The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Elizabeth Ocampo-Roman was the bridge between her parents and the language barrier while growing up in California.
When her family moved to Northwest Arkansas, Elizabeth extended that advocacy to the Latino community at large. When she began studying at the University of Arkansas, she added hearing loss support to her list of top priorities.
Elizabeth graduated in May with a master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. She’s now a speech-language pathologist at Arkansas Children’s Northwest.
She’s grateful to her Communication Sciences and Disorders professors, who helped expand her knowledge in hearing loss and bilingualism.
“These resources and opportunities helped me grow as a clinician and a researcher inside and outside the classroom,” she said.
While still an undergraduate, professor Rachel Glade introduced Elizabeth to Auditory-Verbal Therapy, and her interest in the hearing loss population grew from there.
Elizabeth Ocampo-Roman, second from left, poses with peers at a conference of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
During hands-on rotations at local hospitals and clinics, Elizabeth enjoyed problem solving. She created unique goals for children with hearing loss and their caregivers, providing strategies for improving auditory skills they could implement at home.
That topic turned into her master’s thesis, which she presented in May, entitled: “Development of the Caregiver-Child Auditory Skills Tracking (CAST) Scale: A Pilot Study on Caregiver Implementation via International Telepractice.” She’s now working on earning an Auditory-Verbal Therapy certification.
Elizabeth, Dr. Glade, and colleague Erika Rodriguez, recently wrote a blog post for an international Spanish hearing loss website on unilateral hearing loss titled, “Explicación de la pérdida auditiva unilateral.”
While at the U of A, Elizabeth won an award reserved for graduate students who prove to be “Outstanding Clinicians.” Elizabeth’s clinical supervisors called her outgoing, dependable, forward-thinking and passionate.
She’s putting all those characteristics to good use in her new career at Children’s Hospital.
“I plan to continue working on research to help families further understand the complexities of hearing loss and provide professionals in the field resources to deliver the best care possible for this population,” she said. “I look forward to continue providing services as a bilingual speech-language pathologist.”
Elizabeth’s story is the latest in our Dean’s Spotlight feature, highlighting outstanding students in the College of Education and Health Professions. Visit the Communication Sciences and Disorders page for more information on COEHP’s speech-language pathology program.
