September 2009
Dear VSHA members & Visitors to the VSHA website,
It has been 15 months since I took over the presidency of this organization and it has been a busy year for VSHA and the VSHA board. In the last year, we have had two fabulous workshops. In the fall 2008, Dr. Teri Bellis spoke on the topic of Auditory Processing Disorders to a welcoming audience of SLPs, Audiologists, Consultants to the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, family members, SLP-Assistants, and graduate students,. In spring 2009, VSHA sponsored the biggest VSHA conference to date on Augmentative and Alternative Communication which was presented by five wonderful and local speakers: Lisa Erwin-Davidson, Linda Gould, Maureen Nevers, Amy Starble and Mary Alice Favro. We are fortunate to have such consummate professionals in our state.
The VSHA executive board has been working on our strategic plan for the period 2008-2011 and updating both our by-laws and our policies and procedures. You will be able to find the drafts on this website and we will vote on changes to our by-laws at the fall meeting.
We are also putting the call out to the VSHA membership to join in service to your professional community by joining the executive board or a committee. There are openings for board positions (Treasurer, Membership, President-Elect, Public Relations, and School Affairs). These are two year terms which commence in January 2009. We also have need for committee members on membership, programs, school affairs and the work of our state coalition focused on the shortages of SLP services in the state. We are hoping to begin some legislative work to update the wording on our licensure law for SLPs and Audiologists, and begin a discussion about whether VSHA should initiate and support licensure, registration/certification of SLP-assistants. The amount of work is not overwhelming. The board meets every other month four times a year by interactive T.V. in four to five sites across the state. We also meet in the winter and summer for a full day retreat. If any of these areas interest you, please contact any of the executive board members. Contact information for the entire board can be found on the website.
Our immediate past president, Kari Fabrizio, who has been absent from Vermont for the last year while her husband was serving in the military in the mid-east, has informed the board that she and her husband will be permanently relocating to California in September. We are so very sorry to see them leave the state as Kari has put so much time and energy into VSHA and to service delivery issues to children and adults in Vermont. THANK-YOU Kari for your dedication to VSHA & the state of Vermont. We wish you the very best.
I look forward to serving VSHA to finish out 2009 and continuing our work in 2010. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for the VSHA board to consider. I can be most easily reached at gayle.belin@uvm.edu.
My best wishes to you all for a wonderful fall and year ahead.
Gayle Belin, M.A., CCC-SLP
VSHA President, 2008-2010