Last Modifed: 10/01/2009  

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Staff

Sound Beginnings Director

Lauri Nelson, PhD
Tel: 435-797-8051
Email
Dr. Lauri Nelson is the Director of Sound Beginnings and is an Assistant Professor of Auditory Deaf Education. She provides advising and clinical supervision to graduate students in the Auditory Learning and Spoken Language program. Dr. Nelson worked in Clinical Audiology for nearly 20 years, including as a cochlear implant programming audiologist at Primary Children’s Medical Center and a Clinical Research Scientist at Advanced Bionics Corporation. She also obtained a degree in oral deaf education and has worked as an itinerant deaf education teacher and an aural habilitation specialist. With a dual background in clinical audiology and oral deaf education, Sound Beginnings is a wonderful opportunity for her to combine her hearing technology experiences with her love of working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Dr. Nelson is a Utah native and lives in Providence. She and her husband are the proud parents of four sons and five dogs. Her family enjoys football, skiing, riding motorcycles, and any event that includes food.

Speech-Language Pathologists

Heather Rose, MA
435-797-8186
Email
Heather Rose is a Clinical Instructor of Speech-Language Pathology and is a Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist. She provides direct services to the children in Sound Beginnings along with clinical supervision of graduate students who are enrolled in the Auditory Learning and Spoken Language Program. Heather has worked with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing since 1991. Prior to joining the faculty at Utah State University, she worked as an Auditory-Verbal Therapist and a cochlear implant consultant for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She has worked with auditory-oral educational programs and with the University of Akron’s Auditory Options Project to increase auditory learning and spoken language services to children with hearing loss and their families throughout Ohio and surrounding states. She has worked at the University of Akron, supervising graduate students and consulting for their Auditory-Verbal program. Heather also maintained a private practice specializing in cochlear implants. Her family consists of two wonderful boys, an illustrator husband, four cats, two turtles, one lizard, a pug and one cool English bulldog.
Lisa McBride, MS
435-797-4464
Email
Lisa is a Clinical Instructor of Speech Language Pathology and is the Birth-to-Three Coordinator for Sound Beginnings. She also provides tele-intervention services to children in rural areas and is a graduate student supervisor. Lisa received her bachelors and masters degree at Idaho State University. Prior to joining the Utah State University staff and Sound Beginnings, she maintained a private practice in Idaho. She worked with a wide range of communication delays and disorders with an emphasis in both children and adults with hearing loss using hearing aids and cochlear implants. Lisa and her husband Brett have 2 handsome boys, Kye and Nate. They recently moved from Idaho to Wellsville and are excited to enjoy all that Logan has to offer. They enjoy spending time together, doing all the things that their little boys love to do: playing with cars, dirt, coloring, watching Curious George, and being wild!
K. Todd Houston, PhD
435-797-0434
Email
Dr. Todd Houston is an Assistant Professor of Speech-Language Pathology and is the Director of the Graduate Studies Program in Auditory Learning and Spoken Language. He is a Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist and serves as a clinical supervisor of Speech-Language Pathology for Sound Beginnings. Dr. Houston is also involved in the investigations of innovative early intervention service delivery modes, such as tele-health/tele-intervention, and he studies how public policy impacts family-centered practices for children with hearing loss and their families. Dr. Houston joined Utah State University in 2007 after moving from Falls Church, Virginia. Prior to joining USU, he was the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell), which is headquartered in Washington, DC. Todd, his wife Maria, daughter Kaitlyn, son Jordan, and spoiled dog Floyd reside in Providence, and they all enjoy living in the scenic Cache Valley.
Kim Corbin-Lewis, PhD
435-797-1302
Email
Dr. Kim Corbin-Lewis is an Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology. Dr. Corbin-Lewis provides clinical supervision to graduate students in training in the Auditory Learning Program. She chairs the division of Speech-Language Pathology in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (COMDDE), and she is deeply committed to excellent training for the graduate students. Her main interest is in voice and management of voice disorders. Dr. Corbin-Lewis has been a speech-language pathologist for over 25 years working in both Canada and the United States. After growing up in New York, living in France and eastern Canada, she loves being settled and living in Logan with her husband, a Professor of History, and her two teenage daughters.

Deaf Educator

Janet Fuller, MEd
435-797-0879
Email
Janet Fuller is excited to be back in the classroom as a preschool teacher for Sound Beginnings. Prior to Sound Beginnings, Janet worked for Outreach Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children as an educational consultant supporting Indiana public schools to develop programs for their auditory oral students. She also was part of the start up team for St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf-Indianapolis, where she set up the preschool and helped it win the AGBell’s 2004 award “Rookie Program of the Year”. She has also worked in early intervention. She earned her bachelors degree in Communication Disorders and her masters degree in Deaf Education from the University of Utah. Janet and her husband David have five children and a dog, and they are both glad to be closer to their three oldest kids who are in college. Her interests include traveling, gardening, and anything her family enjoys. She has lived in Utah, Colorado, Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Indiana.

Early Childhood Special Educator

Bobbi Strong, M.Ed.
435-797-0879
Email
Bobbi is the lead teacher for the Preschool 2 class and provides classroom supervision of graduate students who are enrolled in the Auditory Learning and Spoken Language Program. She has a Bachelors degree in Secondary Education from USU and a Masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education from UNLV. Prior to joining Sound Beginnings in 2007, Bobbi taught children with a variety of special needs in a birth-to-three setting and taught preschool-aged children in a school district setting. She was raised in Logan but has spent the last 20 years living and working in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Alberta, and Washington State. She currently lives in Smithfield with her two children and a wide variety of pets.

Audiologists

Karen Munoz, EdD
435-797-3701
Email
Dr. Karen Munoz is an Assistant Professor of Audiology and provides clinical supervision to audiology graduate students. She has focused on pediatric audiology since the mid 1990’s and has worked extensively at the state level to support the development of effective newborn hearing screening and follow-up programs. She has also been involved nationally and internationally in providing continuing professional education on best practice to audiologists in the early identification and management of hearing loss for infants and young children. To better serve families living in rural areas, Dr. Munoz is involved in research to investigate the use of distance technology to improve services and educational outreach. She moved from her position at Northern Illinois University to Utah in 2007 to join in the development of the Sound Beginnings program. She oversees the audiology services and continues to be involved in program development as Sound Beginnings expands. Dr. Munoz is originally from Colorado, and is thrilled to be back in the mountains where she loves to spend time skiing with her family.
Cache Pitt, AuD
435-797-9311
Email
Dr. Cache Pitt is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Audiology and provides clinical supervision to graduate students in Audiology. He was born and raised in Lander Wyoming where spent time backpacking and camping in the Wind River mountains. He went to the University of Wyoming where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Audiology. Dr. Pitt began his career in audiology at the California Ear institute in Palo Alto, CA where he worked with adults and children with cochlear implants. Prior to joining the faculty at USU, he worked as a programming audiologist at Primary Children’s Medical Center. He and his wife Suzanne are very happy to live in Logan where they are both closer to family. They have two cocker spaniels who love all the hiking trails in Logan. Both Dr. Pitt and his wife enjoy cooking, movies, and playing the piano.

Teacher Assistants

Chelsea Thomas, BS
435-797-0879
Email
Chelsea Thomas is a teacher’s aide in the Sound Beginnings Program. She provides assistance to the teachers in the classroom and with material preparation. Prior to joining Sound Beginnings, Chelsea worked as a teacher’s aide in a special education class. She is excited to be a part of the Sound Beginnings team, especially for the opportunity to work with the students. An Aggie from birth, she was born in Logan while her parents attended USU. Chelsea was raised in Kaysville, Utah, and currently resides in Logan with her husband Myles.

Department Head and Professor of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education

Beth Foley, PhD
435-797-3924
Email
Dr. Beth Foley is Head of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and has received numerous teaching awards, including USU College of Education Teacher of the Year in 1999 and again in 2004. Throughout her 30 year career as an SLP, Dr. Foley has maintained her involvement in clinical activities involving children and adults with complex communication needs. In recent years, Dr. Foley has developed and directed the COMD Augmentative and Alternative Communication Clinic, which provides assessment and intervention services to individuals with complex communication needs. She brings to her teaching a wealth of clinical experiences and was instrumental in establishing the Sound Beginnings program. She is passionate about bridging research and theory with classroom and clinical practice to provide excellent services to children with hearing loss and other communication disorders. Beth lives in Smithfield and enjoys skiing at Beaver Mountain with her son, Michael, gardening, hiking, and many other outdoor activities.

Director, National Center for Hearing Assessment & Management and Professor of Psychology

Karl White, PhD
435-797-3013
Email
Dr. Karl White is a Professor of Psychology and the founding Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM). He was instrumental in the vision and development of the Sound Beginnings program and continues to play a key role in its funding and operations. Dr. White is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on early identification and treatment of hearing loss. He has hundreds of publications and presentations at scholarly meetings and has been an invited speaker to 35 countries where he has assisted in the implementation of newborn hearing screening and intervention programs. He also serves on many national and international advisory groups for organizations such as the United States Department of Health and Human Services, March of Dimes, the American College of Medical Genetics, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. White and his wife Amy have lived in Colorado, New York, Washington DC and Munster Germany, but think Cache Valley Utah is the best place of all. They are the parents of 8 children and 9 grandchildren. They enjoy horseback riding, traveling, and spending time with their family.