The caucus supports speech-language-hearing professionals serving API communities and nurtures future API professionals. The caucus offers the API Speaker Series Program with ASHA CEUs. Thank you, sponsors!
Note: Attendees who attend the livestream webinar are eligible for CEUs.
Time/Date: Oct 7th 5:30-6:30pm Pacific (7:30-8:30 Central; 8:30-9:30 Eastern) & Oct 8th 10:30-11:30am Chamorro Standard Time
Topic: Amplifying Pacific Islander Voices in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Description: 1.6 million Pacific Islanders live in the U.S., but less than 255 ASHA certified SLPs self-identified as Pacific Islanders. CSD professionals working in the Pacific Islands experience unique challenges in the CSD field. In this presentation, speakers from Pacific Islands shared their expertise and heritage to promote Pacific Islanders, CSD students, and professionals from Pacific Islands.



Jennifer Biedebach, B.A. is currently a 2nd year graduate student at Pacific University in Oregon. Jennifer is originally from Orange County, California and she completed her undergraduate degree at Washington State University – Spokane Health Sciences. Jennifer is striving towards becoming a medical speech-language pathologist, but has expanded her interests through graduate school. As she enters the last academic semester of her graduate program, Jennifer wants to provide some insight into gaining leadership opportunities and the importance of diversifying the field of Speech-Language Pathology. Jennifer has interned for a nonprofit organization and volunteered her time within the community, held executive positions on campus, and she is the current NSSLHA President for the M.S. SLP Program at Pacific University. Each experience has shaped Jennifer to become a more skilled and compassion future clinician, so she is honored to share her experiences with the ASHA API Caucus!
Ignacio Joaquin Cosico Dela Cruz, M.A. was born and raised in Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands. He received speech services as a child for his stutter and is thankful for what he learned through therapy. Ignacio attended the University of Guam where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Education in 2015. Soon thereafter, Ignacio entered his Master of Arts program in Speech-Language Pathology with San Jose State University and graduated in 2021. Ignacio is currently working on his Clinical Fellowship and hopes to pursue a doctorate degree next year. He loves trying new food, learning about interesting topics, and dreams of traveling around the world. He received an honorarium for this event. No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Emerson Lopez Odango, Ph.D. is the panganay [paˈŋa.naj] ‘first-born child’ of Filipino immigrants to the United States. Dr. Odango serves as Director of Language and Literacies at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and as Director of the Region 18 Comprehensive Center, which provides capacity-building services to the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Center’s service foci include language and culture curriculum development; Multilingual Learners support, bi/multilingualism policy and practice; and social emotional learning and trauma-informed practice. Dr. Odango has served as Principal Investigator and Project Manager on multiple federally funded education projects regarding equitable systems of support; Local Ecological Knowledge; place-based education; and Indigenous epistemology, pedagogy, and metalinguistic analysis. He has experience in developing equitable education opportunities for students in areas such as continuity of learning due to COVID-19 impacts, the representation of Indigenous minority language communities in language policy, and the intersectionalities of race/ethnicity, language/dialect, and clinical practice in speech-language pathology. Dr. Odango graduated from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a PhD in Linguistics, and he holds a Certificate in Education Finance from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.
Thank you Angelica Aguilar for the captioning assistance.
Our Sponsors: The API Speech-language-Hearing Caucus received financial support from the SPG Therapy and Education and the University of Reading to pay for speaker fee and Minnesota State University, Mankato Communication Sciences and Disorders Program to pay for the ASHA’s cooperating agreement fee.
May 14, 2022
Topic: Rooted in Lived Experiences: Black and Asian Considerations for Autistic Masking
V. Tisi (/vi/, they/she) and Asiatu Lawoyin (/ˌɑsɨˈɑtu/, they/them) discussed the intersections of anti-Blackness, anti-Asianness, and autistiphobia, and how behaviorist ideologies promote assimilation that oppresses our communities. Justice perspectives go beyond diversity, equity, inclusion, and must include the analysis of systemic oppression, how it implicates identity-erasure, and centers whiteness and neuronormativity.
Panelists:
- V. Tisi, M.A. CCC-SLP. The Speechologist. San Francisco State University
- Asiatu Lawoyin. Asiatu “Coach” Lawoyin Empowerment Services. Audacious Autistics Podcast and Podia
Moderators:
- Hsinhuei Sheen Chiou, Ph.D. CCC-SLP. Minnesota State University, Mankato
- Archie Soelaeman, M.A. CCC-SLP. Helping Hand in Countryside, Illinois
Thank you Angelica Aguilar for the captioning assistance.
Our Sponsors: The API Speech-language-Hearing Caucus received financial support from the SPG Therapy and Education and the University of Reading to pay for speaker fee and Minnesota State University, Mankato Communication Sciences and Disorders Program to pay for the ASHA’s cooperating agreement fee.
Feb 3, 2022
Topic: From Working on to Working Beyond Accent Modification: A Critical Interrogation
Presenter: Vijay Ramjattan, Ph.D. University of Toronto
Moderator: Dr. Betty Yu, San Francisco State University
Thank you Angelica Aguilar for the captioning assistance.
Our Sponsors: The API Speech-language-Hearing Caucus received financial support from the SPG Therapy and Education and the University of Reading to pay for speaker fee and Minnesota State University, Mankato Communication Sciences and Disorders Program to pay for the ASHA’s cooperating agreement fee.
April 28, 2021
Topic: Language Impairment in Cantonese-English Bilingual Children: Evidence and Clinical Implications
Presenters: Dr. Pui Fong Kan (University of Colorado Boulder) & Shirley Hung (University of Colorado Boulder)


To access the talk: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu
February 19. 2021
Topic: Vietnamese Assessment Tools Online: Current Research & Clinical Applications
Presenters: Dr. Giang Pham (San Diego State University), Ms. Quynh Dam (San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego), and Dr. Kerry Ebert (University of Minnesota)
Online Resources for the Vietnamese Language: Assessment Tools, Learning Modules, and Databank: https://vietslp.sdsu.edu
August 28, 2020
Topic: Language Screening and Assessment for Monolingual and Bilingual Mandarin-speaking Children
Presenters: Dr. Li Sheng (University of Delaware), Dr. Lulu Song (CUNY Brooklyn College), Dr. Boji P Lam (University of North Texas), Dr. Pumpki Li Su (University of Delaware), Dr. Yao Du (Monmouth University), and Ms. Danyang Wang (University of Delaware).
December 18. 2020
Topic: Does Accent Modification Do More Harm than Good?
Presenter: Dr. Betty Yu, San Francisco State University