Headshot of Ashlyn Carter
Author: Ashlyn Carter | Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders | Spring 2023
My name is Ashlyn Carter, and I am a junior honors student at the University of Arkansas. My major is Communication Sciences and Disorders and I’m in the College of Education and Health Professions. My mentor, Dr. Kimberly Frazier, is a long-time professor in the COEHP department.
My research thesis is called “Foster Parents’ Knowledge of Speech and Language Disorders”. I am researching the information and knowledge that foster parents have of signs, delays, and issues that coincide with a speech disorder. I’m working to find what information these parents lack and how capable they are of getting their children the therapy and help that they need. I am surveying them to see what areas they need to learn more about and how someone can improve the training that foster parents go through in order to better equip them to acknowledge and work through their foster children’s needs.
In searching for a topic for my research thesis, I explored many options. However, this topic was the one that truly piqued my interest. I have grown up seeing foster children come into my home and have a lot of experience with what they go through and the many challenges that come along with foster care. During the 2022 spring semester, I took CDIS 3901H, the Honors CDIS Thesis Tutorial course that prepares sophomores to begin working on their theses. During this course, I talked through my thesis ideas with Dr. Glade, and she encouraged me to work with the passion I have for foster care in order to make a project I truly care about. She recommended that I reach out to Dr. Frazier and ask her to be my honors mentor throughout this project. When I met, with Dr. Frazier, we began brainstorming and came up with the idea I am working with now.
During my research this semester, I have mostly worked to create question options, submit forms for approval, and prepare to do in-person surveying and research next semester. I plan on attending sessions next semester to give my questionnaire to current and future foster parents and conduct my research. This summer, I will finish the small details and literature review in order to be completely prepared for the semester and finish my project entirely.
My faculty mentor, Dr. Kimberly Frazier, has helped me come up with useful questions to achieve the gathering of all the information I need for this thesis. She worked with me to create a title, plan a schedule, and prepare to complete this project in the time I have.
During the summer and leading into the fall semester, I plan on preparing for the conduction of research and the potential presenting and sharing of this project. I will finish all of the small details of the research and preparation. I am very excited about where this thesis is going to lead me and have already learned a lot through research and time spent on this topic. Foster children are placed into a situation where they go through so many difficulties, and if this can help to raise awareness and help with one of the issues they face, it is something I definitely want to work on.