Several dozen Lawrence community members gathered Friday to celebrate renovations to a KU lab that helps people with complex communication needs.
The lab — in full, the Pardee Augmentative and Alternative Communication lab in the Schiefelbusch Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic — takes its name from Russell Pardee, who had severe Broca’s aphasia and was unable to communicate verbally.
Julie Gatts, co-director of the lab, said Pardee would cut words out of newspapers and magazines to communicate. In 1992, he purchased an augmentative and alternative communication system that allowed him to express his thoughts more efficiently.
“Russell was an amazing and dynamic man who left a mark on each of us who knew him,” Gatts said. “l can still hear his chuckle and see his ornery smile as he would use his device to say ‘Buzz off, you turkey.’”
The clinical lab was founded with a donation Pardee left after his death in 2001. The lab was moved into its current space in 2004.
Kate DeJarnette, clinical assistant professor, said the lab hosts more than 100 students annually as they learn more about AAC technologies and services.
The students get to see firsthand how AAC can change lives, she said — the tools empower people in their communication and life participation.
The renovated space is more flexible and will allow the team to continue teaching and services but with even more possibilities to be conducive to assisting clients, hosting courses and professional development and collecting data and conducting research. The lab also includes a museum of AAC devices through the years.
Community members can benefit from the lab’s loan library, which allows people short-term access to ACC devices while they wait for their permanent devices to arrive, DeJarnette said.
“This direct engagement with our community reflects our belief that everyone deserves the right to robust, meaningful communication that promotes access to active life participation,” she said.
Elizabeth Leatherman, a clinical assistant professor and co-director of the lab, said the renovated lab is “a testament to our commitment to innovation, education, clinical research, and contributing to a healthy and vibrant community.”
She shared plans to expand the lab even more to include an environmental control demonstration space where people may try out technology that integrates with AAC devices. Some of the features of upcoming device integrations will support operating appliances, controlling lighting and more.
Also in attendance Friday was Jane Wegner, professor emeritus. She was the founder and director of the lab until her retirement in 2020, and she worked with Pardee until his death.
Matthew Gillispie, clinic director, highlighted Wegner’s “unwavering dedication, innovative spirit, and profound impact on countless lives” and said that “her leadership and advocacy have left an indelible mark on the field and have inspired many to follow in her footsteps.”
“We are all better clinicians and educators for having her mentorship,” Gillispie said.
Services offered at the Schiefelbusch clinic
In addition to research and education, the Schiefelbusch Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic offers a variety of services.
The clinic accepts health insurance including Medicaid, offers fees on a sliding scale and provides scholarships for clients. The clinic serves people of all ages with communicative challenges.
Some of the services at the clinic include audiology evaluations, hearing aid services, speech-language evaluations and intervention, playgroups and reading groups for infants to early elementary, a language acquisition preschool, communication summer camp and the AAC loan library.
Visit the clinic’s website, splhclinic.ku.edu, for more information.
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Molly Adams (she/her), photojournalist and news operations coordinator for The Lawrence Times, can be reached at molly@lawrencekstimes.com. Check out more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
