On May 31, the Department of Applied Linguistics welcomed Dr. J.B. Orange, Professor, Western University to present on Preserving Personhood When Communicating with Persons Living with Dementia.

On February 7, the Department of Applied Linguistics welcomed Dakota Wing, Ph.D. candidate (York University) to present an introduction to Forensic Linguistics.

On November 17, the Department of Applied Linguistics welcomed Dr. Mela Sarkar (McGill University) for a free, virtual discussion entitled Researching Indigenous Language Education from a Non-Indigenous Perspective. 

On June 2, the Department of Applied Linguistics welcomed Dr. Lori Buchanan for a free, virtual discussion on Aphasia Friendly Canada, as part of the Applied Linguistics Speaker Series. View the presentation below.

Dr. Lori Buchanan received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Waterloo in 1995. She is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Windsor and also currently an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. She was a graduate student when her brother had a stroke that left him with severe aphasia. That personal experience motivated Dr. Buchanan’s research interests in aphasia and her PhD dissertation was on an acquired language disorder. Her research is now a multi-pronged examination of language and memory processes, language impairments, and most recently societal roadblocks relating to communication.

Aphasia is the general term used to describe any deficit in language processing, but we mostly think of it as a speech deficit that arises from a stroke.

The Aphasia Friendly Canada Business Campaign is a non-profit organization with the goal of eliminating the societal roadblocks that contribute to the loneliness and isolation that many people with communication disorders face. In her presentation she shared the story of how they started this campaign, what they are currently doing, and what they ultimately hope to achieve.