Dr. Pollard’s research focuses in the areas of fluency disorders and neuroscience. His work examines the neural mechanisms of typical and disordered speech motor control, as well as treatment outcomes for persons who stutter (PWS). His outcomes work examines both traditional approaches to therapy, such as intensive service delivery, and less traditional interventions such as electronic devices using altered auditory feedback to improve fluency. Dr. Pollard’s studies utilize a multidimensional approach to analyzing treatment effectiveness. Unlike most historical work in this area, he collects and analyzes measures of affective and cognitive symptoms of stuttering, in addition to more overt, behavioral features of the disorder. He has investigated social anxiety in PWS and specific protocols that may alleviate social anxiety in this population. He has also studied therapy preferences for young PWS and refined group treatment approaches for this population. More recently he has developed cross-disciplinary events that platform the voices of disabled people and published literary fiction centering the experiences of disabled characters.
keywords
fluency disorders, speech-language pathology, stuttering treatment outcomes, neurophysiology of speech motor control, fiction
Teaching
courses taught
SLHS 1010 - Disabilities in Contemporary American Society
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Summer 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024 / Summer 2024
Addresses the issue that 50 percent of all individuals experience disability in their lifetime. Introduces students to the social, cultural, psychological, economic, political, legal, and health-care issues related to society and individuals with disabilities.
SLHS 2010 - Science of Human Communication
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023
Discusses how human communication (the process by which a thought is transmitted from the brain of a speaker to the brain of a listener) involves a complex interaction of acoustics, anatomy, physiology, neurobiology, and psychology.
SLHS 3116 - Anatomy, Physiology, and Science of Speech
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2018 / Spring 2020
Provides a basic understanding of the structural organization (anatomy), function (physiology), and neural controls of the structures used to produce speech, swallowing, respiration, and related behaviors in humans. Recommended prerequisite: SLHS 3106.
SLHS 4512 - Speech Disorders Across the Lifespan
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Provides students with an introductory understanding of the causes, characteristics, assessment and treatment of speech disorders including those involving articulation, voice, resonance, and fluency. Examines a variety of disorders including stuttering, speech sound disorders, cleft lip and palate, vocal pathology, as well as dysarthria and apraxia due to stroke, trauma, and progressive neurological diseases.
SLHS 5342 - Counseling in Speech-Language Pathology
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Summer 2019 / Summer 2020 / Summer 2021 / Summer 2022 / Summer 2023 / Summer 2024
Designed to demonstrate the principles of counseling for individuals with communication disorders and their families throughout the client's lifespan. Counseling systems and techniques for specific communication disorders will be included. The course will focus on the basic theory of counseling and how counseling sills can be used in the treatment of various communication disorders. Provides an introduction to the basic counseling skills necessary to help speech-language pathologists achieve the greatest success possible when working with individuals exhibiting communication disorders.
SLHS 5362 - Fluency Disorders
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Exploration of the nature, differential diagnosis and treatment of fluency disorders across the life-span. Students will develop the requisite skills and knowledge base to provide prevention, consultation, assessment and intervention for fluency disorders. Research bearing on affective, behavioral and cognitive components of stuttering will be reviewed, along with recent data on the neural bases of the disorder. A broad range of treatment approaches will be discussed and demonstrated.
