CSULB Speech and Language Clinic

🎓✨ Celebrating the SLP Class of 2026! ✨🎓

On May 14, we proudly honored the incredible achievements of our Speech-Language Pathology graduates. Your hard work, resilience, dedication, and passion have brought you to this milestone, and we could not be more proud of all you have accomplished. 💙💛

A heartfelt thank you to the families, friends, and loved ones who came to support and celebrate our graduates on this special day. Your encouragement and unwavering support helped make this journey possible.

We also extend our sincere appreciation to our distinguished guests for joining the celebration:
• Dr. Grace Reynolds-Fisher, Interim CHHS Dean
• Dr. Pei-Fang Hung, Vice Provost for Academic Programs
• Dr. Dina Perrone, Interim Dean for Graduate Studies
• Dr. Alaine Ocampo, Interim CHHS Assistant Dean for Student Success
• Sneha Hamilton, CHHS Advising Assistant Director
• Our dedicated SLP faculty

Thank you all for making this ceremony such a memorable and meaningful success! 🌟

Congratulations again to the SLP Class of 2026 — the future is bright, and we can’t wait to see the impact you will make! 🎉👏

🌟On April 17, our first-year graduate student,🎉 Tiffany Manuma 🎉, attended the Coastal CAPTAIN Cadre Conference in Irvine, CA — a collaborative event dedicated to promoting evidence-based practices that support individuals with autism across home, school, and community settings. 🌟

📚As a Project CARE Scholar, Tiffany co-presented with Dr. Belinda Daughrity on the role of exercise and movement in supporting regulation for individuals with autism. She also connected with families to share information about our CSULB clinic services and community resources. 🗣🌟

Thank you to Tiffany and the CARE team for their dedication to supporting the autistic community! 💙

🎓🌟 Celebrating Excellence – CSULB SLP Class of 2026 🌊💛

We are proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of our graduating students featured in this year’s commencement awards booklet. Your dedication, hard work, and passion for the field continue to inspire our entire community! 👏💬

We are so proud of each and every one of you as you take this next step in your journey. Congratulations, Class of 2026 , your future in speech-language pathology is bright! 🎉💛

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🎉🗣Shout out to Drs. Shriya Basu and Margaret Vento-Wilson, and undergraduate student Dilenia Herrera for presenting their work during the CHHS Week of RSCA! 🎉🗣

Kudos to Dr. Daughrity and graduate student Cindy Garcia, who coordinated and led the Interdisciplinary Autism Symposium, bringing together students and professionals to discuss best practices for supporting autistic individuals. 🌟🫂

Also, thanks to NSSLHA, SLP students, and faculty who attended and supported the event! 🦈🌟

🦈🌟CSULB’s SLP Department & Speech and Language Clinic is proud to have participated in the Celebration of the Young Child event hosted by the City of Long Beach. ☺️🌟

🌟Thank you to Professor Tydor, Dr. Lei Sun, and Dr. Belinda Daughrity for their support, along with Project CARE Scholar Jonathan Park . This event was led by Dr. Connie Yu, with a group of first-year graduate students who volunteered on Saturday (4/25/26) to conduct free speech screenings and provide resources on speech and language development for parents and caregivers. 🗣

Dr. Yu also had the opportunity to reconnect with community partners and promote our wonderful pro bono clinic. 🫂

🌟The SLP Department is incredibly proud of our graduate student volunteers for supporting our community. We appreciate Dr. Yu and our students’ time and dedication to helping parents and caregivers through sharing information, offering valuable resources, and promoting our amazing clinic.🌟

🎉🌟The CSULB SLP Department is very proud of our undergraduate students who established a chapter of National Alzheimer’s Buddies at CSULB! 🎉🎊

National Alzheimer’s Buddies (NAB) 💜 is a national non-profit organization that pairs college students with nursing home residents in the intermediate-to-late stages of Alzheimer’s disease to help combat social isolation. 🫂💜

🏆Ava Casas is the President of CSULB NAB and worked to bring a chapter to CSULB in Spring 2026 after feeling inspired to build a community of fellow students who are passionate about providing companionship to memory-care residents and giving back to the Long Beach community. 🦈🌟

Student volunteers attend one-hour shifts once a week at Mom and Dad’s Homes, which are memory care facilities in Lakewood and Long Beach. 🏠💜 They lead the activities such as making flower bouquets, bookmarks, bracelets, as well as coloring, sensory activities, and sharing stories and poems. 💐🎨🖌

🌟The CSULB NAB board currently consists of Speech-Language Pathology undergraduate students Ava Casas, Gavynne Alcantara, Mary Vu, Zophia Saban-Hardwick, Kenzie Chu, and Emily Cano 🗣🗨 .However, general members also come from nursing, psychology, health science, and other majors, and students from any major are welcome to join! 🧠👥

🎉The SLP Department is proud of our students who actively support the community and demonstrate our commitment and passion for people who have communication difficulties due to various neurological conditions. 🧠🌟 Long Beach Current Newspaper recently wrote and published an article about the CSULB Chapter of National Alzheimer's Buddies, please check it out: 📰🦈https://lbcurrent.com/news/2026/03/30/new-club-connects-student-volunteers-with-alzheimers-patients/

🌟We had a successful Day at the Beach for our SLP FTFY, transfer, and admitted graduate students.🌟

⭐With the support of student volunteers ⭐, NSSLHA officers, faculty members, and Lisa Fish from CHHS Advising, we came together to provide information, answer questions, and offer tours across two locations—the KIN Courtyard and the LAB building.🦈

We held a total of 10 department/clinic tours at the LAB building between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. It was definitely a busy day, but also rewarding to see admitted students leave with smiles, excitement, and appreciation for the information we shared.🎉😄

🗣🌟A big shout-out to all our amazing student volunteers—we would not have been able to host such a successful event without your help:
Kirsten Roeder, Sabrina Hajeid, Caroline Lomeli, Brianne Yim, Ximena Avalos, Lee Barreto, Emma Torres

🗣🌟Also, thank you to our incredible NSSLHA officers for sharing our wonderful student club:
Uly Sinaga, Ashley Nguyen, Renee Hau

And last but not least, our supportive faculty members💛:
Drs. Margaret Vento-Wilson, Salim Alani, Shriya Basu, and Lei Sun

The SLP team rocks! 🦈🌟Thank you to our student volunteers and faculty for making our DATB a successful and memorable event! 🎊

🌟🎉 CSULB at the 2026 California Speech Language Hearing Association Convention (CSHA)!🌊💛

CSULB was proudly represented at this year’s convention with an incredible showing from our students and faculty! 👏📚 From competing in the CSHA Knowledge Bowl 🧠✨ to presenting research and clinical work at the convention 🎤💬, our Beach community showed up with excellence, passion, and pride.

A special congratulations to our outstanding student award recipients:
🏆 Kareesha de Visser— recipient of the CSHA Michele Linares Diversity and Inclusion Student Award
🏆 Kirsten Roeder — recipient of the CSHA District 6 Outstanding Student Award
🏆 Deirdre Cunningham — recipient of the SPG Therapy & Education Student CSHA Scholarship

We are so proud of our students and faculty for representing CSULB with leadership, scholarship, and heart. 💛🌊 Go Beach!

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🌟SLP undergrad students volunteered at a free Ceramics Therapeutic Exploration Session for neurodiverse individuals! 🎨✨

Peer 1 on 1’s Beach Cities Branch collaborated with Tia Santana, Assistant Professor of Art in the Ceramics Department at CSULB, to host this special event on March 7, 2026. With over 20 years of experience in community-based clay programs that integrate art and healing, Professor Santana led a thoughtful, hands-on experience. The event was hosted by Dr. Mao, Communications Professor at CSULB.

Five of our SLP undergraduates — Emily Valle, Ximena Avalos, Shelsey Hernandez, Kyla Lusk, and Kirsten Roeder — assisted with event setup and were paired one-on-one with participants and their families. They supported pottery wheel activities and encouraged creative expression through clay exploration and hand-building. 🖌️🌟

Events like this provide meaningful opportunities for SLP students to support communication, sensory exploration, and community engagement in an inclusive, creative environment. 💛

📢 Spread the word! Do you know an adult who needs speech-language therapy following a stroke, TBI, or brain injury? The CSULB Speech and Language Clinic is now accepting new neurogenic applicants interested in receiving services. To apply, simply scan the QR code to complete the adult questionnaire on our website. For more information, please contact us at [email protected] or 562.985.4583.