Judy Holmes
(315) 443-2201
Judy Holmes
For more than 30 years, Syracuse University students have been learning from Douglas Church. The Baldwinsville resident was among the first clients of the Gebbie Speech-Language-Hearing Clinics, the training facility that is part of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CS&D) in SU's College of Arts and Sciences.
Located at 805 University Ave., the Gebbie Clinics offers a full-range of diagnostic, therapy and treatment options for children and adults with speech-language and hearing difficulties. During Church's most recent visit to the Gebbie Audiology Clinic, Allison Soll, a senior in The College of Arts and Sciences, evaluated his hearing under the supervision of Audiology Clinic Director Joseph Pellegrino.
"I enjoy working with the students," Church says. "They learn by asking me questions, and I try to help them understand how to work with people who have hearing problems-like don't talk too fast and face the person when you are speaking."
Church lost all hearing in his left ear after a series of surgeries to remove an acoustic neuroma, a non-malignant tumor of the auditory nerve. He became a client of the Gebbie Clinics after his final surgery in 1970. He has progressive hearing loss in the right ear and wears a hearing aid. Soll completed a series of diagnostic tests on Church during his March visit to determine whether his hearing had deteriorated and to evaluate the effectiveness of his hearing aid so his treatment could be adjusted.
The 78-year-old Church has been through the tests so many times that he can gently lead students through the steps. "I was a student instructor at Cornell University back in the 1950s," he says. "Later, as a farm machinery dealer, I taught many farmers how to do things; and now I teach students at the clinic. I appreciate teaching. I should have been a teacher." Church graduated from Cornell in 1952 with a degree in agricultural engineering.
SU's undergraduate program in communication sciences and disorders prepares students for graduate-level professional training in either speech-language pathology or audiology. CS&D also offers master's and Ph.D. programs in speech-language pathology and a doctor of audiology program. Graduate and undergraduate students work at the Gebbie Clinics under the direct supervision of speech-language pathologists and audiologists licensed by the New York State Department of Education and certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
"The Gebbie Clinics is a living, learning laboratory where students interact with clients and clients become interested in the students," Pellegrino says. "Our clients are very patient with us."
Soll says the opportunity to work at the Gebbie Clinics as part of the CS&D program drew her to SU. "This program gives students a lot of opportunities to apply what we learn in the classroom to a real-world setting, which a lot of schools don't offer," she says. "When you can actually see the things you are learning about in class, it all just clicks. It's a better way to learn." Soll plans to pursue a graduate degree in audiology.
Students majoring in communication sciences and disorders also have opportunities to work in faculty research labs. Soll worked with assistant professor Kathy Vander Werff researching speech-evoked auditory brain stem responses. "My research experience allowed me to gain in-depth knowledge that I would not have obtained in my classes," Soll says. "The experience also gave me a preview of what I will be doing in graduate school."
Soll has focused on a career in the communication sciences since high school. She was born with atresia-microtia, a malfunction of the external ear and the middle ear, which resulted in hearing loss in her right ear. "I always knew I wanted to do something in the field," Soll says. "I originally thought about becoming a surgeon, but then decided to pursue a career in audiology."
As part of her undergraduate experience, Soll did a summer internship at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York City. She enjoys working with children and adults, but believes she will eventually specialize in pediatrics. "After my internship, I realized that I prefer working with children, even though they can be more challenging," Soll says. "But, I think it's easier for me to relate to children with hearing loss because I'm going through the same things they are."
June 05, 2012 The program, designed in collaboration with the Casting Society of America, was developed for casting students, including key professional components and core courses with fellow Tepper students.
Read more
August 24, 2012 Natalie Teale, a senior Earth sciences and geography major in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, spent the summer as part of an immersive research experience in the cloud forest of Costa Rica.
Read more
September 13, 2012 Syracuse University today announced that it has surpassed its goal for the most ambitious fundraising effort in the institution’s history.
Read more
September 10, 2012 Civil engineering professor Cliff Davidson had a breathtaking view of the City of Syracuse from a rooftop garden recently. But it’s the possibilities of that prime location that made the experience memorable.
Read more
September 10, 2012 Trauma, psychiatric medications, family therapy, nutrition and systems reform are a sampling of the topics experts from across the country will discuss at the Children’s Mental Health Summit, September 27-29 in Syracuse.
Read more
