Katherine Stone Wins Second Place Honors at Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention

Katherine Bailey Stone

VALDOSTA — Katherine Bailey Stone’s “Kinesio Tape in the Treatment of Dysphagia” won second place overall and second place in the graduate research category at the 2017 Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention Student Poster Competition.

Stone is a student in Valdosta State University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and expects to graduate with a Master of Education in communication sciences and disorders in July 2017. As part of her curriculum, she serves as a graduate student-clinician in the on-campus Speech and Hearing Clinic, which offers hearing evaluations, communication and cognitive evaluations, and therapeutic services to men, women, and children from the South Georgia area.  

“My research was about the use of Kinesio Tape in reducing residue in the valleculae and piriform sinuses in dysphagia secondary to anterior cervical spine surgery,” she explained.

Four American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Certificate of Clinical Competence-holding speech-language pathologists — Dr. Mary Gorham-Rowan, Katherine Walden, Melissa Carter, and Dr. Ruth Renee Hannibal, faculty members from VSU’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders — guided Stone’s research.

During the three-day Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Stone was able to expand her knowledge base by listening to nationally, state, and locally recognized experts from the speech-language pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, and assistive technology fields. She was also able to network with educators and professionals in her chosen career field and learn about the latest research being conducted by students at colleges and universities around the state.

The Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a professional association of individuals specializing in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of communication, swallowing, and hearing disorders. It advocates for the professional interests of its members and the individuals they serve and provides a forum for the exchange of professional information and ideas.

Stone, 23, is a member of the Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the recipient of a travel grant that she used to attend the 2016 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from Florida State University in May 2015. She is the daughter of Jack and Suzi Stone of Jacksonville, Fla.