On Tuesday, May 12th, globally renowned aphasia expert, Dr. Audrey Holland, joined the Voices of Hope for Aphasia members online as a Special Mystery Guest speaker. She talked about how people have a special kind of resilience that others can learn from during this pandemic. She also talked about the power and flexibility we have discovered for online treatment options for aphasia, giving us the ability to reach more people with aphasia who may not have resources nearby.
Dr. Holland then spent 45 minutes answering questions from our members and sharing her knowledge and experience. Questions ranged from:
- tips on ways to improve aphasia during a lockdown,
- how aphasia therapy has evolved over the years,
- the ways positive thinking can impact aphasia, and
- ways in which we can help aphasia service providers (SLPs, aphasia centers, etc) expand and have more impact.
The video of the Zoom session with Dr. Holland is available here:
Audrey Holland, Ph.D., CCC/SLP, BC-ANCDS, is Regents’ Professor Emeriti of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Arizona. She has served on the Advisory Council for the US National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIH). She is currently a member of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special Disabilities, US Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Communication Disorders, and a recipient of the Honors of the American Speech, Language, & Hearing Association. She received the Clinical Achievement Award from the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences, as well as the Professional Achievement Award from the Council of Graduate Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She has published over 150 research articles, book chapters, and reviews, in addition to editing three books. She is a founding member of AphasiaAccess and the first recipient of its highest award for contributions to the betterment of aphasia services, now named the Audrey Holland Award.
