ASHA Convention to Showcase Latest in Hearing Loss, Speech/Language Development and Disorders, and Swallowing Across the Lifespan

(Rockville, MD) The largest annual gathering, this year in hybrid form, in the field of communication sciences and disorders will take place November 18–20 in Washington, DC, and online. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention will host more than 3,000 compelling sessions featuring new research, the latest treatment approaches and interventions, and technological advances related to hearing, speech/language, cognitive-communication, and swallowing/feeding disorders across the lifespan.

Event highlights include the annual Research Symposium, funded in part by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. This year’s Research Symposium will focus on Health and Health Care Equity in Communication Disorders. The symposium will examine why people with communication disorders fare worse in their health and health care outcomes than do their counterparts without communication disorders—and will discuss potential solutions to close this gap. ASHA’s Research Symposium on Hearing—organized this year by Nicholas Reed, AuD, of Johns Hopkins University—will examine Hearing, Mental Health, and Cognition: A Pivotal Interconnection.

“Our theme for the 2021 ASHA Convention is ‘Rising United,’ and it couldn’t be more appropriate after a challenging period that saw many ASHA members rising to the collective occasion on the COVID-19 front lines in health care and education,” said A. Lynn Williams, PhD, CCC-SLP, 2021 ASHA President. “After canceling our 2020 Convention due to the pandemic, we are thrilled to be able to re-convene at a time when knowledge sharing couldn’t be more critical.”

Williams continued: “Key topics will include recovery of communication, social, and learning skills for our students and patients nationwide; long-haul COVID and its effects on communication, cognition, and swallowing; and the latest on the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline—at a time when a brand new category of medical devices, over-the-counter hearing aids, will soon be available for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.”

A sample of Convention sessions is included below:

Hearing Loss

• Communication During COVID-19 and Beyond: Face Coverings & Communication Access
• Change Is Coming: Preparing for the Future of Hearing Care

Speech/Language, Learning, and Cognition

• Remote Learning: How View Settings Impact 5-Year-Old Children’s Learning   
• Technology Use Related to Executive Functioning and Language Skills in Preschoolers
• Childhood Stuttering Screening for Physicians: Supporting Accurate Referral of Young Children Who Stutter  
• Major Discrimination Experienced by People Who Stutter and Its Psychological and Communicative Correlates
• The Culture of Concussion Reporting in Collegiate Athletics: Feasibility of Change
• Transvocality: Broadening Perspectives in Gender Affirming Voice Care
• Signing Black in America: The Story of Black American Sign Language

Autism

• Infant Vocalizations and Early Signs of Autism Risk
• Investigating COVID-19’s Impact on the Employment and Education of Young Adults With ASD 
• A Qualitative Study on Adult Autistic Women in the Workplace

Swallowing/Feeding

• Adapted Pre-Feeding Skills Checklist for Identification of Oral Phase Dysphagia in Children
• Texture Progression and Oral Feeding Skill Acquisition During Infant Feeding Development
• Trends in a Cohort of Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19 Referred to SLP Service

Augmentative and Alternative Communication  

• Toward P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface Access to Visual Scene Displays 
• Cultural Representation Among Augmentative and Alternative Devices
• Sexual Identity and Gender Symbol Representation in AAC Supporting the Community of LGBTQ+ Users

Note to media: If you would like to attend the Convention or access individual sessions, please email pr@asha.org. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to attend the event on-site.

About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 218,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems, including swallowing disorders.