Sabrina White
Author: Sabrina White | Major: Communication Disorders
In the Fall 2021 semester I continued progress on my ongoing research project, Assessment and Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: The Perspective of Current Speech-Language Pathologists. Alongside my mentor, Dr. Kimberly Frazier, we are in the process of developing an online survey. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast data from current speech-language pathologists in the United States on how they are assessing and treating CAS. The goal of this study is to reduce the amount of variability in childhood apraxia of speech and see if the data reveals new, helpful information.
The idea for this research stemmed from an experience I had a few years ago and was organized in Dr. Glade’s Intro to Honors CDIS Thesis Tutorial course. I worked as a teacher’s assistant in an elementary school and had a student with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. It was amazing to see progress over years of speech therapy. It was part of why I wanted to study communication sciences and disorders in the first place. My curiosity of CAS was exactly why I began this research. Dr. Glade introduced me to Dr. Frazier and we began this project in Spring of 2021.
Dr. Frazier helped me immensely in formulating my idea into a full project. She guided me through the process of seeking funding. I am so thankful to her and the Honors College as I was awarded an Honors Grant. This has led me to Fall of 2021 where the project was able to go from a hopeful idea to a real study.
This past semester we worked to correct and perfect my survey. This semester was all about preparation. I worked on my writing and started to compile it onto Qualtrics, where the survey will eventually be sent. The greatest challenge I have faced so far has been COVID and the affects of the pandemic on research. All of my work has been throughout 2021 and it has limited possibilities. The entire project is online and all communication has happened virtually. I feel this has delayed progress and affected the potential of the survey. I am still confident moving forward, but have had to adjust along the way due to the changing nature of the world today.
I am graduating in May of 2022 and will be completing my project this upcoming semester. With the help of my mentor, I have big plans for the next few months. Soon we will seek SLP’s and use the Honors Grant funding to incentivize participation for substantial data collection. Once we have received adequate responses on the survey the information will be sorted through. New findings or successful treatment techniques will be noted. The findings of the project will then be documented and presented.
The Honors College Research Grant has led me to some amazing opportunities. I am fascinated by the field of speech pathology and have loved the chance to further understand it. I am hopeful for the future of this research and am looking forward to the information which could be produced from this survey. I hope to make an impact and encourage others to pursue what they are passionate about through research as well.