UIUC Development in Neurogenetic Disabilities Lab

Congratulations to Elise for earning an honorable poster mention for the 2026 conference! We are so proud of you 🎉🎉🔷🔶



Department of Speech & Hearing Science at Illinois

Great to see the impact of this work in the disability community being recognized!

We are thankful to our many colleagues who have contributed to this project, including

With our partner lab, Dr. Marie Channell’s Intellectual Disabilities Communication Lab at UIUC, we supported adults with Down syndrome participate.

This project is a great example of Team Science that also includes Dr. Mark Hasegawa-Johnson (Lead Investigator), Clinical Associate Professor Clarion Mendes, Dr. Heejin Kim, Communications Director Meg Dickinson, and MANY community partners who help make sure people with disabilities and speech differences have the opportunity to contribute to this study.



Forbes

Department of Speech & Hearing Science at Illinois
College of Applied Health Sciences at Illinois

Speech Accessibility Project named to Forbes Accessibility 200 list Forbes included the project and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in its Accessibility 200 list. It includes global leaders in communication, mobility, education, software, consumer products, robotics, sports and recreation, travel, the workplace, entertainment and more.

Congratulations to Elise for receiving the Adeline Jo Puccini Scholarship! We are so proud of her and grateful to have her on our team. 🔶🔷

Local AAC families, check out this camp we’re offering!

Coming up this summer: Our Department of Speech and Hearing Science is offering a 6-week program for children who use AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). This program will allow your child to meet peers who also use AAC and practice their skills in a group and individualized setting.

When: Thursdays from June 11-July 16.
Where: University of Illinois Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Clinic
Ready to sign up? Click here: https://forms.office.com/r/CVZciQrM37

Questions? Call 217.333.2205 or email [email protected]

Join NDSS and Helen Genova, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at Kessler Foundation, as she walks attendees through the web-based program, KF-Stride™ on Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 1 PM ET.

👉 Backed by research, this program is designed to help teens and adults identify their personal strengths and express them to achieve their goals. Created with neurodiverse learners in mind, the KF-Stride™ curricula cover a range of topics such as employment readiness and wellness.

Register for free at https://ndss.org/ndss-webinars

We’re so proud of Elise for presenting her working on coding gesture use by children with Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome at the 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Elise was mentored by PhD student, Daniela Fanta.

Way to go Elise!!! 🔷🔶🔶

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!

The Rural Health Initiative is SO CLOSE to its donor goal! 🚨

Rural Illinois residents often face significant barriers to healthcare, resulting in delayed and uneven services—make a difference by donating at go.ahs.illinois.edu/SHSRural.

The first 15 donors today and tomorrow will receive a free copy of “An Illini Place,” a written history of the Illinois campus.

There is a nationwide shortage of SLPs, including in our home state of Illinois. This shortage disproportionately impacts children with disabilities in rural areas of our state.

You may not know but the DND Lab is housed in the Department of Speech & Hearing Science. For Orange & Blue Days, the department is raising money for the for our Rural Health Initiative. Our goal is to develop rural health and telehealth sites designed to meet the growing needs of underserved communities across Illinois. You can make a gift here! https://go.illinois.edu/SupportSHSRuralHealthInitiative