The Eleanor M. Saffran Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience of Rehabilitation of Communication Disorders

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Project Summary. In an ideal world, scientists devise interventions for human communication which are in turn translated and implemented by clinicians. Feedback from patients and caregivers is then used to optimize and fine-tune the treatment. Modern rehabilitation is a dynamic process, and its effectiveness requires coordination between numerous disciplines and stakeholders. Since 2006, the Eleanor M. Saffran Conference on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Rehabilitation of Communication Disorders has provided a hub for engaging basic science with implementation science. The conference attracts professionals and students with a common interest in language and cognitive disorders, including researchers in basic and clinical research, clinical practitioners, academic faculty, and students representing disciplines such as speech-language pathology, neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and linguistics. In this renewal application, we will continue this mission and expand our coverage to include other key moderators (e.g., access to services) of successful rehabilitation of language and cognitive disorders. Effective evidence-based practice in the communication sciences and other health professions requires several stages of development from basic science to the clinic. Thus, we will retain our format that moves from basic science talks in the morning of Day 1 to applied clinical research in afternoon. The focus of Day 2 is on the challenges of implementing basic and translational research to the clinical or school setting, which stem in part from the practical differences between laboratory settings where interventions are developed and clinical settings where they are implemented. The second day provides a forum to address the practical considerations involved in translating laboratory developed diagnostic and treatment protocols to clinical practice. This component of the conference provides a unique opportunity for researchers and clinicians to participate together in the translation/implementation process. We are expanding this feature of the conference to include two other stakeholders in the successful translation of research to clinical implementation: individuals with communication disorders and care partners of people with communication disorders. These two groups will be involved as speakers, discussants and participants in ways that are fitting to the particular theme of a conference. We will also continue with our mission to train students and provide them with opportunities to meet and interact with world class researchers and clinicians . Students at all academic levels (undergraduate to post- doctoral) will attend the conference free of charge. Additionally, we will offer a competitive Student Scholar Award program open to students at the doctoral or post-doctoral level. The award includes travel, accommodations, hotel, and a chance for the students to present their research in a poster session at the conference. We will budget for ten students but accept as many qualified candidates as possible. This program has been enormously successful, with applicants coming from across the nation and worldwide. Finally, moving forward, the conference will be hybrid (in-person and streaming) to enable us to reach to a wider and more diverse audience.