Research, networking competition
The sound of applause and cheering from hundreds of students filled the room as the Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) Praxis Team prepared for their Praxis Bowl.
Texas holds an annual Texas Speech Language Hearing Association (TSHA) convention to prepare individuals for the Praxis Exam, which consists of questions relevant to speech language- pathology and audiology.
To receive a certification, Communication Sciences and Disorders(CSDO) students must pass the Praxis Exam after the completion of their graduate degree.
The 2024 Praxis Bowl team consisted of first year graduate students Arianna Neri, Euneece Olbes and Kathleen Ramirez.
“TSHA was exciting to say the least. One thing that I will take away is that my work doesn’t go away when I leave my site. It continues with me and I can either use it to better learn about my clients, or what to do next. This career gives me the opportunity to always get better at what I am doing,” graduate student Olbes said.
Olbes hopes to pursue a career as a Speech Language Pathologist and attended a presentation on “Buffering against burnout using positive psychology tools” while at the convention.
“My career has faced an obstacle at keeping as many speech language pathologists as possible, because of the problems within healthcare itself. Problems within caseload management have been causing a negative shift and this talk gave us tips on how to use positive psychology tips in order to maintain passion for your job and living. One of the main things highlighted was hope, flow and job crafting and while all those three were very important key points I really liked the hope component of it. Hope isn’t gratitude or optimism; it is simply having the belief that you can create a positive outcome in the future and be action oriented,” Olbes said.
Lydia Hernandez-Perez associate professor of practice and Clinic Director of the Communication Science and Disorders Center, mentioned how the students held multiple fundraisers to help cover the travel expenses for CSDO students attending TSHA’s convention.
“The convention provides the ability for students to see and explore, network, and make connections outside of what they are exposed to in their classrooms,” Hernandez-Perez said.
At the convention TAMUK’s program was highlighted as undergraduate Haily D. Cabrera and Dr. Stephen D. Oller presented their research study “Individuals’ Knowledge and Experience with High- Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders.”
“With my research, we wanted to identify if the people who had a family member with autism knew more about the disorder than someone who didn’t have a family member [with autism]. The results showed there was no significant difference in the scores…What we did find was the questions frequently missed were over social interaction with an autistic individual to be able to adapt to their needs,” Cabrera said.
Academic advisor for CSDO students Taylor Goodspeed spoke on behalf of Cabrera’s hard- work and the importance of students presenting their research at conventions such as TSHA.
“For any student who is a McNair Scholar it really helps them with when they go onto a master’s or doctoral program. For a master’s degree this opportunity would give them an idea for a thesis and for a doctoral program this would assist with their dissertation. McNair Scholars have a step ahead. They have all these years of research under their belt starting from their undergrad. Not every student is awarded with this opportunity,” Goodspeed said.