OSU to host annual speech-language pathology conference

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders — part of the College of Arts and Sciences — is hosting its annual Cimarron Conference on Communication Disorders (CCCD) to help speech-language pathologists better assist clients.  

CCCD will be from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., April 1, at the Wes Watkins Center on the OSU-Stillwater campus. The conference will focus on “Transitional Barriers and Solutions for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Schools,” with Dr. Jack S. Damico as the featured speaker. 

Damico — a professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder — has worked as a speech-language pathologist for 45 years. He is a widely published researcher and an American Speech-Language-Hearing (ASHA) Fellow. His interests include diversity education, clinical aphasiology, language disorders and literacy. 

“Every year, this conference provides crucial, research-based knowledge to current and future speech-language pathology professionals,” said Dr. Ramesh Kaipa, head of OSU’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. “Having the chance to learn from and interact with others in our field is invaluable, and I’m so pleased that CCCD gives our students that opportunity as well.”  

The Cimarron Conference organizers chose this year’s topic based on significant early research and current findings regarding cultural and linguistic competency and the transitional barriers that often arise when students from diverse backgrounds enter school. Attendees will learn about potential solutions to those barriers along with how to improve engagement and academic and social success. 

For more information and to register for the conference, visit cccd.okstate.edu.