Speech pathology professor receives grant to fund research on improving abilities of young adults with Down syndrome
Victoria Valet
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: News
Loyola speech pathology professor, Libby Kumin, recently received a grant of $178,352 from the National Science Foundation, which will fund her research on improving the abilities of young adults with Down syndrome to use computers for work, socialization, and daily activities.
Kumin initially began "… [working] with children with Down syndrome and their families [in] 1980." Since then, she has been affiliated with the Professional Advisory Committee of the National Down Syndrome Congress and the Board of the International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association. She founded the Down Syndrome Speech and Language Center for Excellence at Loyola's Columbia Center, and wrote several books on this area of study. In addition, she has been listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who of American Women, and is among the Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century.
Over the course of the past five years, Kumin has "… observed many young children with Down syndrome who use computers for play, learning, and school assignments." Among all of the children she worked with, a ten-year-old boy, Alex, stood out, sparking her interest in what is her current field of study by "… [showing her] a powerpoint he had done about his hopes for the future…, [thereby making her] think more about computer skills for people with Down syndrome."
Ever since her experience with Alex, Kumin has been collaborating with Dr. Jonathan Lazar and Dr. Heidi Feng, two professors of computer and information sciences at Towson University. Together, they have "… received 600 responses, … [have been] able to learn a great deal about the strengths and challenges people with Down syndrome experience using computers…," and took home the "Best Paper Award" at the Association for Computing Machinery 2008 Conference on Computers and Accessibility, the foremost accessibility research conference in America.
After having so much success with their research, the three decided that they had to take their study to the next level and applied for the prestigious National Science Foundation grant.
Kumin initially began "… [working] with children with Down syndrome and their families [in] 1980." Since then, she has been affiliated with the Professional Advisory Committee of the National Down Syndrome Congress and the Board of the International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association. She founded the Down Syndrome Speech and Language Center for Excellence at Loyola's Columbia Center, and wrote several books on this area of study. In addition, she has been listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who's Who of American Women, and is among the Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century.
Over the course of the past five years, Kumin has "… observed many young children with Down syndrome who use computers for play, learning, and school assignments." Among all of the children she worked with, a ten-year-old boy, Alex, stood out, sparking her interest in what is her current field of study by "… [showing her] a powerpoint he had done about his hopes for the future…, [thereby making her] think more about computer skills for people with Down syndrome."
Ever since her experience with Alex, Kumin has been collaborating with Dr. Jonathan Lazar and Dr. Heidi Feng, two professors of computer and information sciences at Towson University. Together, they have "… received 600 responses, … [have been] able to learn a great deal about the strengths and challenges people with Down syndrome experience using computers…," and took home the "Best Paper Award" at the Association for Computing Machinery 2008 Conference on Computers and Accessibility, the foremost accessibility research conference in America.
After having so much success with their research, the three decided that they had to take their study to the next level and applied for the prestigious National Science Foundation grant.
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