Texas State named recipient of 2019 Parkinson Voice Project Awards

Campus Community

Jayme Blaschke | July 26, 2019

Texas State University's Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at the Round Rock Campus has been named a 2019 SPEAK OUT!® & LOUD Crowd® grant recipient by the Parkinson Voice Project. 

The grant program was launched in 2018 by the Parkinson Voice Project to make quality speech treatment accessible to people suffering from Parkinson's disease. Those diagnosed with Parkinson's often experience difficulties speaking as the disease progresses. Grant recipients receive training for their speech-language pathologists and graduate students, as well as speech therapy supplies. 

"Having a SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd program here in the Texas State Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic provides an amazing educational opportunity for our student clinicians," said Valarie Fleming, chair of the Department of Communication Disorders. "The student clinicians get to learn about the effects of Parkinson’s Disease on speech, swallowing and voice as well as learn more about group dynamics and how to provide clinical intervention in a group setting prior to leaving for their off-campus practicum. 

"For the clients participating in the programs, they not only get individual therapy to improve their speech and voice, they also get an ongoing weekly support group to help reinforce their speech, swallowing and voice skills, as well as maintain and generalize those skills to other settings," she said.

As a recipient of a program grant, the Texas State clinic will receive benefits such as accommodations for a speech-language pathologist (SLP) to attend sponsored symposiums and additional training for two other SLPs, online training for graduate students, education and therapy materials. 

The grant program honors Daniel R. Boone, Ph.D., a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson's could improve their communication if they spoke with "intent." Parkinson Voice Project’s highly effective speech therapy program is based on Boone's teachings and combines individual therapy with ongoing group therapy to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act.

For more information, visit www.ParkinsonVoiceProject.org.