 Tommie L. Robinson Jr.
Welcome to this year’s ASHA Convention as we celebrate our theme, “Communication: Our Strongest Link.” As speech-language pathologists and speech and language scientists, it is no secret that we “link” to the many facets of the lives of the individuals we serve-and yes, we do make a difference.
This year’s Convention is designed to provide you with the latest information for use in clinic and research. For our thousands of presenters, thanks for choosing to share your talents, skills, and state-of-the-art information with us.
I consider it an honor to be chair of this year’s speech-language pathology and speech and language science convention at ASHA. The many tasks and responsibilities that come with the chair make it impossible to do them alone. I was lucky enough to find some of the brightest, most respected persons in our field of study. They have worked tirelessly with their committees to invite, develop, evaluate, and schedule top-notched sessions. It is our hope that you will benefit from all the information presented and that you will seek to meet at least one new colleague with whom to collaborate.
The emphasis for this year’s program was based on your submissions. In examining the papers that were submitted, I looked for links or patterns.
A number of papers focused on the following themes: Negotiation, Literacy, African American Population, and Bilingualism.
For the first time in recent years we will have a keynote address. We have invited Chris Laubach, an internationally renowned trainer in the area of negotiation, to be our speaker on this topic. He is the author of numerous articles on negotiation that have been published in professional journals worldwide. Mr. Laubach also recently authored a book, Mastering the Negotiation Process: A Practical Guide for Healthcare Executives. This session is designed for all Convention participants, so that we not only maximize our knowledge on negotiation, but show how we can collaborate and communicate as speech-language pathologists and audiologists and that, despite the two distinct professions, we still share some common interests. See page 86 of this program book for more information on Chris Laubach and his presentations.
Many exciting events are planned for the Convention this year, including a special Saturday night party featuring Peabo Bryson singing, followed by a great dance band so you can party the night away.
Convention 2002 - Communication: Our Strongest Link - is a must-attend event. I look forward to seeing each of you there.
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