Header image for SCSD Graduate Students Volunteer at Mag-Con Summer Camp

SCSD Graduate Students Volunteer at Mag-Con Summer Camp

Five graduate student clinicians in the Autism Spectrum Specialization Education and Training (ASSET) program within the School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD) volunteered at Mag-Con summer camp in Tallahassee, FL on June 22 – July 3, 2015.

The federally funded ASSET project was designed to build on the curriculum of speech-pathology graduate students and help them address the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

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Brittany and Ciera log results of study

Brittany Mishrahi, Creigh Farnias, Edie Kiratzis, Ciara Long and Amanda Lopez conducted an intervention study for children with ASD that compared the frequency of campers’ social initiations and responses while playing Minecraft vs. various literacy-based apps on the iPad. The group of clinical students attended the camp, along with faculty advisor, Dr. Juliann Woods.

Apart from the study, the graduate clinicians and campers participated in comic-con costume creation, water play, card games, making crystallized rock candy, and iPad gaming.

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Edie and Creigh observe iPad use

The School of Communication Science & Disorders offers a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. degree in Communication Science & Disorders and a Speech-Language Pathology Prerequisites (Bridge) Program to “bridge” graduate training programs in speech-language pathology.

“The opportunities to serve in the community while also implementing knowledge learned in SCSD courses has been very rewarding for the master’s and doctoral students,” Ciera Loro said.

Learn more about the degree programs at the SCSD here.