ABA Students Share Research From Practicum Experiences

ABA masters students and faculty during the July 21 virtual poster session: Community Application of Behavior Analysis.

On July 21st ABA masters students shared their practicum case studies or self-management projects during the second virtual CABA event. A virtual event was also held in April because the Covid-19 pandemic has required USF to transition from face-to-face to online instruction. During the event, graduate students had 10 minutes to present their work for reviewers which included ABA faculty and doctorate students. Read more...

2020 'Teletherapy Edition' of the Program for Advanced Treatment of Stuttering

Congratulations to Blaise Kreisher, Shiloh Taylor, Taylor Login, and Katie Loret De Mola for successfully facilitating our 6-week, 90-hour, 2020 'teletherapy edition' of the Program for Advanced Treatment of Stuttering (USF-PATS). Amanda Kelly and Lucy Coleman also co-treated for ~20 hours, and we appreciate their support. These SLP students provided group stuttering modification teletherapy to 10 new clients who stutter (and 3 review clients), ranging in age from 13 to 41 years old, local and distant, including an international client from India. Attendance was nearly 100% during the 6 weeks, and the clients raved about the clinician support. Here is a YouTube link to one of the "graduation" speeches. Kudos to the students for their excellent work, patience and strong commitment to the clients; another amazing example of how we are all finding ways to adapt in these trying times.

The President and Provost invite you to attend a Faculty Information Session regarding the launch of the Fall 2020 semester. This one-hour session will only address teaching and student success. It will not be focused on research, service, or the general opening of the university. Thus, for many of you the content may not be relevant. Faculty, adjunct instructors, and graduate teaching assistants are particularly encouraged to attend. A subsequent reminder, in the form of an invitation to join the session through MS teams, will follow shortly. We hope to address other issues of importance to you at a college Town Hall to be scheduled soon.

We invite you to share your COVID-19 stories in Communique. Let us know how you are coping with working remotely. Submit your photos and captions to cbcsmarketing@usf.edu

As always, you should refer to the official USF coronavirus webpage for the most up to date information. 

Stay safe

Thank you to Reliance Medical Centers who has generously supported the USF Optimal Aging and Brain Health Research Fund at the University of South Florida and created the USF-Reliance Optimal Aging Research Laboratory, an in-house research facility at its Lakeland location. This recurring collaboration between Reliance and the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and will help create a closer partnership between academia and primary care in order to promote optimal aging and potentially protect against mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Read more...

Dawn Brown, Instructor and Chair of the Online MSW Program, was the recipient of the National Association of Social Workers - Florida Chapter (NASW-FL) Social Work Educator of the Year Award at a virtual award ceremony. NASW-FL gives this award annually to a social work educator for outstanding contributions to social work education through teaching, leadership and service inside the classroom and within the social work profession.

Debra Dobbs, PhD, was elected Vice-Chair Elect of the Social Research, Policy, and Practice Section of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging. These individuals were chosen by GSA's membership, which consists of more than 5,500 researchers, educators, and practitioners. The officers are responsible for matters of governance and strategic planning and will assume their new roles on January 1, 2021.

Congratulations to Chris Groeber (PI) and the faculty and students in the USF School of Social Work who worked on the GAL grant and developed the first professional certification program in the U.S. for the Guardian Ad Litem Child Advocate Manager. Professor Groeber spoke at the virtual ceremony held Friday, June 24, certifying 384 Child Advocate Managers. Child Advocate Managers, known as CAMs, perform a wide range of duties to advocate for Florida's abused and neglected children in dependency court, including connecting children to needed services and supervising the volunteers who also serve them. Professional certification means the CAMs have met standards for education, training and on-the-job performance; passed a certification exam; agreed to follow a standard Code of Ethical and Professional Conduct; and committed to further their professional growth via annual continuing education.

In the immediate aftermath of the death of George Floyd, Bryanna Fox and Marv Krohn (UF) wanted to do something to help address the underlying issues in the criminal justice system that led to this and other tragedies and injustice. As Co-Editors of Justice Quarterly, a journal that publishes high-quality research on race and the criminal justice system, they decided to act by collating a themed issue dedicated solely to research on the causes and effects of racial disparity in the criminal justice system. They hope that by bringing together previously accepted papers in one 'themed' issue in a timely way will have an important impact on the criminological community and, more importantly, on policymakers and practitioners who have the ability to institute needed reforms. The journal's publisher, Taylor & Francis, has been so supportive of this initiative that they have agreed to make the entire issue free for the next 30 days to increase exposure and access for all academics, practitioners, policymakers, and the public. Please take a look, and share these articles/issue with your students, colleagues, friends, family, and partners in the field.

Amber Gum (MHLP)
Primary Care Patients with Trauma History: Expanding a Safety Research Partnership and Network - COVID-19 Enhancement
Sponsor: Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute
7/1/2020-6/30/2021
Amount: $130,000

Our partnership of individuals with lived experience of trauma and professionals recently received a supplement to an existing grant from PCORI, to study implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for primary care patients and professionals. Our original capacity-building grant involves creating infrastructure to plan and conduct patient-centered research on trauma-informed interventions for primary care patients who have experienced trauma. This COVID-19 enhancement addresses two questions: 1) what kinds of trauma and stressors related to COVID-19 are primary care patients and professionals experiencing? and 2) how can telehealth help us better reach and support primary care patients who experience COVID-related or other trauma and the professionals who work with them? We will be conducting online surveys and qualitative interviews with primary care patients, individuals with lived experience of trauma, primary care professionals, and behavioral health professionals.

Howard Goldstein (DO)
Efficacy of Story Friends vocabulary Curriculum Targeting Preschoolers At-Risk for Language and Literacy Disabilities
Sponsor: US Dept of Education
7/1/2020-6/30/2025
Amount: $3,300,000

Expanding preschoolers' repertoires of sophisticated academic vocabulary has the potential to contribute to the prevention of later reading problems. Over the next five years, this project will be conducted in 96 preschool classrooms in Hillsborough County Public Schools. A cluster randomized controlled trial will evaluate the efficacy of the Story Friends vocabulary curriculum on improving vocabulary and language outcomes for preschool children who are and are not at risk for language and reading disabilities. We also will examine effects on academic performance at the end of kindergarten and assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.

Roger Peters (MHLP)
Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) Coordinating Center for North American Universities at the University of South Florida (Year 3, Phase 2)
Sponsor: Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme
9/9/2019-9/8/2020
Amount: $161,811

The Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) Coordinating Center for North American Universities at USF was established in 2017 to assist universities in the U.S. and Canada develop academic programs in addiction studies. Through funding by the Colombo Plan in Sri Lanka and the U.S. Department of State, the Center disseminates evidence-based public domain curricula, including the UTC, that may adopted for use in undergraduate or graduate addiction studies programs, and develops a network of universities that have already instituted these type of programs, or that are interested in doing so. Key activities in Year 3, Phase 2 include creating "mentorship" courses for addiction treatment professionals that involve experiential and skills-based training, implementing an online platform for providing UTC mentorship courses, establishing a web-based resource library to support mentorship training, and hosting a UTC mentorship pilot training to test and refine one of the mentorship courses.

The following graduate students have advanced to Doctoral Candidacy in the college's interdisciplinary program in Behavioral and Community Sciences.

• Deveney Ching
• Noé Erazo
• Monica Landers
• John Martin
• Sarah Sheffield
• Amanda Weston

The Center for Autism and Related Disabilities is proud to announce its inclusive VIRTUAL "ARTS IN THE PARK" and Art Competition. The event will be held via Zoom on JULY 31st from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. This event has garnered support from Arts4All Florida, The Florida Orchestra, Glazer Children's Museum, artists, and professionals in our community. Through this event CARD hopes to bring a fun and interactive activity for members of all abilities in our community and connect them to community partners, artists, and providers in our area. Be sure to share this information and follow our progress on CARD's social media platforms. #CARDcreativity #ALLin4Inclusion

1. Lee, J. G., Jaynes, C. M., & Ropp, J. (2020). Satisfaction, Legitimacy, and Guilty Pleas: How Perceptions and Attorneys Affect Defendant Decision-Making. Justice Quarterly, 1-33. doi:10.1080/07418825.2020.1786147
2. Perkins, R. C., Howell, C. J., Dodge, C. E., Burruss, G. W., & Maimon, D. (2020). Malicious Spam Distribution: A Routine Activities Approach. Deviant Behavior, 1-17. doi:10.1080/01639625.2020.1794269
3. Unnever, J. D., & Chouhy, C. (2020). Black Males, Impulsivity, and Externalizing Behaviors: A Black Criminology Analysis. Justice Quarterly, 1-30. doi:10.1080/07418825.2020.1789200
4. Wagers, S. M., Piquero, A. R., Narvey, C., Reid, J. A., & Loughran, T. A. (2020). Variation in Exposure to Violence in Early Adolescence Distinguishes between Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration among Young Men Involved in the Justice System. Journal of Family Violence. doi:10.1007/s10896-020-00170-4

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