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The Stanley Center for Speech and Language Disorders at Stephen F. Austin State University has received a 2020 Speak Out and Loud Crowd grant from the Parkinson Voice Project, the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the world dedicated to helping individuals with Parkinson’s disease improve their speech and swallowing.

The SFA clinic is one of only 248 hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices and nonprofit organizations worldwide to receive this funding. The grant provides free Speak Out training for the clinical instructors and graduate students in SFA’s speech-language pathology program. It also funds materials that are used in the Speak Out and Loud Crowd programs.

“Up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and aspiration pneumonia caused by swallowing issues accounts for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population,” said Parkinson Voice Project Founder and CEO Samantha Elandary. “Awarding these grants substantially increases access to quality speech treatment to those living with Parkinson’s.”

East Texas has a large population of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, according to Deena Petersen, clinic director.

“We are fortunate to be trained in the Speak Out program to help these clients communicate better,” she said.

The clinic offers free therapy sessions to East Texans with Parkinson’s disease to help them learn how to speak with intent, Petersen said.

“People with Parkinson’s disease do not realize they are speaking softly and people cannot hear them. In the Speak Out program, clients become more aware of their speech and learn that when they speak, it must be with intention.”

In addition to individual Speak Out sessions, the Stanley Center for Speech and Language Disorders offers the Loud Crowd program, which is a maintenance program for patients with Parkinson’s disease offering ongoing vocal practice, accountability, support and encouragement. When clients complete the Speak Out program, they transition to Loud Crowd.

The Parkinson Voice Project’s grant program honors Dr. Daniel R. Boone, a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson’s disease could improve their communication if they spoke with intent.

For more information on the clinic’s services, call (936) 468-7109.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stephen F. Austin State University theatre students Crayten Clendion, senior from Cypress, and Ryleigh Compton, junior from Terrell, are among the cast members in the School of Theatre’s presentation of Bert V. Royal’s “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” playing at 7:30 nightly through Saturday, Oct. 10, in Kennedy Auditorium on the SFA campus. The show is also livestreamed. The play is recommended for mature audiences. General ticket prices are: adult, $15; senior (62+), $10; non-SFA student, $10; SFA faculty/staff, $7.50; youth, $7.50; SFA student, $5; virtual access, $15. Live virtual access is available for all performances. Purchase tickets/access at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407. For questions about the play, contact the School of Theatre at (936) 468-4003.

As the presidential election approaches, teacher candidates at Stephen F. Austin State University are working with the Nacogdoches Public Library to help local families teach their children about their civic duty.

The library is distributing a limited number of election activity boxes assembled by the teacher candidates in SFA’s Community Responsiveness and Engaged Advocacy in Teacher Education program, or C.R.E.A.T.E.

“Elections are so important, at every level — local, state and federal. Children of all ages see campaign signs, watch candidate debates and hear adults talking about issues and candidates,” said Dr. Heather Olson Beal, professor in SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education.

“We need to talk to kids and answer their questions about what elections mean and who is running for what offices,” she added. “We hope these activities help families engage children about the events leading up to voting as well as the voting process from an early age.”

The teacher candidates packed the following items in the election activity boxes: information sheets on how to vote, an assessment tool to evaluate candidates, blank postcards to learn how to write elected officials, “I Voted” stickers, and the recipes for President Donald Trump’s and former Vice President Joe Biden’s favorite desserts.

The election activity boxes also contain books about voting, including “So What’s the Big Deal about Elections?” for children in kindergarten through grade 3, “Understanding Your Role in Elections” for children in grades 3 through 6, and “Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box” for young adults.

“Talking about politics and especially the election has become so taboo in today’s society,” said Eriqa Noriega, an elementary education senior from San Antonio and a teacher candidate in the C.R.E.A.T.E program who helped assemble the boxes.

“These activity boxes provide families with the tools to engage in healthy, productive conversations — and, most importantly, involve their children in these conversations — about the election,” she said. “It wouldn’t be such a sensitive topic if we learned from a young age how to talk about it.”

Noriega added that the postcard-writing activity also is key. “It helps children learn how to advocate for themselves and others.”

The idea for the project originated in a faculty learning community facilitated by Dr. Lauren Burrow, an associate professor in the Perkins College of Education, and offered by SFA’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

“These learning communities help SFA faculty members brainstorm and refine practical ideas that can be executed efficiently and successfully,” Burrow said. “In this case, faculty saw a way to assist local families in cutting through the noise around the presidential election and examining the basics of the process in a way that all ages can understand.”

Early voting runs Oct. 13-30 in Texas. Election Day is Nov. 3.

To learn more about the election activity boxes, email Olson Beal at olsonbehk@sfasu.edu.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art will present exhibitions that showcase the works of its faculty members in shows planned for Oct. 22 through Dec. 31 in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

“Oil and Water” features photographs taken along the Texas Gulf Coast by Amanda Breitbach, assistant professor of art at SFA.

“These photographs represent the dual nature of the Texas Gulf Coast as an important ecosystem that provides vital habitat for wildlife and a site of oil and gas development that is equally vital to the global petrochemical industry,” Breitbach said.

Breitbach grew up on a family farm and ranch in eastern Montana. She studied photography and French at Montana State University before serving as an agroforestry volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in Guinea, West Africa. She has worked as a newspaper photographer, writer and editor as well as a freelance photographer. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2016.

The Breitbach show will be in the upstairs Reavley Gallery while an exhibition in the downstairs Ledbetter Gallery will feature works by other SFA art faculty members.

Art exhibitions are sponsored in part by William Arscott, the Friends of the Visual Arts and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is SFA’s historic downtown art gallery located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call the School of Art at (936) 468-4804. Admission is free.