Association Recognizes News Outlets and Members for Outstanding Coverage and Outreach
ROCKVILLE, MD. (PRWEB) AUGUST 26, 2019
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has chosen 12 honorees for its 2019 Media Awards—eight media outlets and four ASHA member “Media Outreach Champions.” ASHA will recognize them at its Convention this November in Orlando, Florida.
“We congratulate our award winners for their good work and the important role they have played helping us realize ASHA’s vision of ‘making effective communication, a human right, accessible and achievable for all,’” ASHA President Shari Robertson, PhD, CCC-SLP, said.
“Because of their efforts, the public is better educated about the ability to communicate—how to nurture and protect it; how and where to get help for it; and, of course, how the work of ASHA members can be the critical positive difference when problems arise. We are pleased to honor them.”
2019 ASHA Media Award Winners
Print Media
The Washington Post: How to recognize if your child is speech delayed (and what to do to help) by Tamara Gane, published May 17, 2019. In the article, Gane identified multiple signs of communication disorders and urged parents to seek professional help if they recognize any of them.
Chicago Tribune: Choking leads to new diagnosis and treatment for people with swallowing disorders, published March 23, 2019. Robert McCoppin wrote about a breakthrough in dysphagia treatment along with the breadth of dangers that swallowing issues pose to those who live with dysphagia.
Consumer Reports: The Many Health Effects of Noise, How to Protect Your Hearing When Using Outdoor Power Equipment, and How to Get Used to Hearing Aids—all published between January and March of 2019. The comprehensive set of articles advises readers on maintaining and protecting hearing health.
Digital Media
Fatherly: For its June 7, 2019 piece about a viral video of a dad having a gibberish conversation with his infant son. Fatherly explained how the video set a good example of how parents can help develop their children’s communication skills by engaging them in conversation.
Everyday Health: How Speech Therapy Can Help People With Aphasia Regain Communication Skills, published June 25, 2019. Among details about various treatments and recovery options for aphasia, the article highlighted modern augmentative and alternative communication solutions—tech tools that allow aphasia patients to communicate and practice speaking skills.
Broadcast Media
NJ 101.5: For two broadcasts advising parents on safeguarding children’s communication health. ASHA President Shari Robertson, PhD, CCC-SLP, spoke with the network on May 2, 2019, about the importance of addressing signs of communication disorders early in a child’s development. Deborah Berndtson, AuD, CCC-A, ASHA Associate Director for Audiology Practices, was interviewed on June 16, 2019, about summer hazards to children’s hearing and how to protect kids from them.
Minnesota Public Radio: For a June 25, 2019, broadcast on vocal training for transgender women. The segment explored the breadth of technical and social concerns that patients and speech-language pathologists navigate during voice modification.
2019 ASHA Member Media Outreach Champions
Ianthe Murad, ScD, CCC-A: Murad served as a media source for an ASHA national radio tour that helped launch public outreach for this year’s Better Hearing & Speech Month. During the tour, Murad was able to serve a source for mainstream and Hispanic media alike because of her bilingual skills.
Vickie Tuten, AuD, CCC-A: Tuten has advised the public on hearing safety via the media regularly. In the past year, she was interviewed by Consumer Reports for two hearing-related articles, one on treating hearing loss and another on protecting hearing from power equipment.
Rupal Patel, PhD, CCC-SLP: Patel has been a media source on various occasions over the years. Some of the more recent coverage has included an NPR story about how a person’s voice shapes their identity, which is why she works to give nonverbal people who use voice synthesizers personalized options.
Bonnie Martin-Harris, PhD, CCC-SLP: Along with spending her career researching and treating dysphagia, Martin-Harris has served as a media source for several years. She has also been featured on the Story Wall of ASHA’s Value of the CCCs campaign. This past year, Martin-Harris spoke with the Chicago Tribune about new developments in the diagnosis and treatment of persons with swallowing disorders.
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 204,000 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. http://www.asha.org
View all ASHA press releases at http://www.asha.org/about/news.
