pALS

Individuals with ALS experience a variety of changes including changes to their speech and communication abilities. UC offers three opportunities to support people with ALS (pALS).

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 A short description of each opportunity is outlined below:

Voice & Message Banking Education & Support

Voice and message banking are two processes that provide pALS a chance to capture their voice for future use with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)  supports. We provide educational support as well as follow-up opportunities for pALS and their loved ones to learn more and get started with these two processes. Education is provided each Monday via Microsoft Teams.

 pALS Support at the monthly ALS Association Support Group Meeting

We are available for in-person tech support for AAC systems at each monthly ALS Association meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio the 2nd Monday of each month. Come find us at support group to help with any questions or tech troubleshooting needs pALS might have.

Contact

For more information or to sign up to join us at one or more of these events, please reach out to Dr. Amanda Simmons (simmona6@ucmail.uc.edu).

Headshot of Amanda Kaye Simmons

Amanda Kaye Simmons

Assoc Professor - Educator, CAHS Communication Sciences & Disorders

357 HSB

Amanda Simmons, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research focuses on teaching and training, specifically considering populations who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) across the lifespan. Recent work has included collaboration with criminal justice to advocate for communication rights for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in reporting crimes. Her research intersects with her passion for teaching through implementing and evaluating sustainable education practices through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in communication sciences and disorders (CSD).
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