College of Education News

Fifth-Annual Goldstick Lecture Brings Communication Disorders Expert to Community

September 24, 2009

In Spring 2005, Philip and Beverly Goldstick established The Goldstick Initiative for the Study of Communication Disorders, an endowment in honor of their granddaughter, Marissa, who was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome - a condition similar to autism and one associated with substantial deficits in language development.

Part of this initiative supports a yearly lecture hosted by the College of Education's Special Education Department, and given by a scholar in the field of communication disorders. For the past four years, presenters have covered a variety of topics related to communication disorders and have reached hundreds of faculty, students and community members.

The College of Education is proud to announce an internationally renowned expert in augmentative and alternative communication, Dr. Pat Mirenda, as this year's speaker for the fifth annual Goldstick Lecture.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 at 4 p.m. at the I-Hotel, Mirenda will present to the community "Making Connections: Augmentative Communication for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders." This will be followed by a research colloquium on Friday, at 10am in the College of Education titled "Predictors of Language Development in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders".

Mirenda is a professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia, with interests in autism and developmental disabilities, and augmentative and alternative communication.

"(I) am very flattered to have been nominated — especially given who the previous lecturers have been," Mirenda said. "It's a real honor to join such an illustrious group."

When choosing this year's speaker for the fifth annual Goldstick Lecture, professor and Goldstick Scholar Jim Halle remarked, "For all of the Goldstick Lectures, my hope is to bring to campus somebody who is going to enthuse and excite faculty and students and people in the community."

In making this year's selection for the Goldstick Lecture, Halle convened a committee of faculty not just from the Special Education department, or the College of Education, but also invited faculty from the Departments of Speech and Hearing Science, Human and Community Development, and Computer Science.

"I don't want this to be insular process," Halle said. "I want the lecturer to have impact on more departments and more people."

Halle and the committee unanimously chose Mirenda from a list of more than 20 scholars in the field of communication disorders.

"The things that Prof. Mirenda does are probably going to be more directly related to the Goldstick's granddaughter than perhaps any of our other prior lecturers," Halle said. "That's something I feel good about, and something that was important to us this year."

Mirenda said her lectures will address the importance of providing communication support to adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and related developmental disabilities.

"So much of current autism research is focused on young children, and while this is critically important, it's also the case that all children grow up and become teenagers eventually," Mirenda said, adding, "I hope to inspire those in attendance to persist in their efforts to support communication development in all individuals with autism and related disorders, because there is no such thing as someone who is "too old" or "too disabled" to communicate."

For more information about the College of Education, contact our Communications Office at 217-244-8335 or email communications@education.illinois.edu