Personnel

Jayne Brandel

Jayne Brandel is an Associate Professor and the Chairperson of the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at West Virginia University (WVU) and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology. Prior to her appointment at WVU, she served as a faculty member and the Chairperson at Fort Hays State University where she taught and supervised. Jayne completed her undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Kansas, including her doctoral degree. Prior to beginning her doctoral program, Jayne worked as a school-based speech-language pathologist in Ohio and was the grant coordinator for Dr. Diane Loeb on a clinical trial grant to evaluate the efficacy of Fast ForWord.

As a result of Jayne’s clinical practice and early research experiences, she has focused her research on improving clinical practice within the public-school setting. Her projects have included examining current practice in regards to its alignment with research and federal guidelines, evaluating the effectiveness of professional development practices at creating changes in school-based services, and improving the clinical resources available to school-based speech-language pathologists. Currently, Jayne is the Director of the School-Age Language Acquisition and Disorders Laboratory which provides access to materials and language sample transcription services for speech-language pathologists working in the West Virginia public schools. In addition, she is the primary investigator for a grant from the West Virginia Office of Special Education within the Department of Education to establish a normative database for written language which could be utilized within the evaluation process.

Allison Rosborough

Allison Rosborough is a second-year graduate student in West Virginia University’s Speech-Language Pathology master’s program. She is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Allison is currently working as a graduate research assistant in the School-Aged Language Acquisition Lab under the supervision of Dr. Jayne Brandel. She organizes a resource loan program for school-based SLPs in West Virginia and manages day-to-day operations for a research grant project. She is also currently completing a graduate thesis, which is a continuation of a previously written undergraduate thesis, regarding systemic change in the quality of goal writing in West Virginia Schools. After graduation, Allison hopes to pursue a career in the West Virginia school system working with school-aged children.

Lab Assistants

Hannah Laugh

Hannah Laugh graduated in May of 2021 with a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is currently pursuing an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology at West Virginia University. Hannah is from Ritchie County, West Virginia and currently lives in Morgantown.

Mikaela Argyrakis

Mikaela Argyrakis is from Princeton, West Virginia. She recently graduated from West Virginia University with her B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is hoping to pursue a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology to someday work with school-aged children within West Virginia.

Megan Sorrells

Meg Sorrells is a senior at West Virginia University majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, as well as Political Science. She has been working in the SALAD Lab since 2019. Meg is also involved in the Student Government Association, the Title IX Peer Advocate Program, and is a WVU presidential student ambassador.