Shuffling in Orlando Again - (after 12/15/2014) w/ tourist advice from M. Elwer

The Orlando Shuffle: Reflections from ASHA 2014

Here I am again—at the 2014 ASHA Convention in Orlando. And like every year, I asked myself the same questions before stepping into the chaos: Why am I here? What do I hope to gain? After more than three decades in the field of speech-language pathology, what could another convention possibly offer? Turns out, quite a lot.

Convention Logistics: A Florida Adventure Let’s talk logistics. The Orange County Convention Center is massive and rooted firmly in Florida’s car culture. Unless you had the luxury of a hotel connected by footbridge or shuttle, you were commuting through messy morning traffic. Luckily, I wasn’t driving. As the Convention Center rose from the swampy landscape, I reached into my canvas bag for the essentials: 🪪 Badge, 📝 legal pad, 📘 program guide, 🍫 high-energy snacks. The car screeched to a stop, and I launched out like a Navy SEAL, dodging badge-laden attendees and coffee-toting colleagues.

Dodging the Herd: A Sport Unto Itself Every hallway was a stream of SLPs hustling to their next session, like some professional obstacle course. I credit my Chicago Loop speed-walking days for helping me weave through the crowd without collision. “Whoops—sorry!” became my unofficial mantra. But along with the near-misses came friendly faces and spontaneous reunions. The buzz was electric.

Why Still Go? What’s Left to Learn? My first ASHA Convention was back in 1974 in Las Vegas. ASHA hasn’t returned to that city since, but I’ve kept returning to the Convention. Why? Because no matter how long you’ve practiced, the learning never stops. Clinical Highlights: What Caught My Eye ✅ Life Participation for Aphasia Clients with aphasia can and should participate fully in life—book clubs, tech classes, community activities. We’re no longer just treating deficits; we’re supporting life engagement. ✅ Surface EMG for Dysphagia This biofeedback tool provides real-time data during swallow therapy. Both clinician and client can see immediate progress, making treatment more efficient and motivating. ✅ Medicare Changes for SGDs New policies may prevent users from accessing unlocked speech-generating devices. That’s not just a technical issue—it’s a major threat to quality of life for many.

Why This Isn’t a Data Dump This is a blog, not a lecture summary. I’m here to share impressions, not statistics. The Convention is more than CEUs—it’s about connection, reflection, and passion for our profession. The energy in those rooms is something you can’t quite quantify—but it fuels your work for the rest of the year. The People, the Parties, the Pulse of the Profession ASHA is our annual reunion—a gathering of the SLP “clan.” Over time, some traditions have shifted: • 📢 The keynote now opens the conference with no competing sessions. • 🥪 Boxed lunches are now an option. • 🎓 University open houses have shrunk. • 💃 The beloved Convention dance? Gone. But even with the changes, the sense of purpose and community remains stronger than ever.

Why I’ll Keep Coming Back ASHA isn’t just work—it’s my annual vacation, recharge, and professional growth window. Over the years, I’ve presented on topics ranging from aphasia pharmacotherapy to swallow screenings and even horticulture therapy. Every November, that same canvas bag gets packed. And I show up.

Communication Fitness - Redux (revised from April 23, 2017) w/ M. Elwer

Communication Fitness: A Fun Guide to Staying Sharp Good morning, and thank you for joining us today! Each month, we offer community talks on staying healthy—and this time, we're diving into something you might not think about often: keeping your communication and swallowing skills strong. Before we go further—quick show of hands: Can everyone hear and understand me okay? Great! That check-in is actually a perfect example of what we’re talking about today—being mindful of how we connect and communicate.

Why Prevention Matters Just like you hit the gym or eat healthier to stay fit, you can also take steps to prevent problems with speaking, understanding, and swallowing. No doctor’s prescription needed—just smart, simple habits you can work into daily life. Simple Daily Habits That Help Primary prevention is about reducing your risk before a problem starts. Here are some fun ways to keep your voice and swallowing muscles strong: - Sing your favorite songs—yes, even in the shower! - Blow bubbles through a straw into a glass of water.

- Spit watermelon seeds for distance (just for fun!). - Try to blow a tissue across the table using only your breath. Who Helps with Prevention? Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) don’t just help after problems show up—we’re also here to help you stay well. Sometimes we work directly with you; other times, we consult with singing teachers, doctors, or even wellness coaches to help support your voice and swallowing strength. The Bigger Picture We need more tools, teamwork, and awareness around prevention in our profession. SLPs should be paid for this valuable work—because helping people stay well can mean fewer problems later. Prevention is proactive, empowering, and effective. So next time you breathe deeply, sing a tune, or enjoy a meal—know that you're doing something good for your future self. Let’s keep communication fun, fit, and full of life! Can I get a show of hands—who’s ready to give prevention a try?

Surveillance

I've enjoyed watching people most of my life. Whether it's sitting in the stands of a sports event, walking through the corridors of a state or national CSD (communication sciences and disorders) convention hall; if it's not playing tourist during my occasional playing hookey days in the "Windy City", then it's enjoying a new route between stops on my home health schedule - seeing what people are doing, how they're dressed, what are the secrets they're sharing, but that I can't hear - !! People - watching, it's my jam, my marmalade and my preserves, too. Years ago, I had figured out that watching and listening to others was my primary learning style. Shyness plus my stuttering and my endomorph body type, made it an easy decision to watch and learn, over diving in and getting involved. It could have led to stalking people, or worse? I was too afraid to do more. "I like to watch", says Jerzy Kosinski's character Chance. That fit me.

Of course, years of hindsight would tell you: that's too bad; it was regrettable that this kid didn't find the strength, or didn't get the push from behind, to step up and make more acquaintances and friendships. It wasn't my style, how I saw the world, what greased my gears to make it through my life. My style had made it easier to analyze, break down and rebuild my batting style as a leisure baseballer. Watching how other gardeners design and manage their garden plots, helped streamline my own plant care. My parents each showed signs of hearing loss, from the time I had gone off to college, so their communication struggles gave me insights on how I might help others with similar problems when I became a professional. I was getting experience in surveillance. Through watching and listening, I learned to identify problems and head off any problems becoming worse. Surveillance I learned - I could do for both fun and profit.

Surveillance, commonly known as "screening", isn't a reimbursable service for most clinical professionals. Yet it is one of the more powerful tools CSD clinicians might pull from their toolboxes. A screening clinic that opens its doors for free, to all members of the community, has a magnificent opportunity to provide service to persons who might never know about what CSD professionals do. The opportunities to teach and counsel the people who volunteer to meet with you can germinate into increased clinical caseloads, increased exposure to the entire healthcare system, and increased hope by communities for their needs being addressed. New fiscal support systems need to be developed, so that surveillance - properly known as secondary prevention - can make the CSD professions as well - known as labubus, and more fun to use. I like to watch. I like to help.

There's not enough room

A local healthcare system, the flagship of which is a tertiary care hospital that trains physicians, ancillary healthcare clinicians and biomedical basic scientists, is running a television commercial. Of course, the patient featured in the commercial has had a terrific outcome. She's training to be a trapeeze artist; can you believe it!? And it's her surviving a massive brain tumor that makes the TV promotion memorable. Brain tumors are so scary. I got my first exposure to the mystery and the horror of brain tumors when I watched as a kid, the series "Ben Casey". It was a sterile portrayal of hospital life - no disinfect stink, not much of the clamor of carts, and doc's, of course, don't show the pressure of time on their faces. Miracles, of course, were achieved, in less than 60 minutes each week. That's productivity.

The pressure of time is always there, once you find out there is a brain tumor in your head. The tumor victim might be heard saying: I wasn't born with it, was I? I didn't know it was there until my eyesight started to glitch up, or I found myself losing my train of thought, or - that I vomited all over my prom tuxedo, when I was picking up my date! Why couldn't I have known about this earlier? My head hurts almost all the time now. Is it growing? I'm afraid! I'm afraid it will get so big that I won't know, I won't know what is happening. Please get it out. Take it out, please. PLEASE!!

When there's something found inside you, something that threatens to take over your control of your body, mind and your spirit. panicking is natural. It's natural to want autonomy over ourselves. Pro athletes asserted autonomy, thereby declining vaccines during the COVID pandemic. Everyone who advocates for reproductive health, including the right to abortion services, feel they need to be in control of their bodies as well. Vegans, members of religious sects, owners of semiautomatic weapons, proud owners of old Samsung Galaxy phones and brave Cybertruck owners - they all want to survive and be left alone. Can't the person who finds out there is an invading mass inside her head - isn't she deserving of that same kind of control? Doesn't she deserve to be free of the threats to her identity?

I hope everyone everywhere, who is living or even just discovering that there is a rogue element inside their heads, can find calm and hope that we in the CSD community want their identities to be kept whole. Given that all our identities evolve with development and experience, we'd still want amy person living with a brain tumor to draw on their powers for self - care, the resources of the medical community that are available to them, and the nurturing and uplifting support circles who help every tumor victim tap their deep history, for growing a post - tumor future.

I just couldn't resist. I've been fuming for decades that with all the promotions, all the campaigns and all the zeal of our mentors and leaders in the fields of communicative sciences and disorders (CSD), we're still a poorly understood group. Even with our getting a foot in the door with our National Speech - Language - Hearing Month: where is the speech - language pathologist (SLP) on "America's Got Talent"? Do an audiologist and an SLP capture the Kiss Cam at Yankee Stadium? And if you get caught spreading a rope of ketchup on a Vienna Beef hot dog, are you punished for your Chicago meat heresy, or because you're an SLP making a diet recommendation?

I thought there had to be a more concise, powerful and memorable method to "sell" our fields to celebrated men and women on the street. i found these public relations tools I had craved, in actual slogans and posters from wartime propaganda. You notice that some posters ask you to do your part in the fight.

For those who felt they had to do something for the war effort, but didn't have the constitution to go into battle, there were posters and slogans to motivate those at the homefront.

Then there's the allure of what you look forward to again, after the fighting is over.

Are there lessons for my peers in CSD, from the punchy presentation of wartime propaganda? Let's see if an SLP or an audiologist can be captured.

For example, the Sherlock poster might read beneath: "Have you lost your voice? Call SPEECH THERAPY, so people in your world can hear you again!" What other messages do you hear, seeing this gumshoe? Here's another idea for a CSD hard sell - "You talkin' to me? Yes, I hear you now. Let me take you where you wanna go!" Are there any better slogans for this one?

A third persona for the CSD professional; not cabbie, and not private eye, but - a COACH. What does a coach do? "You've almost got it. Let's try again - take a deep breath and shoot for the goal!" Is there still another great slogan to give the coach?

Let's have a caption contest! What do the SLP or Audiologist do as a coach, taxi driver or detective??

I miss my wife.

I miss my wife terribly. When the cancer and all the contiguous complications finally took her - 10 months ago now - I had to and have to think about the emotions that have pulled at me. I can only say what I felt, and describe what I saw, and recollect what I heard. The Pope died today. I guess the mood of his passing 'triggered' the mood that grew from my wife's escaping pain. As a rehab professional, it's been a very profound lesson, processing what has happened.

She had worked for a hospice agency, and so when we found that the chemotherapy was yielding utterly diminished returns, her family and I agreed that she deserved compassionate support for her transition. Still, the frantic voices in my head - the 'squadron of simpletons' making up my brain - kept saying, CAN'T WE DO SOMETHING?!?! Hospice's philosophy helps us see, that death is unmistakably part of life. I became the kid on the news report who told the correspondent interviewing me after my home was destroyed, that I can't make this about me. I sat with her on her last Earthly night, and told her - do what feels right for you. She had speculated when her mother lived with us, and a hospice nurse was on duty....that my wife's Dad, gone a few years prior, had appeared and beckoned to his wife, "Come on! The coast is clear!". Ah, the circle of life. Two dissonant notes in a jazz chord, that mirror the bittersweetness of our life here.

Phlegm, ahem?

I had an ice cream treat today, but when I finished the fantastic cone of cool; - My spring exulting for the warmer clime Became a gaggy cry: some phlegm, ahem??... The hemming hawing hocking brought no Respite, fulla gooey bubbles was my windpipe, So do I damn that chocolate bit of heaven Because its lava now plugs up this hole?.... You know: there's not a spot, a spit, of data Showing that milky foods do clog you up, Such sticky sludge is what you feel, but really - It's being coated, not a blockage, nay! So if your Rocky Road makes a mudslide A sip of hot will help make debris glide!

N'awlins rhapsody

O when the gun Is in your face O when the gun is in your face Do you think, Does this guy have a good job? Help your neighbor pull that gun from your face!

O when the school Sounds like a war O when the school sounds like a war Do you wonder, Why'd this woman feel so lonely? Help your sister walk away from the school!

O when that truck Flies toward your group O when that truck flies toward your group Did that driver feel secure, loved and nurtured? Reach out - you are best as your brother's keeper!

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