Faculty clinicians, graduate students collaborate to provide interdisciplinary service

Audiologist Dr. Alyssa Eminhizer and speech/language pathologist Kathy Rigley-Rowell, both from the Unified Clinics, have teamed up to provide aural rehabilitation for their patients.

Sarah Pouliot, Sue-Ann (patient) and Julie Simon

Aural rehabilitation is a type of "listening therapy" that focuses on maximizing outcomes for patients with hearing loss. It is in the scope of practice for both speech/language pathologists and audiologists. 

Currently Eminhizer and Rigley-Rowell are working with a patient who has been deaf since birth and has two cochlear implants. Julia Simon, SLP graduate student, and Sarah Pouliot, Au.D. graduate student, are also involved in the care. They see the patient once a week and complete activities that focus on detection, identification, discrimination and comprehension of auditory communication. Simon and Pouliot meet weekly to plan sessions, set goals and evaluate the progress of the patient.

It is a great interdisciplinary approach to care for this patient. The team plans to work with more patients together in the future.