ANDREA N. PLUSKOTA, MS, CCC/SLP

CLINICAL

 

• Founded “A Lovely Day Therapeutic Services, LLC,” a private practice aimed at providing high-quality, culturally-appropriate speech-language services to children and adults from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Oct 2008- ).

• Conducted hearing screenings, multilingual speech and language evaluations, IEP management, and individual and group therapy for school-age students as a SLP with Guilford County Schools. Directly served caseloads at the following GCS schools: Brooks Global Studies, Johnson St. Global Studies, Doris Henderson Newcomers School, Northwest Middle, Northwest High, Grimsley High, Ragsdale High, Greensboro Middle College, GTCC-High Point and Jamestown Middle Colleges (Jan 2006-Sept 2011).   

• Practiced at Children’s Speech Center as a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant providing bilingual therapy for children with language, articulation, auditory processing, and fluency disorders (Jun-Aug 2005).

• Identified, assessed, and provided therapy as a graduate clinician to individuals with swallowing disorders, aphasia, and motor speech disorders at Palmetto General Hospital and Coral Gables Hospital (Jun-Aug 2005).

• Assessed and treated individuals with communication disorders as a graduate clinician in the FIU Speech and Hearing Clinic, while gaining invaluable experience with adult fluency and voice disorders, and inclusive pre-school language therapy services (Jan-May 2005).    

• Co-treated children and adults with varying levels of speech, language, and fluency disorders with occupational therapists and physical therapists in a fast-paced private clinical setting under the supervision of founder, Dr. Andrea Draizar (Aug-Dec 2004).

 

RESEARCH

• Presently conducting doctoral research involving the assessment practices of speech-language pathologists with English Learners in North Carolina and attention to temporal synchrony in children with autism spectrum disorders (Oct 2011- ).

• Contributed as a member to the ESL Focus group comprised of five Guilford County speech-language pathologists. Conducted periodic in-service trainings and updates, assisted school-based SLPs with bilingual (Spanish-English) assessments, consultations, and worked towards establishing a universal protocol and screening instruments for English Language Learners to differentiate between speech and language differences and disorders (Aug 2009-August 2011).

• Participated in field testing and standardization of the Montgomery Assessment of Vocabulary Acquisition (MAVA) and the Contextual Probes for Articulation Competence-Spanish (CPAC-S) for Super Duper Publications, Inc. Provided feedback, obtained parental consent, and assessed approximately 40+ eligible subjects (2007-2008).

• Attended a month-long Spanish Language Immersion Program for speech pathologists at the ILISA Language Institute in San Pedro, Costa Rica, to increase Spanish language competency. Developed a presentation, scrapbook, and mini-thesis comparing the field of speech-language pathology in the U.S. and abroad (May 2005, Dec 2005). Entitled “Una Descripción de la Carrera de Terapia del Lenguaje: De los Estados Unidos a Costa Rica (Dec 2005).” 

• Authored and presented an independent study research project, “Examining Hispanic Culture through Children’s Bilingual Literature (May 2003).” 

 

MENTORSHIP

 

• Served as a Senior Project Advisor and interviewee for a student at GTCC-Jamestown Middle College whose project aims focused on the scope of practice within the field of Speech Pathology (Sep 2010-May 2011).

• Supervised and co-supervised four Graduate Student Clinicians and one Clinical Fellowship Year/Supervised Experience Year Candidate. Assessed, critiqued, and documented competencies exhibited throughout the observation period (Aug 2009- May 2011).

• Provided supplemental instruction for elementary student groups in reading and math at Johnson St. Global Studies and Brooks Global Studies in the afterschool and Saturday enrichment programs (Mar 2006-May 2009).