Research Symposium at the ASHA Convention

Purpose

Resources

The Research Symposium brings together clinicians and researchers at the ASHA Convention to discuss current research that has important implications for the study of communication sciences and disorders (CSD). Each year's symposium focuses on a specific research theme. Research is presented by invited speakers who are experts in their fields.

ASHA offers a Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award (RMPTA) in conjunction with this program to provide a research mentoring experience to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Awarded pairs receive ASHA Convention registration fee waivers and a travel stipend, as well as the opportunity to engage in mentored activities before, during, and after Convention.

The Symposium is an annual program that has been offered since 1990. The Symposium and the associated travel award are funded, in part, by grant #R13DC003383 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

Participants

The Symposium is open to all attendees of the ASHA Convention who are interested in current research.

Format

The Symposium consists of several talks related to a research topic of importance to CSD with opportunities for discussion between clinicians, students, junior investigators and senior investigators. The 2026 Symposium is scheduled to take place all day Saturday, November 21 as part of the in-person ASHA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Coordinated by Edwin Maas, PhD (Temple University), the Research Symposium will showcase clinical trials with a variety of pediatric populations. Speakers will discuss their federally funded clinical trials that focus on different pediatric populations, including children with speech disorders, children with language disorders, and children who use cochlear implants. The presentations cover a range of design types and approaches and will address critical issues and challenges in clinical trials research, such as specifying and implementing active treatment ingredients, selecting outcome measures, and translating findings into actionable treatment recommendations and clinical uptake.