Communicative Disorders Ph.D. Students and Professors Win ASHA Award

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention Program Committee has selected a Poster Presentation by Monica Kaniamattan (Ph.D. Student), Evra Gunhan (Ph.D. Graduate), Dr. Judith Oxley, and Dr. Jack Damico of the UL Lafayette Communicative Disorders Department to receive Meritorious Poster Submission recognition. The poster presentation is titled " Translation Issues in Qualitative Research: Reflection From Parental Interviews of Children with Autism From India and Turkey." Both Kaniamattan and Gunhan have gathered in-depth interviews of parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in India and Turkey respectively as part of their dissertation research. How parents use words and phrases in their first language must be carefully translated into English so that readers will grasp the parents' intended meaning. This poster presentation identifies a selection of concepts that could easily be mistranslated, with potentially unintended consequences to service delivery. According to Dr. Oxley, it is the hope of the authors that "this research will contribute to knowledge that enables professionals to better serve an increasingly multilingual community."

The Convention Program Committee reviewed 1901 poster submissions and selected only 48 posters to receive meritorious recognition based on extraordinary, exceptional, and innovative work. Kaniamattan, Gunhan, Oxley, and Damico will receive recognition at the annual ASHA convention. This year, the annual ASHA convention will take place on November 17-19 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each year, the convention brings together individuals in the field of speech, language, and hearing sciences to hear the latest research and gain new skills and resources to further their careers. Additional faculty and students from the Communicative Disorders department at UL Lafayette will also be attending and presenting at this event.