Skip to main content
Dr. Christine A. Dollaghan, PhD, CCC-SLP, presented at the 2018 David E. Yoder Symposium, held at Extraordinary Ventures in Chapel Hill in April 2018.

On Friday, April 20, attendees of the David E. Yoder Symposium had the opportunity to learn about identifying and treating young children with speech and language disorders. The symposium, hosted every two years by the Department of Allied Health Sciences’ Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, featured Christine A. Dollaghan, PhD, CCC-SLP, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Karen Erickson, the David E. and Dolores “Dee” Yoder Professor of Literacy and Disability Studies at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies said, “the Symposium is an incredible opportunity to honor David and all of his contributions to fields of child language, literacy, and augmentative and alternative communication. This year, we were especially pleased to welcome Dr. Dollaghan who was a student of David’s.”

Symposium attendees learned about considerations in assessment tools for language disorders, with an emphasis on decision-making and treatment options, for young children, including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dollaghan discussed treatments for speech-language disorders, including their effects, benefits, and value of different treatment styles. Dollaghan also discussed evidence of the value of different treatment options for subgroups of children, including by age and severity of the language disorder. Finally, Dollaghan spoke to gaps in treatment and next steps for researchers.

Dollaghan is a professor at the UT’s School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

The symposium, held every two years, honors Professor Emeritus David E. Yoder, who served as chair of the Department of Allied Health Sciences from 1986 to 2000. The Department of Allied Health Sciences is part of the UNC School of Medicine.