ÃÛÌÒAPP

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Podcast: S8 Ep. 14
Date: May 20, 2025
Title: Let’s talk speech therapy with Beth Byers
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to The ÃÛÌÒAPP Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with ÃÛÌÒAPP faculty, staff, students, and alumni. I'm John Rollins, associate director of community relations and public affairs here at ÃÛÌÒAPP, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show.

Today, we'll shine a spotlight on the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at ÃÛÌÒAPP. Clinical Instructor and Supervisor Beth Byers is here to tell us all about an exciting new partnership between the department and Hamshire-Fannett ISD.

Beth, thank you for joining me today on The ÃÛÌÒAPP Moment.

BETH BYERS: Thank you for having me.

JOHN: So Beth, you're not only a clinical instructor and supervisor in the department here at ÃÛÌÒAPP, but you're also a two-time graduate. Let’s hear a little more about you before we dive into the Speech and Hearing program.

BETH: I graduated with my bachelor's degree in communication disorders from Lamar in 2007, and then came back for my master’s in speech-language pathology, graduating in 2010. After that, I worked out in the community in various positions—just trying out different settings to see what I liked, because in the world of speech pathology, there are a lot of options. I did a little bit of acute care, rehab, and outpatient therapy at Baptist Hospital. I also did some contract work for a few local public schools. I did that for about a year, and then I was contacted by a former supervisor from the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. They had an opening for an adjunct instructor and asked if I’d be interested, and of course, I was. I come from a long line of educators, mostly in the public school system, so that had always appealed to me. So I said, “Sure, I’ll give it a try.” Since 2011, I’ve been working at Lamar in some capacity. I started as an adjunct, then went full-time. When I had kids, I shifted back to adjunct for a few years to focus on mom life, and now I’m back full-time again. So I’ve been at Lamar a long time, since 2003 as a student, and since 2011 as an employee. So, a long-time Cardinal.

JOHN:  Wow. That’s over 20 years of history with Lamar, 14 of those as an employee, if my math is right.

BETH: I know. I’m not going to try to math.

JOHN: Educators, right? Well, speaking of educators, I believe your mom taught me reading back in middle school. Mrs. Bergeron.

BETH: Yes, seventh grade reading.

JOHN: So really, it’s in your blood.

BETH: Yes.

JOHN: Fantastic, and  speaking of that, Hamshire Fannett is actually part of why we’re here today, so let’s go ahead and dive in. How did this new speech therapy program in partnership with HFISD come about, and what does the program entail?

BETH: We’ve had partnerships with several different districts in the area, Port Arthur, Beaumont, we actually still have some contracts with Beaumont ISD, and Hardin-Jefferson. I’ve always been hopeful there would be an opportunity with Hamshire-Fannett, because that’s where we’re from. That’s where my kids go to school, and I just thought it would be such a great opportunity to bridge those two worlds together. Last year, I was contacted by the Special Ed Director at Hamshire-Fannett. They had an open SLP position and asked if I’d be interested. Now, it’s not that I wasn’t interested. I love the people and the district, but I didn’t want to leave my role at Lamar. I really love the teaching aspect, the research, and the constant learning. Plus, being surrounded by professionals who specialize in different areas means I always have someone to turn to when I have questions. We treat a wide variety of clients, and there’s always new research, always something new happening. I love having access to that. So I thought, “No, I don’t want the full-time position, but I would love to create a partnership.” I immediately emailed our department chair, set up a meeting with her, and she loved the idea. It took us the whole summer, going back and forth, to figure out the contract and what each side was hoping for and expecting. But we got it all worked out, and we launched the program last August. There's actually an adjunct instructor working with me, you might remember Jacie Woodson? She’s also a Hamshire-Fannett graduate. She goes by Jacie Bonnette now. I couldn’t do it all myself, especially since I’m still teaching a course on campus. So we got the program set up together. And, you know how it is with a first year, lots of learning, lots of flexibility, and plenty of changes, but I think we had an excellent year. It was such a great opportunity for the graduate students. We learned a lot, and I’m really looking forward to continuing the partnership moving forward.

JOHN: Yeah, and you just wrapped up your year, right, your academic year?

BETH: We did, yes, finishing up all the school meetings, ARD meetings, and IEPs, getting those final evaluations in. So, we’re on the countdown.

JOHN:  You just kind of alluded to this, but this is an incredible opportunity for our graduate students, getting those practical skills, being in the classrooms, working one-on-one with students. What do you think the impact of this program is? I know you mentioned it’s been on several campuses, even in Port Arthur, Beaumont ISD, and Hamshire-Fannett. What does this partnership mean for our students?

BETH: You know, we have a clinic right in our department where clients come in and we work with them, which is amazing hands-on experience. But each setting looks a little different. Whether you’re in a hospital, a nursing home, home health, or especially in a school setting, which is very heavy on paperwork, giving students the opportunity to learn all that while they’re still in school really cuts down on the learning curve when they start their first jobs. When they graduate, they’ve already seen the ins and outs of what that looks like. They get to collaborate with special educators, diagnosticians, principals, special ed directors, and, of course, the teachers. We’re constantly rearranging schedules because kids can only be pulled at certain times. So there’s a lot of interprofessional collaboration that takes place, and that’s something you just can’t teach in the classroom. You can talk about it all you want, but actually experiencing and navigating those relationships, that’s where real learning happens. I’ll give you an example. One of my current students who is about to graduate is an excellent clinician. She asks great questions, and I’ll laugh and say, “We talked about this in class.” But she’ll say, “Okay, but it’s so different now that I have very specific cases to map that information onto.” It’s much easier to apply and understand when you have that real-life setting. So, not only is this a great experience for building clinical skills, but it also helps students build relationships within the community. I know for a fact that if a position opens up at Hamshire-Fannett, they would be very willing to hire the students we’ve brought onto campus, because they know their work ethic, they’ve met them, and they know their personalities. They know they’d be a great fit. So, this partnership really opens up avenues for future employment as well.

JOHN: That’s a really good point. The relationship is there. Like you said, they see the students’ work ethic, they know what they’re capable of, and what they can bring. So, tell me, when you and your team go into the schools, how are the students selected? Do you work with the staff to identify certain individuals? And what exactly do you do with the Hamshire-Fannett students in terms of speech therapy? What are some of the specifics?

BETH: So, the school already had an existing caseload, these kids had already been evaluated. In the school setting, students have to qualify for services, meaning they need to meet specific criteria to be eligible for speech therapy since it falls under special education. We took on that existing caseload, which is how we ended up with those particular students. We also met with the speech pathologist already on campus to discuss her needs, what she felt comfortable handling and what areas she felt less confident in. Since we have access to specialty professors who focus on specific areas, we were able to bring in students to provide the most up-to-date, research-based therapy. That helped determine some of the students we worked with based on the type of disorders they had and the expertise we could offer. But really, our caseload ranges widely, we work with kids as young as three years old all the way up to high school life skills classes with 18- and 19-year-olds. We’re on all campuses, elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school, so the students really get a broad range of experience. Our caseload will likely stay somewhat similar next year, but we remain flexible because things are always changing. For example, some third graders are moving to the intermediate campus, so that will shift our caseload. But flexibility is key in this field, that’s one of the first lessons we teach our students. Working as an SLP requires problem-solving and adapting because everything changes constantly. So, it’ll be a great learning experience this fall to see what the new caseload looks like and how we adjust.

JOHN: Yeah, and that’s great advice for any career. Flexibility is so important, truly. I also want to give a quick shout-out to Christine Murphy. She posted the video that Hamshire-Fannett put out highlighting this program and your graduate students. It was a really heartwarming video. I actually wrote down a quote from one of the students featured—Abigale Larson. She said this about you, Beth: “I feel like a special thanks needs to be given to Mrs. Byers for the program she put in place for these students. I can see the difference it’s made in their lives and their communication. I’ve learned so much from her in such a short amount of time. And I see the love she has for every student, watching them grow. It’s really inspiring.” I thought that was amazing. That’s got to feel good.

BETH: It feels great! I really appreciate Abigale and all the students we have. They work so hard, and they genuinely want to make a difference. They’re eager to learn, and that means so much to me. Comments like that make all the hard days worthwhile, knowing people are noticing. More importantly, these kids are getting really good therapy, and we’re seeing so many positive changes. Just talking with the teachers and getting them involved, it’s been really great.

JOHN: Seeing that progress come to life, watching the students’ growth and development, that’s got to feel really good. You know, I don’t think I mentioned this before our chat, but you may not even realize this, you’ve actually impacted my family. My niece, Madison, came to you for an evaluation. I believe you sent her home with some worksheets for her speech.

BETH: Yes, that’s right.

JOHN: She didn’t quite qualify for the full program, but she does have a few small speech things she’s working on. She’ll get there.

BETH:  Sweet Madison.

JOHN: So sweet. So, thank you for that.

BETH: Of course.

JOHN: Now, let’s switch gears a little, we’ve got a few more minutes. I want to hear more about your department. I had Dr. Saar on maybe two years ago. She was fantastic and talked a lot about research. You mentioned that many of these clinics are open to the public. I don’t think a lot of people know that.

BETH:  No, they don’t.

JOHN: Let’s share a little about that.

BETH: I’d love to.  As I mentioned earlier, we’ve really shifted the focus of our department toward what we call specialty clinics because everyone has their own area of passion and research. For example, we have an aphasia clinic for adults who have experienced strokes and are now living with aphasia. We also offer support groups for their families. It’s a fantastic program, and best of all, it’s free to the community, though I don’t think many people know about it. We also have a stuttering program, a program specifically for clients with dementia or those in the early stages, working closely with their family members, and a child language and speech sound disorders clinic. Everyone has their niche, and they’re really experts in their fields. Again, it’s a free clinic, and I don’t think that gets enough attention. Oh, and Dr. Saar runs an amazing program in the summer, an inclusion theater for students. Did she talk about that?

JOHN: Yes! We've highlighted it before.

BETH: Oh, I love it. I tried to go watch it last year, and, you know, I couldn't get in because it was sold out.

JOHN: I think it's called InterACT.

BETH: You’re right. I’ve actually been sharing that with a lot of the Hamshire-Fannett students as well, because I think they could really benefit from it. It’s such a great experience and program. There’s a lot in our department that I think is still undiscovered. From what I hear, I’m not an audiologist, but we’re in the same department—they have some of the best equipment around. In fact, they even have some technology that not many universities in the entire state possess. So definitely take advantage of that if you’re a Lamar employee or student. They also offer services to the community, and those services accept insurance, so those are paid, but even then, you’re getting excellent care because the students are learning how to perform assessments under expert supervision. They have to stay up to date on the latest research, which is our job as educators. To me, that’s the best possible care you can get. There’s a lot of great things happening in our department, and I really hope more people take advantage of them.

JOHN: Well, you heard it here first, folks! And you all have a Facebook page that stays pretty active, so definitely follow them on social media to keep up with everything. I also know you’ve been involved in some research. Could you briefly touch on that 2020 article that actually involved Hamshire-Fannett as well?

BETH: Yes! Since we’re from Hamshire-Fannett, it was much easier to connect with people there and ask if we could do some research on campus. Our study focused on speech sound disorders and varied service delivery models. In schools, we often get stuck doing the same thing, seeing kids twice a week for 30 minutes, simply because that’s the routine. But we wanted to think outside the box. How can we provide effective treatment without pulling kids out of classroom instruction so much? So, we tried a more individualized approach called “drill burst” therapy. Instead of pulling a group of kids for 30 minutes twice a week, we did one-on-one sessions for five minutes at a time, just quick, focused drills right out of the classroom. We compared the two methods and found no difference in outcomes for kids with mild to moderate speech sound disorders. This taught us we can be flexible and rethink scheduling. We implemented this model this year at Hamshire-Fannett, extending it over a full school year, whereas the study was only six weeks long. The students really love it, they’re in and out quickly, getting lots of practice without wasting time. Teachers like it too because kids miss less classroom time. So far, it’s been very successful. It’s full circle, really. We studied it there, and now we’re actually applying it. Next on my list is more research, maybe testing other variations, like twice a week for 10 minutes, or looking at qualitative factors like teacher and parent responses: Do they like it? Is it worth it? I really value research that has real-life clinical application. If I read an article, I want it to tell me something I can use today and show me how to do it. With school caseloads being so large, we need to find ways to fit everyone in and still provide quality therapy. So, I’m really looking forward to continuing this work.

JOHN: Fantastic. I love that you did the research there, and now you’re literally there on campus implementing it.

BETH: Yes.

JOHN: That’s fantastic. Thank you so much. Alright, folks, that’s a wrap on another episode. As always, make sure to search ÃÛÌÒAPP Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the latest events, activities, programs, and people right here at ÃÛÌÒAPP. This is John Rollins, your host. Thanks for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.