DuBard School Grad Assistant Receives National Scholarship from Academic Language Therapy Association
Fri, 05/06/2016 - 12:47pm | By: Catherine Lott
Shelby Reeder, a graduate student at The University of Southern Mississippi and graduate assistant at the DuBard School for Language Disorders, was recently awarded the Aylett Royall Cox Memorial Scholarship CALP (Certified Academic Language Practitioner) award from the Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA). Reeder is the first student from Southern Miss to receive the award.
The Aylett Royall Cox Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to two individuals who are continuing their education through courses accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). Once Reeder has completed her formal training, she will be eligible for IMSLEC's Teaching Level, which is one of the many reasons she was selected for this award.
“I was very honored and appreciative to learn that I was selected as the recipient of this scholarship,” said Reeder. “This award means so much to me because it is in my chosen field. I am grateful for DuBard School for Language Disorders for the opportunity to work, learn, and grow to become the best speech-language pathologist that I can be.”
Dr. Maureen K. Martin, director of the DuBard School, highly recommended Reeder for this award.
“Shelby is an outstanding student and does exemplary work at DuBard School,” said Martin. “She's very deserving of this acknowledgement, and it was a pleasure to nominate her.”
A native of Liberty, Mississippi, Reeder chose Southern Miss in part because of the potential to work at specialized programs on campus like the DuBard School for Language Disorders. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Pathology and Audiology from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2015, and is currently pursuing her master's degree in the same program while simultaneously working for the DuBard School as a graduate assistant.
Following graduation, which is expected to be May 2017, Reeder will have her clinical fellowship year, during which she'll complete the requirements to become a certified speech-language pathologist (CCC-SLP). In addition to her speech-language pathology credentials, Reeder is expected to meet the requirements for multisensory structured language instruction at the Teaching Level of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). She will be eligible to sit for the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification of Dyslexia Specialists' national exam to earn her CALP credential.
“As a future speech-language pathologist, I will work with so many different people and I just want to help them in any way that I can,” said Reeder. “I look forward to being that encourager and motivator to my clients.”