New CPD Program Recognizes Faculty 'Fellows'

Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities has named a new group of fellows — faculty members from other parts of the USU campus who bring real-world experience to their students.

 

They are part of a new program that recognizes faculty members for the instruction, research and services they provide to people with disabilities and the larger community. Through their relationships with the CPD, members of this group employ and teach students and trainees in CPD-affiliated programs.

 

The CPD’s new faculty fellows are:

 

Dr. Sarah Bloom is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation. She and Dr. Andrew Samaha, another CPD faculty fellow, co-direct the Severe Behavior Clinic. They work with children with severe behavioral problems, including self-injury, aggression, inappropriate vocalizations and property destruction. The clinic receives office space and support from the CPD. Prior to coming to USU, they were involved in a similar clinic affiliated with the University of Florida. Three graduate students work part-time at the Severe Behavior Clinic. Two additional volunteers gain practical experience.

 

Keith Christensen is a research scientist at the CPD and an assistant professor in the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department. As a research scientist with the CPD, he explored the relationship between design and social access, social values, human rights and social justice. Those interests are continued in his current research on how different types of play environments affect the play of all children. Another research project involves making computer models that take people with disabilities into account as they plan for the emergency evacuation of a space. One doctoral student is employed in Christensen’s CPD-related research; another doctoral student is gaining practical experience.

 

Barbara Fiechtl is a clinical instructor for the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Utah State University. She currently studies the feasibility of virtual home visits, seeing if the technology works and if early intervention services can be delivered effectively to families via internet video conferencing. The project is being conducted in northern Utah, and roughly half of the families in the study are from rural areas. She has also participated in the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program as a faculty representative in special education. Through URLEND, Fiechtl mentors two trainees on their leadership projects. In addition, she teaches 11 students through the Early Childhood-Alternative Teacher Preparation Program, an off-campus, distance education program aimed at licensing early childhood special education providers. The program is housed at the CPD.

 

Thomas Higbee is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation and the founder and director of the Austism Support Services: Education, Research and Training program, called ASSERT. This early intensive behavioral intervention program for children with autism is a collaborative effort of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation and the CPD. His research focuses on techniques that help individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities develop appropriate communication, academic, social, and life skills. His articles have been published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of Special Education Technology, Education and Treatment of Children and Rural Special Education Quarterly. Twenty to thirty undergraduate students are employed at ASSERT at any given time. Five doctoral students are currently employed.

 

Vicki Simonsmeier is an assistant clinical professor in the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Department. She coordinates clinical and leadership activities for 10 speech-language pathology and audiology graduate trainees in the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program who gain some of their experience through programs and clinics at the CPD. She has been involved with URLEND from its inception, working with Dr. Judith Holt and others to write its initial training grant. Through URLEND, she worked in conjunction with the trainees in occupational therapy and psychology, along with Dr. Dennis Odell to start an interdisciplinary feeding clinic that provides services to children who have trouble getting enough nutrition. Another project, the Social Language Group, also grew out of URLEND program and its relationships on campus in order to assist children on the autism spectrum with social language skills.