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT Program Director, FIRST YEARS Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Course author: Course 1 - Special Topics in Speech and Hearing: A Survey - Unit 2. Speech Acoustics Course author: Course 4 - Listening & Spoken Language Development & Intervention  (2009 - present)

Kathryn Wilson is a Speech-Language Pathologist, Teacher of the Deaf and Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist, with 30 years of experience as an educator, therapist, and AVT consultant in public school, private practice, home-based, and clinical settings.  Kathryn is a former member of the Board of Directors for Auditory-Verbal International, Inc., and served as Co-chair of its Professional Education Committee. She also mentors professionals pursuing certification in Auditory-Verbal Practice. Prior to assuming the directorship of FIRST YEARS, Ms. Wilson was the Director of the Resource Support Program in the Office of Education Servicesfor the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Denise Wray, Ph.D., CCC-SLP LSLS Cert. AVT Professor, School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology University of Akron Co-faciltator: Course 5 - Literacy Development in Young Children with Hearing Loss (2012 - present)

Denise Wray received her M.A. in speech-language pathology and her Ph.D. in elementary education from the University of Akron where she has taught for 30 years. Prior to that, she was employed as a school speech-language pathologist. She is a LSL-certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist, has co-authored over 30 journal articles and numerous book chapters, and co-edited two editions of a book with audiologists Dr. Carol Flexer and Ron Leavitt entitled, How the Student with Hearing Loss Can Succeed in College. Dr. Wray is currently director of the early intervention Auditory-Verbal Clinic at the University of Akron's Audiology and Speech Center. Current research interests include the speech-language and literacy development of children with cochlear implants in the mainstream setting and their classroom performance. Wray was awarded Honors from the Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2006. In addition to teaching and supervision, Wray has co-directed two training grants that developed a specialty in hearing loss for speech-language pathology graduate students. One grant was a collaborative with the Ohio Department of Health focusing on developing auditory options for children birth-3 years of age and the second was a personnel preparation grant from the U.S. Department of Education.