MURFREESBORO — A
program that has improved the quality of life for hundreds of people and
educated thousands of professionals will mark its 50th anniversary
in new quarters.
The Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Program will
host an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, on the first floor of the
Alumni Memorial Gym, home of the new Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. A
ribbon-cutting is slated for 2:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the
public.
“The interesting thing now is that this is the only clinic I
know of in Tennessee where undergraduates can work with people with
communications disorders,” said David Arnold, who founded the program and
nurtured it at MTSU for 39-and-a-half years.
Arnold began by screening education majors and minors for
speech and hearing problems, working with the future teachers so that they
could be understood by students.
His wife, Janice, performed screening and therapy for
students in the Rutherford County schools for 32 years. She worked as an MTSU
adjunct professor in the summer semesters of 1963 and 1964.
“The only places (graduates) could work were in schools and
a few clinics,” said David Arnold of the period before the birth of the MTSU
program.
Today, the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Program
occupies a valued place in the Department of Health and Human Performance.
Clients, who pay for services on a sliding scale, range from the very young to
the very old.
The clinic assists people with autism, Down syndrome,
intellectual disabilities, articulation disorders, language disorders and, of
course, hearing difficulties.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Christy-Houston
Foundation and major donors, the clinic’s new home has more than 1,000 more
square feet than its previous quarters in the Boutwell Building.
The new clinic space features nine therapy rooms, three
large observation booths, a student workroom and kitchenette, faculty and
administrative offices and a new, top-flight audiology booth.
Off-campus visitors attending the open house should obtain a special
one-day permit from MTSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.
A printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.
Clinic Coordinator Elizabeth Smith, who graduated from the
program in 1996, said the profession has grown tremendously over the years.
“People are more aware and better educated, and we are
better at teaching,” Smith said. “There are so many more opportunities to
become productive members of society.”
Dr. Patti Thigpen, owner of Thigpen Hearing Center in
Murfreesboro, also is an alumna. She said her MTSU education “was the catalyst
to a lifelong, fulfilling career in audiology.”
“I enjoy working with the practicum students of the department in our office each semester,” said Thigpen. “The experience is a legacy that I enjoy passing on to others.”
For more information about the MTSU program and clinic,
contact Smith at 615-898- 2662 or elizabeth.smith@mtsu.edu.
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