Collaboration Between SLPs and BCBAs during AAC Assessment, Selection, and Trial Periods

Jaime Branaman, M.A. CCC-SLP (she/they) is a second year PhD student in communication sciences and disorders under the mentorship of Dr. Cindy Gevarter at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She is a licensed speech-language pathologist (SLP) who is working towards her graduate certificate in applied behavior analysis. Jaime practiced in a variety of settings in Maryland over 7+ years before returning to school. She currently serves as a clinical instructor at UNM guiding graduate students to become SLPs. She is also an RBT for a local company. Her research interests lie in augmentative and alternative communication for the autistic population with specialized focus in interdisciplinary collaboration and implementation science.

Dr. Cindy Gevarter BCBA-D is an associate professor in the University of New Mexico’s Speech and Hearing Sciences Department. She received her PhD in early childhood special education from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and teaching interests center around neurodiversity-affirming approaches to serving autistic children and their families, as well as supporting the clinic education of SLP graduate students who will work with neurodiverse populations and/or are neurodiverse themselves. Her areas of expertise and interest include naturalistic developmental behavioral communication interventions, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), family centered and culturally relevant early intervention. graduate clinician instruction, cascading coaching models, and inter-professional collaboration. She is the project director of the OSEP funded Project SCENES and Project MESA graduate training grant programs.