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A current student and a recent graduate of the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program presented at the 101st annual conference of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, held in Dallas Oct. 31–Nov. 3.

Second-year master’s student Monserrath Diaz presented her research that demonstrated that self-identified bilingual pediatric patients who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) demonstrate a bilingual advantage when re-telling a well-known short story. 

“It was extremely exciting to be among one of the presenters at ACRM,” Diaz said. “This was the first conference I have attended, so I was eager to present my findings with the research community and learn more about other professions.”

Grace Holliday, a 2024 graduate of the program and current clinical fellow at the University of Virginia in the Department of  Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, presented her research on the impact of anxiety on cognition in adults with mTBI.

“We focused on areas of language, processing speed and general cognition and then stratified out groups based on patient-reported anxiety,” she said. “Our most significant finding was that anxiety has a negative impact on the processing speed and overall cognition of individuals with mTBI.”

Also presenting at the conference was Communication Sciences and Disorders Assistant Professor Rocío Norman, PhD, CCC-SLP. She co-presented research during a symposium on telehealth and veterans and service members with mTBI in which she shared anecdotal evidence gathered during a clinical trial involving 50 patients seen via telehealth.

“It was a great presentation, with lots of questions and people coming up to us afterwards,” she said.