Wyoming

Speech Language Hearing Association

July 1, 2015
_____________________________________________________

Happy Birthday!

WSHA urges the public to protect their hearing during July 4th fireworks

Keep a safe distance. Noise from exploding fireworks can

reach as high as 155 decibels, and if you are located close to
the blasts, there is greater risk for immediate, sudden, and
permanent hearing loss. Maintain a healthy distance (at least
500 feet) from fireworks, fire crackers, speaker systems, and
other sources of loud noise.
Wear earplugs. Ear plugs are an inexpensive and easy way to
protect your hearing during loud events. Make sure your ear
plugs fit snugly. For children under 7 or 8 years old, use ear
muffs.

Know your limits. Sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause

hearing loss. The louder the sound, the shorter the time
period before hearing loss can occur. Various phone
applications can measure sound, but a good rule of thumb is
to avoid noises that are "too loud" and "too close" or that
last "too long." If you notice ringing or buzzing in your ears,
move farther away from the noise source.
Seek professional help. If you feel that your hearing may
have been affected, seek the help of a certified audiologist.
Find a professional in your area at www.asha.org/findpro/.

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From the Pen of the President

Our 2015 WSHA Convention is

in the books. What a great
turn-out we had! Jessica
Waldron and the Convention
Planning Committee did a
wonderful job of organizing this
years convention. The variety
of speakers was outstanding.
Arlene Pietranton, current CEO
of ASHA, opened our convention
with a very informative presentation.
Her talk filled us with such pride in being a member of this
outstanding profession.

During our WSHA Business luncheon, we honored
two WSHA members, Teresa Garcia and Christiane Dechert,
for their abundant services to WSHA and our profession.
Wyoming Relay received the 2015 Friend of the Association
award for their continued support and association with
WSHA. We also passed several changes to our constitution
and bylaws at the luncheon. The major changes were as
follows:
The WSHA President-elect, President, and Past-president
have the option of remaining in office for an additional year
with the unanimous agreement of the individuals in those
positions as well as with WSHA Board approval.
The Treasurers responsibilities were adjusted to reflect
current needs (the executive board decided to have the
Craven Management Company take over the financial
management of the Association, see below).
A Nominating Committee was added to seek qualified
nominees for elected and appointed leadership positions
within WSHA.
The past-president of WSHA will now serve as chair of the
Convention Planning Committee with the president-elect
serving as a member of that committee instead of chair.
The updated by-laws will be found on our website very soon.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me or any
board member. We would be happy to further explain the
updated Constitution and Bylaws.

At our quarterly WSHA Executive Board meeting, the
Board voted to continue to contract with Craven and
Associates for our convention services. Cravens expertise
has been extremely valuable in organizing our last two
conventions. In addition, the WSHA Executive Board voted
to contract with Craven for financial and database services.
In the past, the WSHA Treasurer and Membership Chair
spent numerous hours handling our organizations finances

and membership database. We look forward to continuing

our relationship Craven and Associates and their team.

The 2016 WSHA Convention Planning Team is
already starting to plan for next years convention. We are
starting to look for a venue/date and will update you as
decisions are made. If you are interested in joining this
dynamic team, please contact Lindsay Curran, Jessica
Waldron, or myself.

I hope you all enjoy what is left of our short summer.

Respectfully,

Sue Torney, M.A., CCC-SLP

2015 WSHA President

Convention Follow-up

Greetings, WSHA
members!

This past week, the 2015
Annual WSHA Convention
was held in Laramie,
Wyoming. I would like to
personally thank
everyone who attended
this event. We had a total
of 68 registrations this
year! Thank you to our
wonderful speakers and
roundtable facilitators who
provided us with up to date
research and evidence based practices to improve our skills
as professionals. Arlene Pietranton, CEO of ASHA attended
our convention and shared with our attendees all the great
tasks that ASHA is working toward for its members.

Wyoming Relay generously sponsored the delicious
luncheon as well as gifted attendees with new thermoses.
We also had several generous donations to the Silent
Auction from the following people: Sue Torney, Lindsay
Curran, Christiane Dechert, Kathy McKee, Diana Seabeck,
Jessica Waldron, University of Wyoming Communication
Disorders Department, Auditory Systems, and Hello the
House in Lander. Additionally, we had several generous
contributions for the raffle items by the following: Teresa
Ukrainetz, Creative Ideas for Teaching, Jannelle Publishing,
Jessica Waldron, Northern Speech Services, and MSR West
audiology. Thank you all for your generosity!

___________________________________________________________________ www.wyomingspeechlanguagehearingassociation.org

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I would also like to extend a big thank you to the

WSHA Convention Committee members; Sue Torney,
Christiane Dechert, Lindsay Curran and Jessica McKee. Each
of you provided extensive support and time to help make
this a successful convention. Thank you!

Our next annual convention will be held in October 2016
(exact dates and location TBD) and IMASH will be October 5-
7 in Boise, Idaho.

Thank you,

Jessica Waldron, M.S., CCC-SLP

2015 President Elect and Convention Chair

Membership

Or better yet
Can we recruit a committee member from each county?

Christiane Dechert, M.A., CCC-SLP

Membership Chair

WSHAs new bylaws affect the duties of the membership
committee. The primary responsibility of the new
membership committee now is to recruit members to the
Association. What a worthy job that is! Currently, there are
316 ASHA members and 130 WSHA members in Wyoming.
This constitutes roughly 40% of ASHA members being
engaged in their state association.

Much room to grow for WSHA! WSHA leaders tend to
recruit members more successfully by face-to-face
interaction with ASHA members in their area. For instance,
WSHA President Sue Torney from Cheyenne has been active
in recruiting new members in Cheyenne. A little while ago,
she recruited Lainey Lingenfelter. Lainey quickly rose
through the ranks, as they say, and now serves as
Professional-at-Large on the WSHA Executive Board.

The membership committees immediate goal is to recruit
60% of Wyomings ASHA members into the state association
in 2016 by May, 2016.

CAN YOU HELP WITH THIS GOAL?

Can we recruit a committee member from each area?

If you are interested in joining the membership

committee, please contact wsha@live.com.

The second, and more important part of this appeal
to current and future members is this: We are seeking YOUR
input and feedback so that we can make joining the state
association more desirable:

Why did you join the Wyoming state association?
What are the most important benefits of membership in
your mind?
What could WSHA do better?

Let us know by October 15th, and we will select the best
answers and publish them in the newsletter.

___________________________________________________________________ www.wyomingspeechlanguagehearingassociation.org

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Message from our SEAL

2015 Honors and Awards

Laura Nickerson, M.S., CCC-SLP
Wyoming State Education Advocacy Leader


On July 9th, I will be
representing Wyoming
at the 2015 ASHA
Schools Conference in
Phoenix, AZ. Each year
at this conference,
SEALs from across the
nation meet to discuss
current issues in
schools.

I have been trying to
gather information and
opinions from school-based
SLPs and Auds on the topics that will be discussed. Those of
you who attended the WSHA Convention in Laramie last
week may have seen me loitering in the hallway with a sign
that said, "Come chat with me!" Only a couple school-based
SLPs stopped to chat, so please, whether you were at
convention or not, take a minute to look over this list of
topics, and shoot me an email with any facts/opinions you
might have on this topic. It can be as simple as one line, (for
example: I'm from such-and-such district and we've been
doing ______ since 2005 with great success) or it can
certainly be a more detailed explanation! Any information
will be helpful as I journey to represent Wyoming.

Topics
Common core for ELL,
Legislative and/or Regulatory Issues,
PACE (performance reviews for SLPs),
RTI
Missed Sessions
Ethical issues
Thanks in advance!

Email Laura at laura.a.nickerson@gmail.com.

Deb Crist, M.S., CCC-SLP
Honors and Awards Chair

Awards were presented early in the year in 2015, at the
annual business luncheon at Convention. Awards committee
chairwoman Deb Crist presented the awards.

Friend of the Association

Teresa Garcia

Teresa Garcia is
this years Friend
of the Association
award recipient.
She participates
in the Wyoming
Pediatric
Audiology
Specialty Clinic
(WPASC) and
lends her
knowledge and
expertise to
provide
diagnostic
evaluations, and
if needed,
appropriate
hearing aid
fittings for infants
referred for evaluation
from the Wyoming birth hearing screenings conducted at
our 21 birthing hospitals. She provides accurate, timely and
appropriate pediatric evaluations and recommendations.
She is skilled in working with parents and infants during
emotionally challenging appointments. She works well as a
team member. She communicates clearly and appropriately
both orally and in writing. She stays current with research
affecting best practice in pediatric audiology. She offers
insight into all aspects of the system comprising The
Wyoming Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI)
Program. We are grateful and fortunate to have Teresa
Garcia available to families and children within Wyoming.

___________________________________________________________________ www.wyomingspeechlanguagehearingassociation.org

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A second Friend of the Association award was given to
Wyoming Relay.

Honors of the Association

Christiane Dechert

Friend of the Association

Wyoming Relay

Wyoming Relay has been serving the citizens of Wyoming

for many years. Their commitment to serving individuals
who are deaf, hard-of-
hearing, deaf-blind, or
speech impaired here
in Wyoming has had
such a positive impact
on these individuals. .

They have
partnered
with WSHA
and
many
occasions. They
have graciously sponsored our WSHA business luncheons for
the past two years, which has been such a blessing for our
association. It is with great pleasure that we present this
2015 Friend of the Association award to Wyoming Relay.

Christiane Dechert is this years recipient of the Honors of

the Association Award. It is difficult to list the number of
ways she has given selfless hours to WSHA for many years. In
addition to serving as a past
WSHA president, she has been
invaluable to all who have
served as WSHA president-

elect when
planning
conventions,
due to her
wealth of
knowledge. She
has been the
go-to person
for many years
with questions
regarding WSHA,
past and present. She has developed our WSHA website and
is making sure it stays current. She organizes our WSHA
memberships and serves as our current Public Awareness
Chair. She has served as Member of the ASHA Advisory
Council for several years. This Honor of the Association
award is given to Christiane Dechert for her many years of
unselfish time and commitment to WSHA.

Save the Date!
IMASH 2017 will be held at the Boise Convention
Center in downtown Boise, Idaho October 5-7, 2017.

___________________________________________________________________ www.wyomingspeechlanguagehearingassociation.org

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WATR Reuse Project

Darcy Regan, M.A., CCC-SLP
Wyoming Institute for Disabilities

What is reuse? Reuse is an
opportunity to buy or donate
lightly-used assistive
technology at affordable
prices. The available devices
are generally listed for a low
cost to you. Wyoming
Assistive Technology
Resources (WATR) reuse
program provides networking
opportunites for individuals to
exchange, sell, and recycle used
assistive technology throughout
the state of Wyoming. All sale profits allow WATR to buy,
update, and maintain new devices.
WATRs assistive technology available for reuse is listed on
the Wyoming AT4ALL website. https://www.wy.at4all.com/
When you create an account on AT4ALL, you can easily
browse and purchase items or regularly see what new items
are listed.

Do you know anyone who has an assistive technology loan
closet, or an entity that is reusing assistive technology?
WATR is coordinating and collaborating with other Wyoming
entities for the purpose of expanding our reuse efforts. Lets
jump start this coalition building by identifying partners that
can help expand our capacity to provide gently used assistive
technology to individuals or organizations in need of this
type of equipment.
If you can help us identify organizations in the state of
Wyoming who are recycling or reusing technology, please
contact Darcy Regan at (307) 766-2932 or
DRegan1@uwyo.edu

January 2015
Alisa Martinez


March 2015
Susan O'Neill Lowry
Cara Straw

Cheyenne

Sheridan
Green River

at Convention

WSHA Past President Lindsay Curran, Carolyn Wood Helling and ASHA CEO Arlene Pietrantan

Wyoming Ace Awards 2015

During the January to March 2015 period, the following

ASHA members and /or certificate holders were presented
the Award for Continuing Education (ACE) by the Continuing
Education Board. The ACE is a formal recognition of
professionals who have demonstrated their commitment to
lifelong learning by earning 7.0 CEUs (70 contact hours)
within a 36-month period. WSHA members are marked in
blue:

The Random Select Trio provided the musical entertainment.

___________________________________________________________________ www.wyomingspeechlanguagehearingassociation.org