Meet the Group from MSU

The purpose of the November 2007 project is to identify, assess and document a group of children and adults who have communicative difficulties that are associated with or result from cleft lip and/or cleft palate. From this group of children and adults a subset will be followed in a future project, most likely in March 2008. A group of 10 graduate students from the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders who are enrolled in CSD 823J, "Medical Aspects of Speech-Language Pathology" will be at the Centro de Salud in Nic te Ha. Dr. Peter LaPine will direct and coordinate all aspects of the project. Clinical supervision will be provided by Juile Tobin, M.A., a speech-language pathologist. (Julie has already participated in a previous MSU project with Angel Notion!) As always, the relationship between Michigan State University and Angel Notion brings many benefits to the people of Quintana Roo. This upcoming project will also develop the internet linkage between MSU's main campus in East Lansing and any Angel Notion project, regardless of where that project may be located. The internet link will in the future lead to research and teaching opportunities for MSU faculty and students; it will provide a source of training for young mothers with handicapped children and it will link Centro de Salud with programs and personnel at MSU.

The members of the November project are pictured here. Pictures of several others are not yet available but will be posted soon.

Angel Notion continues to progress and succeed in Playa del Carmen. Together with MSU, Angel Notion achieves its goal: "children become priority, and people like you make a difference."


Ashley Blom (below) will develop the language assessment components.

Kristen Owns (above) will work with Annie O'Brien on the speech development components.

Ryan Dewey (below) will develop the hearing screening, Melisa Herta (right) will develop the language assessment for infants and toddlers, and Erin Werner (lower right) is compiling the oral mechanism components.

Annie O'Brien

Don't panic......unlike Lavonna and Donna these two are identical twins! Meghan Houslander (left) and Jennifer Houslander (above) have developed the protocols for informal observations.