Norma Camilleri, President of ESLA (European Association of Speech and Language Therapy)

A practicing Speech-Language Pathologist, and Voice Coach, for the past 25 years, Norma Camilleri worked in various community settings and has a special interest in Voice. She has been president of Malta’s Association of Speech-Language Pathologists since 2014. In 2016 she was elected CPLOL’s Treasurer. In 2019 she was elected Chair of the organisation and the new Board led the organisation through the rebranding process to ESLA, European Speech-Language Therapy Association. Norma believes in the power of communication and networking between members of ESLA member organisations to take our profession to new heights in Europe. She currently works as CEO of the Malta Federation of Professional Associations.

Presentation: The Speech and Language Therapy Profession in Europe

Assoc. Prof. Baiba Trinite, President of Latvian Logopedists’ Association

Baiba Trinite is an Associate Professor and leading researcher at Liepaja University (Latvia). She is a founder of Speech and Voice Research Laboratory. Current President of Speech Therapists’ Association of Latvia and from 2013 to 2019 served as Vice President of European Speech and Language Therapists Association.  

Presentation: Relevant Issues of Speech and Language Therapists’ Practice and Training in Baltic States

Assoc. Prof. PhD Amy S. Nordness, Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, USA

Amy Nordness, PhD, CCC-SLP, is the Associate Director, Director of Clinical Services, Director of Speech-Language Pathology, and Scottish Rite Associate Professor at Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Nordness earned a BS in speech-language pathology from Marquette University and an MS and PhD in speech-language pathology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research and clinical interests involve motor speech disorders and augmentative and alternative communication across the lifespan.

Presentation: Development of Clinical Training Opportunities from Undergraduate to Post-Graduate Mentoring

Assoc. Prof. PhD Daiva Kairiene, Representative of Lithuanian Logopedists’ Association

Assoc. prof. Daiva Kairiene is the assoc. professor in Vytautas Magnus University, Education Academy (Lithuania), also actively participating in Lithuanian Association of SLTs' and representing their professional interests at national and international levels. She is a delegate of LLA at the European Association of Speech and Language Therapy (ESLA). Her research and practical interests are mostly related to children's speech and language disorders, as she is acting as SLT practitioner in kindergarten. 

Presentation: Relevant Issues of Speech and Language Therapists’ Practice and Training in Baltic States

Helje Moller, President of Estonian Union of Logopedists’

Helje Moller is a speech and language therapist in Estonia, alumni of Tartu University. Has been working for more than 20 years with pre-school/kindergarten-aged children (2-8 years). She currently works in two Tallinn municipal kindergartens, in one of them as an SLT for a kindergarten group for children with special needs – DLD, motor speech disorders, mixed specific developmental disorders, ASD. She has experience in working with children with a variety of disabilities, ranging from mild speech sound disorders to dysarthria, apraxia, cerebral palsy, autism, and a variety of genetic syndromes. Fields of special interest are receptive language disorders and early communication disorders, non-verbal children.

Since 2017 she has been a member of the board of the Estonian Logopedists Union. Since 2022 she is fulfilling the position of the president of the ELU. Has been a member of the organizing committee of the 3rd Congress of Baltic States SLTs and also the head of the organizing committee in 2019 of the 6th Congress of Baltic States SLTs. She is a member of the professional committee of ELU and a delegate of ESLA representing ELU. 

Presentation: Relevant Issues of Speech and Language Therapists’ Practice and Training in Baltic States

Assist. Prof. PhD Blazenka Brozovic, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Assistant professor, Dr. Blazenka Brozovic is a speech and language therapist (logoped) working at the Department of Speech and Language Pathology, University of Zagreb, Croatia, and visiting professor at the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is actively involved in teaching, research and clinical work. She is the head of the Early Communication Unit, and a Lab member at the Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb.

Dr. Brozovic’s clinical and scientific interest are the perinatal brain lesions impact on the communication and language development, brain plasticity, feeding disorders and dysphagia, as well as autism spectrum disorders across the lifespan.

Keynote speech: Feeding and Swallowing Disorders in Infancy: SLT Intervention from Preterm Age

Prof. PhD Malgozata Raschevska, University of Latvia, Latvia

Malgozata Raschevska – a professor of general psychology at the Department of Psychology in the University of Latvia and also an elected leading researcher. Most of her research projects have been related to the adaptation or development of different psychological tests. She has held a number of administrative positions as Head of the Department of Psychology, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, and Director of the Doctoral Study Program.

Presentation: Development of a Set of Screening Tools for Children’s Early Development Risks in Latvia

PhD Indre Bakaniene, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas Clinics, Lithuania

Indre Bakaniene is child neurologist and developmental pediatrician at the hospital of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics. She also is a lecturer in the Pediatric rehabilitation department of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and a board member of the Lithuanian Academy of Childhood Disability. The feeding disorder team of Kaunas Clinics recently developed the Clinical Practice Guidelines on pediatric feeding disorders. Indre was the leader of the team that developed these guidelines. 

Presentation: Pediatric Feeding Disorder - A Clinical Practice Guide for Lithuanian Healthcare Professionals

Lect. Laima Mikulenaite, Hospital Santaros Clinics, Child Development center Vilnius University, Lithuania

Laima Mikulėnaitė is a child neurologist- developmental pediatrician.

Working places: Vilnius University Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, lecturer; Vilnius University Hospital Santaros klinikos Child Development center.

Research objects: early diagnosis of developmental disorders, methods of  treatment and education children with developmental disorders. team approach in early intervention.

Presentation: Could Infant Motor Development Predict Early Identification of Autism?

Assoc. Prof. PhD Astra Schults, University of Tallinn, Estonia

Astra Schults (PhD)  is an Associate Professor in School and Counseling Psychology in the School of Natural Sciences and Health in Tallinn University. Her study interests include developmental psychology especially focusing on early vocabulary and social emotional competence. She has supervised several master theses. She has also contributed to the continuing education of teachers and support specialists.

Presentation: Estonian Communicative Development Inventories

Ruta Matukaite, Hospital Santaros Clinics, Child Development center Vilnius University, Lithuania

Ruta Matukaite is a pediatric neurologist-social pediatrician, interested in early diagnosis and interventions for autism spectrum disorder, risk factors for developmental impairment.

Presentation: Could Infant Motor Development Predict Early Identification of Autism?

Assoc. Prof. PhD Kristina Hannson, Lund University, Sweden

Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Logopedics at the Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, where she does research and teach at the Speech and Language Pathology program. Main research interests is language development and language difficulties in children with developmental language disorder and children with hearing loss, in particular grammatical and lexical aspects, and how they are associated with cognitive factors.

Keynote speech: Developmental Language Disorder: Terminology, Identification and Intervention Issues

Prof. PhD Ineta Dabasinskiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Prof. PhD Ineta Dabasinskiene is Professor of Linguistics at the Department of Lithuanian Studies and Head of the Research Centre for Multilingualism at Vytautas Magnus University. Her research interests include, but are not limited to language policy and multilingualism, monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, heritage language, language education, as well as grammar and pragmatics of spoken language.

Presentation: Assessing Language Skills in Young Lithuanian Children

Assoc. Prof. PhD Laura Kamandulyte-Merfeldiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Laura Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė is Associate Professor of Vytautas Magnus University, the Department of Lithuanian Studies. The main areas of her research interests include psycholinguistics, first language acquisition, developmental language disorders, child-directed speech. L. Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė has published more than 50 articles in Lithuanian and international scientific journals. She has coordinated and participated in a number of national and international research projects. 

Presentation: Assessing Language Skills in Young Lithuanian Children

 PhD Kathryn Margaret Crowe, University of Iceland, Iceland

PhD Egle Krivickaite-Leisiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

The research interests refer to psycholinguistics, native language learning, specific language disorders (SLI), bilingualism / multilingualism. Eglė is the co-author of several research studies and a number of national and international publications, as well as the participant of several national and international projects.

Presentation: Assessing Language Skills in Young Lithuanian Children

PhD stud. Marju Lahtein, University of Tartu, Estonia

A practicing speech-language therapist, PhD student and junior research fellow in educational science at University of Tartu. Research focuses on the manifestation and assessment of speech sound disorders in Estonian, with a focus on childhood apraxia of speech.

Presentation: Assessment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Are English-based Studies Enough? 

Assoc. Prof. PhD Karla Washington, University of Cincinnati, USA

Karla Washington, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati. Her research and clinical interests focus on speech-language development for monolingual and multilingual preschoolers. Dr. Washington is active in NIH-sponsored research characterizing Jamaican children’s speech productions and monolingual children’s language functioning. She is an invited member of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech and is an Editor for Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Presentation: FOCUS: A Tool for Assessing Communication Participation in Children

Assoc. Prof. PhD Vilma Makauskiene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Speech language therapist and psychologist. Employment: Vytautas Magnus University (courses Fluency disorders, Voice disorders, Aphasia and other neurogenic disorders), VšĮ Logopedinės pagalbos centras (private practice, fluency specialistation). Membership in organizations: Lithuanian Logopedists Association,  International Cluttering Association, International Fluency Association, Task Forces member in European Speech and Language Therapists Association. Author of text books „Fluency disorders“, „Speech Language and Communication Disorders“. 

Presentation: Assessing Language Skills in Young Lithuanian Children

Assoc. Prof. PhD Ingrida Balciuniene, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Dr Ingrida Balčiūnienė is an associated professor in Lithuanian philology at the Department of Lithuanian Studies at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas Lithuania. Dr Balčiūnienė’s research interests are in the area of first language acquisition, with special interest in conversation and discourse analysis.

Presentation: Narrative Development: Transition from Preschool to School Age

Assoc. Prof. PhD Kristine Stadskleiv, University of Oslo, Norway

Kristine Stadskleiv, neuropsychologist, is an Associate professor at the Department for Special Needs Education, University of Oslo. Her clinical work involves assessment of cognition and communication at the Department of Neurosciences for Children, Oslo University Hospital. She is in charge of offering systematic follow-up of cognition through the Norwegian Cerebral Palsy Quality and Surveillance Registry (NorCP). Her research areas are AAC and cognitive development of children with various neurodevelopmental disorders.

Keynote speech: Comprehensive Assessment of Communication in Children with Severe Speech and Motor Impairments

Paula Jansone, Latvia

Paula Jansone is a certified audiology and speech-language pathologist focusing on diagnostics, correction and rehabilitation of communication skills, speech, and language disorders in individuals of any age, and VREACH VR-based tool for rehabilitation practising expert.   

Presentation: The Outcomes in the Fields of Speech, Language and Cognitive Skills Therapy in the Onsite and Remote Setup Environments of Virtual Reality

Lect. PhD stud. Simona Daniute, Vilnius University Siauliai Academy, Lithuania

Assist. Prof. PhD Jessica Gormley, University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, Omaha, USA

Assoc. Prof. PhD Shari DeVeney, University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA

Shari DeVeney, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an associate professor in the Special Education and Communication Disorders department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Prior to obtaining her doctorate degree, she spent 10 years as a practicing school-based speech-language therapist, working mainly in educational settings in the United States. Her primary research focus involves identifying early communication risks associated with speech and language development and advancing evidence-based assessment and intervention practices for young children with communication delays. She teaches undergraduate and graduate coursework in pediatric language impairments and speech sound disorder.

Presentation: Speech Sound Disorder Intervention Approaches for School-age Students

Marina Petrakova, Latvia

Marina Petrakova is a certified Audiology and Speech-language pathologist with over 6 years of work experience in logopedics, advanced technology, and digital tools use in clinical rehabilitation settings. VREACH VR-based tool for rehabilitation founder.

Presentation: The Outcomes in the Fields of Speech, Language and Cognitive Skills Therapy in the Onsite and Remote Setup Environments of Virtual Reality

Prof. PhD Sarmite Tubele, University of Latvia, Latvia

Sarmīte Tūbele is a professor at the University of Latvia, faculty of Education, psychology and art, department of Educational sciences and pedagogical innovations. Involved in the teacher education in the field of speech therapy and specal needs education, wotking with students in all levels – bachelor, master and doctoral programs. Author of many books, scientific articles, methodological materials in speech therapy and special needs education, also on inclusive approach. Main scientific interests – dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities and others. Board member of the Latvia's Logopedist association, experience of delivering lectures in many European countries.

Presentation: Failure in Writing due to Spoken Language Disorders

Lect. PhD Anna Volkmer, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London, United Kingdom

PhD Anna Volkmer is a clinical academic speech and language therapist. Anna works clinically with people with dementia and their families at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. She also works as a lecturer and researcher in the department of Language and Cognition at University College London, teaching on the role of the speech and language therapist in dementia and developing interventions to help people with dementia, particularly people with language led dementias (Primary Progressive Aphasia), have better conversations. 

Keynote speech: Speech and Language Therapy for Progressive Language Led Dementias

PhD Brooke Hallowell, Health Sciences, Springfield College, Massachusetts, USA

Brooke Hallowell, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Dean of Health Sciences at Springfield College (USA). The author of the book Aphasia and other acquired neurogenic language disorders: A guide for clinical excellence, she has been engaged in research, teaching, and advocacy to support people with aphasia for over 30 years. She is deeply involved in helping foster local expertise to develop academic and clinical programs, especially in underserved regions of the world. 

Keynote speech: Capturing Competence: Strategies for Learning about the True Abilities of People with Aphasia

PhD Mark Jayes, Research Fellow in Communication Disability  at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

MA Andres Koster, North Estonia Regional Hospital, Estonia

PhD stud. Aaro Nursi, University of Tartu, Estonia

Aaro Nursi graduated from University of Tartu in 2011 as a speech therapist. After graduation he worked as a speech therapist in the neurology departments of East Tallinn Central Hospital, West Tallinn Central Hospital and Tartu University Hospital. He continues to further his level of expertise by taking part in professional training events and conferences in Estonia and abroad. He is currently pursuing a PhD in medical sciences at the University of Tartu, where he is developing a methodology for assessing language disorders associated with having a stroke. He has earned the highest level of professional qualification as a speech therapist with specializing in neurogenic communication and swallowing disorders. At the moment he works as a speech therapist in the nutrition department of the Rehabilitation and Palliative Care Clinic of the North Estonia Regional Hospital and Confido Medical Centre in Tallinn. 

Presentation: Speech and Swallowing Disorders in Patients with Progressive Neurological Diseases