Welcome. I am Susan Durnford, a semi-retired Clinical Associate Professor in the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department here at Ithaca College. During my 28-year tenure at Ithaca College (IC), I had the privilege of completing research and presenting nationally in the areas of adult and geriatric neurogenic communication disorders, pedagogical issues, and interprofessional education and practice (IPE/IPP). My teaching duties at IC have included undergraduate coursework in fluency and communication-cognitive disorders for older adults. Graduate coursework has included motor speech disorders, fluency, and cognitive rehabilitation.
I have also had the wonderful opportunity of supervising numerous undergraduate and graduate student clinicians both on campus and at community based sites. During the last eighteen years, I have mentored speech-language pathology undergraduate and graduate student clinicians at the Center for Life Skills (CLS) <https://www.ithaca.edu/hshp/clinics/lifeskills/> . The CLS program is housed at Longview of Ithaca and is an IPE/IPP program consisting of physical therapy, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology students working with individuals with traumatic brain injury (e.g. stroke). The CLS participants are past their active, formal rehabilitative phase and are involved in therapeutic activities three days a week. This practicum experience prepares our allied health care students for their first medical placement especially given the IPP opportunities during family conferences, community outings, and co-treatments. My recent scholarly activities relating to clinical work includes IPE/IPP and use of storytelling formats for adult clients.