The Membership Committee is pleased to report that membership applications are now submitted electronically though the ANCDS website (ancds.org/become-a-member). Since the online membership application process went live this spring, we have approved nine full memberships and five student memberships. Currently, we have 245 full members, 38 student members, and 14 life members, for a total of 297 members. Information about becoming a member can be found under the About Us tab on the ANCDS website.

The 2015 ANCDS Annual Scientific and Business Meeting, November 11, 2015, the day prior to the ASHA convention, will be split between two topic areas. The morning presentations will focus on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Lenore Hawley and Jody Newman from Craig Hospital, a Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems institution located in Englewood, CO, will share their findings from a multisite treatment study targeting social competence in adults with TBI. In the afternoon, two separate presentations, one by Katerina Hilari from City University London, and the second by Carolyn Baylor of the University of Washington, will center on recent research targeting the nature and assessment of aspects of the quality of life for individuals with neurogenic communication disorders.

ACNDS has five active Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines Groups: Apraxia of Speech, Aphasia, Dementia, Dysarthria, and Traumatic Brain Injury. These committees were established in 2001 with support from the ASHA Executive Board of ASHA, ASHA SIG2, and the Department of Veterans Affairs National Speech-Language Pathology Organization. The scope of the groups was to examine practices related to treatment research and produce documents to disseminate in professional venues. The committees met this goal and continue to generate high quality review of scientific evidence related to assessment and treatment in order to, “link application of betters practices as suggested by the research literature and expert opinion, with the clinical ‘realities’ of service delivery.” (Golper et al., 2001, p. 9). The products of these efforts are posted on the ANCDS website and also appear in other professional journals.

The members of the Communications Committee (Edie Babbitt, Michael Biel, Renee Fabus, Miriam Krause, Katy O'Brien, Yvonne Rogalski, and Meghan Savage) have worked on many different projects within the past few months. These projects include the new web-based newsletter and the website redesign, which now includes resources for our members. We are working on launching a podcast and are collaborating with the Scientific Affairs Committee to coordinate the ANCDS Facebook page, which can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/JoinANCDS.

Have you seen the new website? WWW.ANCDS.ORG

The launch of the new ANCDS website means new features and benefits for our members!

In addition to a brand new layout for the public site at ancds.org, we have a new personalized member home page. Log in today to take advantage of the member benefits you were accustomed to, as well as brand new features! After logging in, you will be taken to a personalized landing page with a special navigation for members only. 

2014 ANCDS Scientific and Business Meeting - Orlando!

 Our Annual Scientific and Business meeting took place on November 19 in (surprisingly chilly) Orlando, FL. The meeting agenda can be found here.

Position Statement of the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences on Clinical Doctorate Programs in Speech-Language Pathology

On August 26, 2014, ANCDS released its position statement on clinical doctorate programs in speech-language pathology. Click here to read the complete statement.