Jada is completing her senior honours thesis in the lab, studying the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), in childhood, on reading ability. Jada is interested in learning how reading comprehension is affected by cognitive impairments associated with TBI, particularly impairments in working memory.

Eniola is a fourth-year student in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and is pursuing a double minor in linguistics and health, aging and society.

Her current research is focused on the area of interactive alignment, specifically, how individuals engaged in conversation tend to align their linguistic and non-linguistic behaviours with one another and how this process can influence communication and social interaction. She was the recipient of the Faculty of Humanities Summer 2023 Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) award, where she collaborated with Dr. Turkstra, Adam Politis and Dr. Rick Dale, processor of communication at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) using Dr. Dale’s developed methods to study interactive alignment.

She is continuing her USRA project for her thesis by investigating how interactive alignment is affected in adult traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. Particularly, she will be quantifying interactive alignment with Dr. Dale’s toolkit to compare measures between adults with TBI and their communication partners before and after undergoing communication partner training.

From 2022-2023, Eniola completed PNB QQ3 projects in the lab under the supervision of Dr. Turkstra, where she researched how TBIs affect social cognition, emotion and social interactions, as well as evidence based practices in speech language pathology. She also assisted with Tasin Karim’s thesis. She transcribed, decoded and cleaned various audio files, used AntConc to extract relevant transcript excerpts and coded them using Dedoose.

Fiona Campbell is a full-time speech-language pathologist at Hamilton Health Sciences, specializing in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and a PhD candidate in the McMaster School of Rehabilitation Science.

Fiona developed the first AAC service for non-speaking adults in the Hamilton Health Sciences intensive care unit. Her mission is to ensure that all people with communication challenges can fully participate in life decisions, especially in critical care and at the end of life.

Taylor is a third-year student in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University. She is currently working under the supervision of PhD student Fiona Campbell. 

Taylor’s research is focused on improving alternative augmentative communication (AAC) devices for non-verbal intensive care unit (ICU) patients. She believes that providing non-verbal ICU patients with more autonomy through more efficient communication devices is crucial in decreasing the miscommunication errors that often occur, which in turn can lead to mistakes in patient care. Her goal is to create more efficient communication devices that provide non-verbal ICU patients with the autonomy they need while decreasing the mistakes in patient care due to miscommunication errors.

Taylor’s PNB 2QQ3 project focused on researching the cognitive requirements for using AAC devices. Specifically, she is investigating how to decrease the working memory load of these devices to make them less tiring to use. Taylor recognizes the importance of attention and cognitive flexibility in using AAC devices, which is why her research also explores the use of AAC devices for children with attention deficits or developmental disorders. She believes that by understanding the cognitive requirements for using AAC devices more effectively, she can contribute to developing more efficient and user-friendly AAC devices that can ultimately improve the lives of non-verbal patients and children with attention deficits or developmental disorders.

Pauline is first-year graduate student in the McMaster Speech-Language Pathology program. In the lab, she was an essential team member for three Symptom-Targeted Rehabilitation for Concussion (STAR-C) projects. The projects involve comparing two different methods of helping individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) manage everyday cognitive difficulties – therapy and providing educational materials. The three STAR-C projects differ in the population studied, ranging from US service/veteran members (STAR-C) to Canadian veterans (STAR-C2) to individuals with Long COVID (STAR-C3). In her role in these projects, Pauline oversaw the evaluation of treatment fidelity in US military/veteran members who were assigned to receive therapy. Her work involved reviewing to recordings of cognitive rehabilitation treatment sessions and ensuring that the clinicians were following the correct protocol for this experimental therapy. For STAR-C2 and STAR-C3, her role involved interviewing potential participants and ensuring their eligibility for the study. When she’s not doing school work, Pauline enjoys playing the piano and drums in her free time.

Elena is a first-year MSc (SLP) student at McMaster, having completed her senior honours thesis in the lab. Elena has a particular interest in pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). She completed a thesis in collaboration with lab member and PhD student Marie-France Perrier at the University of Ottawa, interviewing therapy team members to learn why children with TBI were or were not) referred to inpatient speech-language pathology services. Elena also assisted Marie-France on a chart review study to determine who was assessing communication when children with TBI were in hospital.

I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Lyn Turkstra since 2015 to develop and launch McMaster’s Speech-Language Pathology program. It was an exciting and daunting endeavour. In 2018, I transitioned away from an academic position into the world of research to manage Dr. Turkstra’s research lab. McMaster is known for leading edge research and I was excited to embark on a new adventure. I am the lab manager and look after the day-to-day functions of the lab, support our research students and am responsible for research project coordination. I’ve learned so much over the past few years and have had the privilege of working with many amazing students on exceptional projects. It’s been a wonderful opportunity. When my two girls aren’t keeping me busy, I enjoy being outdoors and exploring new places with my dog.

Lisa Kakonge is a passionate and driven PhD candidate in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. As a registered speech-language pathologist, Lisa’s dedication to improving the lives of children with acquired brain injury (ABI) is evident in both her research and clinical career.

Her doctoral research, under the guidance of Dr. Lyn Turkstra, focuses on exploring the opportunities and barriers of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social media use in supporting social participation among adolescents with ABI. Lisa aims to bridge the gap between technology and rehabilitation by understanding how social media and technological supports can empower adolescents with ABI to engage more fully in their communities.

Tasin completed her senior honours thesis in the lab. She studied effects of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) on interactions with family members, using comments by US veterans during their cognitive rehabilitation. Tasin’s study revealed how mild TBI can cause stress and burden on family interactions, affecting both logistics of family operations – like remembering conversations or tasks – but also roles and identities within families. Participants also reported negative feelings about themselves and their abilities, which they did not always share with families.

Tasin’s study results show the importance of considering not just the person with the injury but also their families, even when injuries seem mild.

Aleena Khan is a diligent fourth-year undergraduate student in the mental health specialization program of the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour.

Aleena has completed both 3QQ3 and 4QQ3 research credits in the lab under the supervision of Dr. Turkstra, where she researched the differences in speech-language pathologist methodology in treatment. She aided in constructing the thesis of now-alumni Elena Gamm, by using Dedoose to code for themes after analyzing audio interviews. After this, she obtained the role of research assistant within the lab, where her everyday duties consist of working on the STAR-C projects by facilitating participant interviews, developing the lab website and deleting old files and updating user manuals. The STAR-C research projects follow the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation therapy for two different populations of individuals affected by brain injury: Veterans and Long-COVID participants. Aleena is ecstatic to be a part of this new research and hopes these interventions improve the everyday functioning of those affected by brain injuries.

Aleena is determined to advance her education and career by attending graduate school and expanding her knowledge within the research realm.

Sunny joined the lab as a fourth-year student of the Health Sciences program at McMaster University and is now a first-year MSc (SLP) student at the University of Toronto. She enjoys psychology, linguistics and education, and found the field of speech-language pathology enticing. Sunny would like to approach the field with a research perspective. 

For her thesis, Sunny worked with lab member and PhD candidate Lisa Kakonge to execute a scoping review about cognitive-communication in multilingual children with acquired brain injuries. She was motivated to pursue this topic through her own personal interests in languages, multilingualism and multiculturalism. Her own past relationship with her bilingual identity ignited this passion.

Through her work, Sunny hopes to better the understanding of intersectionality in rehabilitation within the overlooked population of multilingual children with brain injuries. Sunny wants to continue her focus on marginalized populations, specifically, racialized immigrant families. Bearing recognition from this background, Sunny understands the intimidation immigrant families face when seeking healthcare services. She wishes to evolve her research in attempts to alleviate the intimidation and fear faced by immigrant families.

Marie-France Perrier is a speech-language pathologist with clinical experience in pediatric acute care and rehabilitation and a PhD candidate in rehabilitation sciences at the University of Ottawa. Marie-France is interested in applying mindfulness meditation to improve cognitive-communication function in children and adolescents with acquired brain injuries (ABI). Through her dissertation research, she wants to examine the feasibility of an adapted mindfulness-based intervention for adolescents with cognitive-communication impairments following ABI. She is also interested in expanding the definition and understanding of cognitive-communication impairments across interprofessional boundaries in pediatric rehabilitation.

Anna is a dedicated research assistant with a strong background in psychology and neuroscience. Currently, she holds positions in two prominent research labs. She is an integral part of the Turkstra Lab at McMaster University’s ARiEAL Research Centre, where she actively contributes to various projects. Anna is also a research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster’s Strong Families Lab.

Driven by her fascination with pediatric neurosciences, Anna’s research interests predominantly revolve around the complex nature of the developing brain in children. She is particularly intrigued by the wide-ranging impacts of brain injuries on psychological, physical and social development. Anna is actively involved in the adolescent computer-mediated project, which has provided her with invaluable insights into the perspectives of adolescents with brain injuries regarding their use of social media. Her contributions to this project include participant intake sessions, Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (HiREB) applications, website development, media production, transcription cleaning and the creation of the administration manual, among other responsibilities.

Nnenna is a fourth-year applied psychology in human behaviour student, with a minor in linguistics and a concurrent certificate in rehabilitation sciences.

She is currently completing an inquiry project in the lab while also assisting PhD candidate Lisa Kakonge with her study.

Nnenna’s project is focused on understanding the role of inter-professional healthcare team communication during the transition from pediatric to adult services for adolescents with an acquired brain injury (ABI).