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Leaders from the West Virginia Speech-Language-Hearing Association (WVSHA) join the conversation to discuss advocacy, leadership, and the role of state organizations in speech-language pathology.
Dr. Tori Gilbert, SLP, private practice owner and current association president, and Allegra Cornaglia, PhD/SLP, assistant professor and convention chair, share their experiences working within a state association and supporting clinicians across West Virginia. They discuss how WVSHA operates, opportunities for SLPs to get involved, and why clinician leadership at the state level matters.
For SLPs interested in advocacy, professional leadership, or understanding how state-level organizations influence the profession, this discussion offers insight into how change happens within SLP.
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Creators and Guests
Host
Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP
Host of Fix SLP
What is Fix SLP: Advocacy & Accountability in Speech-Language Pathology?
Fix SLP is an SLP Podcast by Dr. Jeanette Benigas about advocacy, autonomy, and reform in Speech-Language Pathology. This show exposes credentialing gatekeeping, dismantles CCC requirements, and helps SLPs advocate for change. Each episode equips SLPs with tools to reclaim their profession. Subscribe now and join the movement transforming speech-language pathology. Follow @fix.slp on Instagram and TikTok. Visit fixslp.com.
Welcome to Fix SLP, the podcast shaking up the field of speech language pathology. We're calling out the barriers that hold clinicians back, fixing broken systems that limit our care, and giving the power of our profession back to the people who live it every day. This is where fearless clinicians come together. It's time to change the field with our voices, leadership, and advocacy leading the way. So let's Fix SLP.
Jeanette Benigas:Hey, everybody, welcome back. I have a state by state episode today. We have West Virginia. I have Tori Gilbert, who is the president of the West Virginia Speech Language and Hearing Association. And then we've also asked Allegra Cornaglea to come on.
Jeanette Benigas:She is the current chair of the convention planning committee. At some point, she says she will be the treasurer of the West Virginia Speech Language and Hearing Association. So thanks for coming on, I'm glad to be getting back into my state by state series. We've had a bunch of states on previously, like more than a year ago, I think. We just had Virginia a couple weeks ago, so you guys are next, next in line.
Jeanette Benigas:So this is early guys. We're going to do our best to talk about West Virginia this morning. But why don't you each tell us about yourself? We'll start with Tori. Tell us about yourself, your name, what you do in the association, where do you practice, and something fun like a hobby.
Tori Gilbert:Sure. Hi, I'm Tori Gilbert. I'm the current president of Wavisha. And something fun about myself is I'm a mom of three. I guess, like, is that fun when you're a mom?
Tori Gilbert:That's the fun thing you do is chase your children your children to your event. And so I have three beautiful children I chase around outside of work. I am a private practice owner. My private practice is called Chatter and Chalk, and we're located in Morgantown, West Virginia. My clinical work focuses mainly on AAC, child language development, and speech sound disorders.
Tori Gilbert:I'm deeply passionate about advocacy and systems levels changed, so not only for my clients and families, but also professionally, which led me to Lavisha.
Allegra Cornaglia:I'm Allegra Cornaglia. I am an assistant professor at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, but I live in West Virginia and I've lived in West Virginia for almost two decades now. And so it's a state that's close to my heart. I did all of my training there, my clinical work there. I was in birth to three for several years.
Allegra Cornaglia:And so I just love the state, and I'm part of the association because I feel like we're we can make a bigger difference there because there's fewer of us and it's a small state, so it's it's easier to make change. So I felt like if I was gonna put my efforts into helping a state association, it would be West Virginia's. I'm also a pediatric SLP. Lots of AAC here too. So we're very AAC heavy in the state.
Allegra Cornaglia:And I'm a hobby hopper, so I don't really have any particular hobby at the at the moment, but I love to travel and be my hobby. I've probably tried it.
Jeanette Benigas:I am fully convinced that when you are a professor, there is no room for hobbies. I think it was when I started in academia that hobbies very solidly went away. I think the last time I really read a book, not on vacation, was in 2008 maybe. So
Allegra Cornaglia:Yeah. It gets hard. It gets hard to have a life outside of grading and everything else that goes along with being a professor.
Tori Gilbert:Honestly, I got involved with Wavisha whenever I was employed as a professor at WVU. I realized more in that setting that if you wanted to make change, you kinda had to be at the table. And I began in the position of conference coordinator for two years like Allegra is doing. And in that, I fell in that role because I loved training. I was the coordinator of clinical training at WVU, and I liked that part of my job.
Tori Gilbert:I liked training. I like putting together trainings and organizing things. So I fell into that position because that was my interest. And then as I was on the Wabisha board for a couple of years, I really loved it. I loved being a part of it.
Tori Gilbert:And so then, once it was was offered to me after I was president-elect and and became president, that just started in January, so I'm still a fresh president. But I really love that it's clinicians advocating for clinicians. Right? And it's small. It's abstract.
Tori Gilbert:Or it's not abstract, rather, it's personal. So we're we're serving people who are practicing here and who understand what it means to be SLPs and audiologists in the state of West Virginia. So things that are happening real time are really important to us in a small state, and so that makes the work way more impactful.
Allegra Cornaglia:So for me, I actually got involved because I saw Tori working at the convention table, looking like she needed some help. So I offered my services, and now I'm here. And, like I said before, I understand how much of an impact we can have in West Virginia with just a few people. And as a as a professor, you know, I have to fill up that service. Right?
Allegra Cornaglia:So if I'm gonna spend my service hours doing something, figured it would be it's not doing something that I can actually help but make a difference. So I feel like I could do that with this association.
Jeanette Benigas:I feel like it's the very best way to get those academic service hours. You could be on a committee at the university, but who cares if you can impact the entire profession in your state? Mean, it's all important, but it goes a really long way. You're going to reach people that don't even know you're reaching them and you don't even know that you're It's good. So I know we're going to talk about your convention, but we'll save that for towards the end.
Jeanette Benigas:What's something that your association is working on right now and how can clinicians listening best support whatever that effort is?
Tori Gilbert:Right now, we're focused on our legislative session. Right? We're in session. So at the moment, the legislative presence and improving the community transparency about what's going on with the members during the session is kind of at the forefront. We want all of our clinicians and members to feel heard and informed and represented.
Tori Gilbert:So that's that's a big area of emphasis right now. We're also in the middle of restructuring our committees at the moment to kind of better align with the current needs of our members and the professional community in general in West Virginia. And the goal of that is just to create, like, clear roles and increase opportunities for more member involvement and then also ensure that our association is well equipped to respond more effectively to advocacy or professional or legislative priorities that pop up in West Virginia.
Allegra Cornaglia:And to answer your question about what they can do to get involved, reach out to us. We would love volunteers. We are working on a shoestring here, and we would love more bodies. That would help us to do a lot more in the state. They if anyone has the inclination, please reach out.
Tori Gilbert:Absolutely. Yeah. Join the association, respond to legislative alerts, attend town halls, share your stories with us. Those real stories from clinicians who are in the real world are really more impactful to legislative movement and just kind of getting things done in the state.
Jeanette Benigas:Coming from someone who has been now running a fully volunteer advocacy group for two and a half years, any level of volunteering is welcome. I will support what they say. If you're in West Virginia, you don't have to have fifteen hours every week to advocate or volunteer. Sometimes they just need someone to help bump their social media stuff so it reaches more people. There's a lot of ways that clinicians can get involved directly or indirectly, And you've got two very engaged ladies here with probably an entire board behind them who is equally engaged, working their tails off to improve the climate for SLPs in West Virginia.
Jeanette Benigas:So anything you can do to help them grow, be stronger, get the word out further is really important. I happen to know they have a very nice Facebook page because I've been following it for years. I complimented Allegra the other day, come to find out it was Tori making very nice posts collecting information from West Virginia SLPs that were very advocacy, West Virginia centric driven. Probably West Virginia is one of the first state pages I started following for VicksSLP.
Tori Gilbert:Oh, I'd love to hear that.
Jeanette Benigas:So, I was highly impressed. Cheers to that. Okay, So that's something that's going on now. You're in legislative session. Thank God you're paying attention.
Jeanette Benigas:I think that's very timely to connect the dots for people listening. When you're not paying attention, things like code changes happen where you have no idea and your entire profession can be impacted. So not that that isn't something that's at risk in West Virginia specifically, but things can happen through legislative sessions that can impact your ability to practice in the state or how you deliver service or how services are funded. So paying attention to that is very important. Thankfully, they're doing it for you.
Jeanette Benigas:They'll do call to actions when you need to take action. But pay attention to that because it's a big deal. We're going through that right now as a profession. No one was paying attention and here we are fighting on how we give service. So what is on the agenda for the future?
Jeanette Benigas:Once you get through legislative session, what do you do you think you're planning towards and what do you anticipate the needs might be for that to be successful?
Tori Gilbert:I think what's on the agenda for the future is kind of, you know, as I said, I'm I'm just starting in my presidency, so, we're kind of hammering all of that out. We really want stronger men member engagement within those volunteer positions, but we really wanna fill those committees so that they're active. So member engagement is huge, and also sharing transparently and coming up with those processes for sharing information transparently with our members. And then intentionally collaborating throughout the year so that we're not only coming together at an annual convention, but that we are actively talking and collaborating throughout the year. Something else I'm really passionate about is making sure that we have more student involvement.
Tori Gilbert:You know, we have it, but let's maximize it. So there are a lot of things that we've talked about and that we have on our plans and our agendas to kind of improve student interaction and involvement within the association. And what do they get from that? Right? So kind of making that more enticing.
Tori Gilbert:And then obviously, continuing our advocacy infrastructure, making sure that that's solid and coming up with ways that we we can handle things as an association. And to make that successful, we really need membership growth. Right? We need per participation, consistent participation. Because like you were mentioning earlier, advocacy can't just fall on a handful of volunteers.
Tori Gilbert:It really requires all of us in the state. So the more, the merrier for all of those things to happen.
Allegra Cornaglia:And I will add, we only have three grad programs in the state of West Virginia. So if we could get all of them together in one place working together, that is a very tight knit community that can form. And when you have a tight knit community, you can make things happen in the state. So if we can get the student involvement, I think it's a great avenue for working towards advocacy for us as as a profession in the state.
Jeanette Benigas:I'm going to echo that as a now I don't want to say older, but more seasoned SLP. You learn along the way that generally the SLP community is very small. But I imagine in a state where there's only three grad programs, it is even smaller. So some of these people that you meet as grad students will be in your life some way, one way or another, probably for the rest of your career, whether you like them or not. So number one, learning to play nice, but number two, learning to play together in a way that benefits everyone, you, the state, your practice, your people you're serving is very helpful, especially because down the road, in fifteen years, when there's something that you need to do, that's important to you, if you've made these connections with people in your state, it's a lot easier to get things done.
Jeanette Benigas:And I know that's a lot of like forward thinking, but that just happened to me in Ohio, I needed to, there's something I want to see happen in Ohio, we're dealing with some Medicaid stuff. So I went to the OSHA page to see who was on the board. And lo and behold, I had a couple friends on there that I haven't seen since my PhD program, but I reached out we've reconnected, we're trying to plan margaritas. But you know, those connections help. So if you're a student, this is the invitation was just given like this is a place to go get mentors, learn, grow, help your state.
Jeanette Benigas:If you're a student, please go do this. We haven't talked numbers yet, but I assume membership for students is probably very cheap. Take advantage. It's a good thing. I know you're studying and doing homework and taking the praxis, but this is an easy thing to add in.
Jeanette Benigas:It will help. I promise. So I know that every state association does things a little differently, especially now that I've talked to a good dozen. How far out in advance are you guys planning your agenda and how do you decide on what the agenda is for the year that you're in?
Tori Gilbert:Again, I feel like as a new president, don't have all of the history to say what has been done. But what we are doing is really letting our agenda be driven by member feedback, emerging professional threats, things that are going on or opportunities, not just threats, but also legislative session priorities if something is within that wheelhouse, especially right now. And I think strategic planning by talking. Right? So we have our board meetings quarterly, making sure that we're paying attention to what we've been talking about and we're hearing everybody.
Tori Gilbert:Like I said, having a seat at the table can be very impactful. So listening, truly listening to each other on the board or any of our members. I'm a very big, like, advocate of of listening to feedback and then applying it, not just hearing it, but applying it. So listening to those collective thoughts from, you know, SLPs and audiologists around the state, and then applying things to make a change and talking about it without any stress or or, you know, conflict. And if there is conflict, then let's talk about it, and let's let's figure it out.
Tori Gilbert:You know, that's the point of everybody being there. So I think, really, the the agenda is driven by a variety of things, not just one, and definitely driven by the whole group and not just one person either. So we're hoping that our goals will always align with what's most directly impacting clinicians at that moment and in the populations that they're serving. Because, like I said, we're we're clinicians working together and for clinicians in the state.
Allegra Cornaglia:I will say a big shout out to our current treasurer who I'll be taking over from who is the reason why we have a great reserve. She's an excellent she's been excellent treasurer, excellent person to hold on to our funds because she's been very good.
Jeanette Benigas:Do you want me to air that?
Allegra Cornaglia:Sure. Jessica, you are fabulous.
Tori Gilbert:Jessica Malonis. There
Jeanette Benigas:we go. Jessica, thanks for being on the team. We were just having an off the record conversation about state funding and reserves. I don't typically put that stuff out there, but I like to be supportive, so I like to know. So that's why they were shouting her out.
Jeanette Benigas:Jessica, great work. So it looks like your agenda sounds like your agenda is in the moment. If people have been longtime listeners, some states they're planning like a year out or three years out. You guys are responding to needs in the moment immediately with maybe some things in your head for the future. Great way to operate, I think.
Jeanette Benigas:Next question. Does the association pay for a lobbyist?
Tori Gilbert:Yeah. We do. We have a lobbyist, and we have have a had a lobbyist. I don't know when that began, but it's been for a long time. So as a small state association, it's a financial commitment on our are on our behalf, but it's essential.
Tori Gilbert:And so we do have someone present at the capital monitoring bills in real time, advising us on strategy. Right now, we're in the thick of it since we're in session. And so each week, I get a like, an update just about monitoring and bill tracking and letting us know what's changing and evolving. But I also I use them a lot to ask questions during this time because I'm still learning a lot of it. And so he's been a really great resource for us.
Tori Gilbert:Well worth it.
Jeanette Benigas:I've learned a lot from doing Fix SLP too. So lingo and working with state representatives, which in fact, Dave Fogan reached out to me at one point a year or more ago and we had some conversations. So, you know, I've had the opportunity to learn some of that lingo, but none of us are born with it and we're certainly not taught this in school. That's a good resource to have. Are you comfortable sharing how much you pay your lobbyist?
Tori Gilbert:Yeah, sure. We pay them 4,500.
Jeanette Benigas:A year?
Tori Gilbert:Or at least that's what mhmm. Per year.
Jeanette Benigas:Oh, that's a steal. Really?
Tori Gilbert:We're in West Virginia, Jeanette.
Jeanette Benigas:I always ask that because an early goal of Fix SLP was to hire lobbyists. And someone said to me who was in the note was a former state president, she's like, with all due respect, lobbyists are 10 to $20,000 a year. Well, where will you get that kind of money? So that's why I started asking this question because it doesn't seem like all lobbyists are 10 to 20,000 a year, but it might also depend on how much work they're doing for you. I think there's probably a lot that goes into that number.
Jeanette Benigas:I'm guessing that the money you bring in from membership dues helps to pay that lobbyist, right? Accurate. Okay. West Virginia folks, if you haven't joined and you want some representation, this is a great way to support that is by joining the association so they can continue to pay for that work. That leads me to if people want to join your association, what can they expect as a member?
Tori Gilbert:I think members can expect, obviously, we've said this a couple of times, legislative protection and monitoring. Right? That's not something that we have time to do in our full time, you know, eight to five jobs is watch bills and monitor monitor things, but it's important to know. Right? It's crucial to know.
Tori Gilbert:So we are trying our best to do that as much as we can at the state level and then share that with everybody. Professional representation. So, you know, we do a pretty good job of representing at the state level for SLPs and audiologists, as well as offering continuing education opportunities. We have our annual convention where we have a a full two days jam packed to CEUs, and we're also hoping to increase that in the future. Hopefully, we can offer more CEU options throughout the year.
Tori Gilbert:I think it's a great space for members to have networking and kind of leadership and mentorship amongst each other and then a voice. Right? Like, if you are a member, your voice is helping to shape your profession in the state. So I think that that is probably the most fulfilling, reason is that, you know, you you again have a voice at the table and you're helping to shape your professions.
Allegra Cornaglia:I think we're unique as far as the state association goes where if you don't know one of us, you know someone who knows us. So as a member of our association, we're not strangers. So if you're part of the association, you literally have a voice. You can literally email someone on the board and they'll get back to you. Or you might know them personally.
Allegra Cornaglia:Or you might know like I said, it's it's like two degrees of separation in this state. So if you wanna have a say, you can have a say no matter where you are in the state.
Jeanette Benigas:So I think becoming part of the association, you can make a difference. So if you want things to change, join us. We can do it. How can clinicians best communicate their ideas and concerns to the association? Allegra just said, you don't know us, you know somebody who does know us will return your email.
Jeanette Benigas:I've got Allegro on the speed dial now. So anytime I say, can you chat for five minutes? I now know it's going to be like an hour because, you know, we talk. But how can people communicate that? What what is the preferred avenue?
Jeanette Benigas:And then how does the association handle those communications once they're received?
Tori Gilbert:I think there are a variety of ways that you can share information, ideas or concerns. First, I think we are all very open and welcome to an email. Like, shoot me an email. That's probably the fastest way to get ahold of any of us. You can email us directly, and I'm happy to respond.
Tori Gilbert:Our board meetings are open for anyone to attend. They're public, so we're gonna try to do a better job about posting those invites and registration so people can attend. As well as there's a contact form on our website. So if you go to our website, there's like a contact us general form. That's a very fast way to get to us if you're like, I don't feel like looking up an email and I just need to get an answer.
Tori Gilbert:You can fill out that contact form, and it kind of sends that submission to emails of people on the board, and we will respond to you in a very quick way. Or you can kind of participate in any of those public town halls that we're having. For example, we're having one next Tuesday. We share that on our Facebook and share the registration link, so register and attend. Those are great ways to share your concerns or information that you have.
Tori Gilbert:And when they are received, like I mentioned earlier, we don't just shove those under the rug. We think about those, we take the feedback, we discuss them. And then when appropriate, we can assign those things to committees to make sure that they're, you know, handled and then followed up on. So transparency and responsiveness are certainly priorities of Wavisha.
Jeanette Benigas:Good. So people are listening. They love what they hear. They want to they want to apply to join. How can they do that?
Jeanette Benigas:How much money is it? What should they do?
Allegra Cornaglia:On our website. So if you just go to wvsha.org, wvsha.org, there's a link to join us now. There's a little form you can fill out. There are different types of memberships. So we've got the full professional membership for a year.
Allegra Cornaglia:It's $55. The associate number, so you don't even I I I'm not really sure what that one is.
Jeanette Benigas:I know what it is because I'm sitting here like I wanna join them. I am not a licensed professional in your state. How much am I about to drop on this thing, Allegra? $20. $20.
Jeanette Benigas:$20? $20. Yep. $20. Excuse me while I join.
Jeanette Benigas:I'm doing it right now.
Tori Gilbert:It's a steal. Yeah.
Allegra Cornaglia:We also have an affiliate member, which is only $8 a year.
Jeanette Benigas:Or is that what I would be?
Allegra Cornaglia:I'm not sure. I'm not sure of the difference in the associate
Jeanette Benigas:and affiliate. What what will I get the most benefit from? Listen. We're here to make money from you, Jeanette.
Tori Gilbert:How about the associate? Let's go with associate.
Allegra Cornaglia:Okay. We also have a full time student membership, which get this, it's free.
Tori Gilbert:No excuses.
Jeanette Benigas:Wait. Say that again.
Allegra Cornaglia:If you want to be a student member of our association, it is free.
Jeanette Benigas:One more time for the Free. The students sleeping in the back of the class. Free, you said? Yes.
Allegra Cornaglia:Yes. Free. We will we will take your membership and we will take your ideas and your voices and whatever you wanna give us for free.
Jeanette Benigas:Okay. So in between the frat party and the praxis exam, all they have to do is fill out a form? Yep. That's it. Amazing.
Jeanette Benigas:Okay, students. Zero excuse at this point. Okay, I looked up your definitions, by the way. Associate members must hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent with a major emphasis in speech language pathology, audiology, deaf education or speech language or hearing science, or demonstrate an interest in disorders of communication through his or her area of employment. So that would be an associate member.
Jeanette Benigas:An affiliate member must show an interest in and or pursuit of a degree or equivalent in speech language pathology, audiology, deaf education. I don't fit in either of those. Oh, am I going to have to pay the 55?
Allegra Cornaglia:Oh,
Jeanette Benigas:we'll do this after. I will review my options and make a choice, but I'll I'll send your state some money. So, Okay, students get signed up. It's time. There's no excuse.
Jeanette Benigas:Okay, so I will have the links to join linked up. Tori has already sent those to me in the show notes, you can just easily go access those from wherever you're listening. But another big reason why you guys are on right now is to talk about the convention, because not only is it coming up, registration is open, but I've thrown out a very excellent idea that you've agreed to. So any listener, especially if near West Virginia, can take advantage of this. So what's going on with your convention, Allegra?
Jeanette Benigas:Tell us about it.
Allegra Cornaglia:Our convention this year is in Charleston, so the state capital, and it is April, which is a Tuesday and Wednesday, which is a little bit different. We usually will try to do it on, a Thursday or Friday, but the capital's a little hard to get space in. So we are Tuesday, Wednesday at the convention center. So easy parking, easy access. So we will start so they're all day Tuesday and Wednesday.
Allegra Cornaglia:So starting, like, 08:00 in the morning till 05:00, we are jam packed with speakers. Our keynote speaker is Meredith Harold from the Informed SLP. Shout out to her. She was she was immediately, she was enthusiastic about coming. The theme of our our convention this year is advocacy, and she was very enthused to come and talk about wages and how and the ethics of how we get paid.
Allegra Cornaglia:So that her keynote will talk about all those things that you wonder about, like, why my w two versus a ten ninety nine? What what should I be looking for with my wages? So we're really excited to have her as a keynote.
Jeanette Benigas:I'm gonna jump in and say even though she does do informed SLP, she is very knowledgeable about that topic because of the second company she has started, which we are huge fans of over here at Fix SLP, is Informed Jobs. So if you've not been to the Informed Jobs website, which is now integrated into the Informed SLP website, this is not a sponsored ad, go there and click it and learn about all of this cool education that she and her team have collecting on jobs and pay. And also, if you're in the market for a job, they have very strict criteria on what people can post that you can't just post, you have to be accepted. And they demand transparency. Amazing website, fully support, love it for our profession.
Jeanette Benigas:So yes, InformedSLP is CEU based, but InformedJobs, she has been living in this research and information for years now, and she's chef's kiss. She's gonna be so good. I cannot wait to see her talk. So
Tori Gilbert:I was just on InformedJobs yesterday to fill out the application to post a job because your first post to post a job is free if you're approved as if your application is approved.
Jeanette Benigas:Nice. I didn't know that.
Tori Gilbert:It is absolutely amazing. Yeah.
Jeanette Benigas:Yeah. I'll add a little extra.
Allegra Cornaglia:If you would like to work in a wonderful environment, Tori's preschool is offering a job for an SLP. I'll put that out there. So any of our listeners here who would love to work in a therapeutic preschool as an SLP, I mean, job. Right? Go on and check out this is a double here.
Allegra Cornaglia:So chatter and chalk Mhmm. And also the informed jobs website where that will be posted.
Tori Gilbert:Yes.
Jeanette Benigas:So, Allegra, who else are you excited about talking at your convention?
Allegra Cornaglia:One, Jeanette Benigas, who is coming to talk to us about how you can be an advocate that you you don't need anything special. Whatever your strengths are can be used for advocacy. And I am excited. I'm relieved to hear her speak about it.
Jeanette Benigas:There's a book that I would love to give all attendees, but I simply cannot afford it. So you could not my book. It's just a book that I've read. So you could buy the book after. But yeah, I'll be talking about a little bit about a book too and applying your strengths to advocacy.
Jeanette Benigas:Love that. Anybody else that off the top of your head, any pediatric or adult people coming that might have something good to say?
Allegra Cornaglia:Well, you can also hear our very own Tori Gilbert. She is presenting twice, once on supervision with her SLPD student that she has and also on speech sound disorders, which is always a popular topic at our convention, we have a lot of school SLPs that come. We've got a lot of AAC content. We've got AAC experts coming from everywhere. So if you wanna learn more about AAC, you this is the place to get CEUs.
Allegra Cornaglia:We have Jackie Gardner Schmidt who is a wonderful voice specialist, but she's also presenting twice for us once on metatherapy, which is used in a lot of voice therapy. She's also talking about perceptual motor learning theory and applying it to voice and speech therapy. So if that's, those are areas of interest for you. We have talks on advocacy across the lifespan, so adult advocacy, AAC advocacy, what to do in the school districts. We have some homegrown experts on narrative language and increasing disability for language disorders in the school.
Allegra Cornaglia:So I will give a shout out to Megan Israelson Augustine. She is a faculty member at WVU, but that is her area of research, and she's very active in the school systems in West Virginia. Another big thing I'm really excited about is on the second day of our conference. So during our lunch hour, we are having a town hall with state legislators. I invited all state legislators to come.
Allegra Cornaglia:We've got at least four who have committed to coming for us to actually sit down and talk about what they can be doing for us, what we can be doing with them to, advance the profession in the state. So I'm really, really excited about that. So
Jeanette Benigas:I'm really excited about that day for you, Allegra, and I really wanted to come. You you gave me the times of it last time we talked, and I was booking my flight to Boston because I'm speaking at the American Medical Association meeting about CPT ninety two thousand five
Tori Gilbert:hundred
Jeanette Benigas:seven. And there is no way I cannot arrange a flight to get to Boston in a reasonable time if I stay for that. So I'm really disappointed because even though it's West Virginia specific, that kind of talk and being in that kind of environment is really directly related to the kind of stuff I need to be learning for Fix SLP. So I'm really disappointed. But for attendees, that's it's going to be great even to just be a fly on the wall to be there.
Jeanette Benigas:Totally worth it, I bet. So good for you for arranging that. I will link up where people can go to register. What is the cost? Where is it being held?
Allegra Cornaglia:So it is in Charleston at the Coliseum, the convention center. So right downtown, the April. You can register right on our website, and I've sent the link. We've got the link ready to go. Full registration is $4.25.
Allegra Cornaglia:One day registration is $2.50. We do have a discount code for anyone who's listening to this podcast. It is FIXWV, all capital letters, and that will get you a member price for the full registration. So if you are one of our neighboring states, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, come on down. We're we welcome you.
Jeanette Benigas:Yes. So I threw that out to you and Virginia like, hey, you guys have some good speakers. I'm biased, but I bet people will wanna hear. And you have a lot of neighboring states where sometimes if people are on that border down near Wheeling from Ohio, I happen to know I have in laws down there, it's super close. And in some cases, your convention might be closer than the one that Ohio's have.
Jeanette Benigas:Not that I want to scout people from Ohio, but I mean, with such great speakers, why not? So get that discount if you're from a different state or even I'm assuming in the state and a non member can use that as well. Yes. They're shaking their head. Yes.
Jeanette Benigas:So if you're not a member and you are from anywhere in or out of West Virginia, you can get the member rate, which is awesome. Hope that's successful for you guys. We'll test it. We'll see. Is there anything else you guys want to talk about or say before we wrap up?
Tori Gilbert:No. Thanks for having us, and thanks for listening.
Jeanette Benigas:Sure. It has always been my intention since day one of Fix SLP, since the first meeting that we took with someone, it has always been the intention for me to support states. So thank you for collaborating and being a part of this and, you know, whatever we can do with our army to support your state, you're a part of this now, whether you like it or not. So, thank you. I appreciate it.
Jeanette Benigas:All right. So, everything's going to be linked up in the show notes for you. I will remind you of the code there in the show notes as well. And if you have any questions, where can they find you? You said you can email.
Jeanette Benigas:I'm sure that email is on the website, but tell us your social media handle if people want to go follow.
Allegra Cornaglia:So it is West Virginia Speech-Language Hearing Association. So all spelled out on Facebook. Students,
Jeanette Benigas:last shout out. Zero excuses. Go do this. Okay? Zero excuses.
Jeanette Benigas:Go join everybody else. It's cheap as heck. They're running on a shoestring budget at those prices and paying for a lobbyist. They want to hear from you. They want your participation.
Jeanette Benigas:They're totally open to it. So go do that and we'll see you all next week. Thanks for fixing it guys. Thanks for coming ladies.
Jeanette Benigas:Thanks for listening to the FixSLP podcast, the podcast shaking up the field of speech language pathology.
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