It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague, Dr. Roberta J. Elman on May 29th, 2025. Dr. Elman was a long-standing member of ANCDS, with Board Certification since its inception in 1994. She served on numerous committees over the years including the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Honors Committee, the Meetings Committee, and the Certification Board. Dr. Elman received the Honors of ANCDS in 2020. Read more here.
Dr. Elman provided extensive service to other professional and consumer organizations as well, including ASHA, CAC, Aphasia Access, the National Aphasia Association, and the Aphasia Hope Foundation. She received the Honors of ASHA in 2022 and the Audrey Holland Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia at the Aphasia Access Leadership Summit in 2019. Dr. Nina Simmons-Mackie, in presenting this award, stated: “Her contributions have shaped a new generation of caring clinicians who grasp the broad principles of meaningful, socially relevant intervention for people with aphasia…her support and advice have been transformational.”
Dr. Elman’s work was not only exceptional but has been described as “ground-breaking” and “game-changing,” and it has been embraced worldwide. Through her vision and actions, Dr. Elman changed the way in which we provide treatment to those with aphasia. The road she traveled was not a traditional one for someone with a doctoral degree. Instead, she was determined to influence intervention for those living with aphasia by making changes from within a clinical setting as a clinician-researcher. She founded the first nonprofit Aphasia Center in the United States in 1996, and was one of the original authors of the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA): Statement of Values (2000). She consistently promoted the LPAA through her numerous publications (over 50) and more than 150 professional presentations. These include a highly influential (and, to date, the only) textbook on group treatment for neurogenic communication disorders, as well as book chapters on this and other related topics. Her productivity is even more remarkable for someone who was not working in a university setting.
Dr. Elman’s research was both scholarly and impactful. Of great importance was the groundbreaking randomized clinical trial she conducted on aphasia treatment groups (published in 1999 in JSLHR). This was done at a time when RCTs in our field were rare – and this study continues to be frequently referenced 25 years later. Dr. Elman also created the C.A.P.E. checklist (Connecting people, AAC, Partner training, Education & resources) as a mnemonic to guide practitioners at all levels of care in providing clinical essentials for aphasia management.
Dr. Elman was a frequent presenter at ASHA and many state Speech and Language Hearing Association conferences where the rooms for her presentations were filled to capacity or overflowing. Moreover, her influence was evident internationally with invited presentations in Australia, England, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and across Canada.
Dr. Elman’s remarkable and influential career as a clinician-scholar spanned more than 40 years. She was known nationally and internationally throughout the field and beyond for her impactful clinical work, scholarly approach, mentorship to young clinicians, and passion to improve services for people with aphasia. She will be sorely missed.