Denise R. Davis Email & Phone Number

Portland, Oregon

As a Speech-Language Pathologist at Brain Rehab Network, I work as part of an inter-disciplinary team including physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and a physiatrist, to provide treatment to adults who have sustained brain injuries. I provide treatment for cognitive/communication impairments which are focused on functional improvements and increasing quality of life, and communicate regularly with my teammates to ensure continuity of care and to provide consistent information on recommendations, precautions, and to support discharge planning. I have a creative approach to treatment and tailor activities to include client interests and motivations in order to help them regain cognitive/communication skills in a meaningful way for them.

As a PRN Speech-Language Pathologist with Infinity Rehab, I work in skilled nursing facilities throughout the Portland Metro area, providing rehabilitative services to residents in long-term care and sub-acute inpatient. In this position I provide coverage for vacations, census increases, and open SLP positions, both scheduled and as emergent needs. I am responsible for completing assessments for patients referred for dysphagia and speech, language, and cognitive impairments, and providing treatments including dysphagia therapy, diet modifications, expressive/receptive language rehabilitation, cognitive skills training, and training in AAC communication systems. I provide treatment under the plan of care developed by the primary SLP and utilize written documentation as well as communication with nursing and therapy staff to ensure seamless care and provide caregiver training to staff and family.

Speech Language Pathologist specializing in cognitive rehabilitation and neurological impairments, working on the Long COVID team.

Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area

Hillsboro, Oregon

At Avamere Rehabilitation of Hillsboro, I was the primary Speech-Language Pathologist for a skilled nursing facility, providing rehabilitative services to residents in long-term care and sub-acute inpatient. In this position I was responsible for assessing patients referred because of impairments in swallowing, cognitive skills, and expressive and receptive language skills. Based on information gathered from a patient's medical chart, patient interview, and the assessments I administered, I developed a plan of treatment to provide appropriate services, including dysphagia therapy, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), diet modifications, expressive/receptive language rehabilitation, cognitive skills training, and development of non-speech generating AAC communication systems with patient/caregiver training to increase communication opportunities. I worked very closely with nursing, CNAs, administrative staff, dietary services, and activities coordinators to provide therapeutic services to patients which allowed them to communicate effectively, remain safe, and eat with the fewest possible restrictions to their diet. As needed, I provided education to team members to increase their ability to provide appropriate services to patients and consulted with other professionals to increase my ability to provide appropriate, consistent care within my scope of practice. In addition to providing direct patient care, I contributed to the advancement of speech-language pathology by mentoring graduate students completing full-time & part-time clinical rotations. I was recognized as a leader in my field with nomination to a place on Infinity's Speech Practice Council, where I worked with other SLPs to develop policies for best practice for speech-language pathology in order to ensure quality of care, continuous improvement to company protocols for SLP services, and develop ongoing training in evidence-based treatments and assessments for best patient outcomes.

Portland, Oregon Area

Working under a licensed speech-language pathologist at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center (BIRC), I conducted assessments and delivered individual treatment for adults with brain injury. Sessions were designed to include activities targeting relearning cognitive-language skills as well as to learn compensatory strategies in order to achieve greater independence in daily activities. I worked with allied health professions and office staff to provide outpatient and day treatment services, create written reports and daily notes to monitor client progress, and provide information during team meetings to ensure treatment was effective and efficient between all disciplines.My placement at BIRC allowed me to develop necessary skills for providing services to target expressive/receptive language disorders and cognitive-language difficulties resulting from acquired brain injuries. These services included Attention Process Training (APT), training for organization and time management, intervention to help clients self-monitor and decrease impulsive behavior and verbosity, and strategies for improved attention, memory and executive function.

Portland, Oregon Area

As a graduate student in a preschool run by the non-profit Friendly House Inc., I conducted language and hearing screenings for two preschool classes and provided further observational assessment to gather information about the language skills of children who did not pass the screening. Based on the screenings and other assessment results, I developed reports to be given to teachers and parents which described the assessments that had been conducted and the results of those assessments. I also worked in the classroom to provide language enrichment to students who were 3 - 5 years old and created developmentally appropriate lessons to provide speech/language therapy to groups of 4 - 7 children at a time. Targets for lessons were based on the results of language screenings, teacher input, observations made in the classroom, and data from previous sessions. Goals and methods were modified within and across small group sessions to ensure that children at different levels of language development were supported. In my position at Friendly House Preschool, I interacted with classroom teachers, my supervising SLP, and two other graduate student clinicians during weekly meetings to learn about classroom management and methods for instructing young children. I also explained my work in the classroom and answered questions from the teachers to provide information on the roles that might be filled by a speech-language pathologist and how students might benefit from my services.

Portland, Oregon

As part of the initial partnership between Pacific University and TransActive Gender Center, I helped to develop and promote a clinic to provide voice therapy to clients so they could learn to safely use communication markers and vocal characteristics which represent their authentic gender. Working as part of an interdisciplinary team including counselors, administrative staff, speech-language pathologists, and graduate students, I developed evidence-based materials for assessment and treatment of transgender voice; promoted the clinic by helping to develop fliers and volunteering at the booth during the Portland Pride Festival; completed intake packets for new clients and explained treatment so that they could make informed decisions on their participation; provided treatment for transgender voice targeting forward resonance, pitch changes, safe voice use, and gender markers in communication; and completed SOAP notes following each client session to track data and progress during treatment.Through weekly team meetings at TransActive Gender Center, I learned about multicultural issues faced by the transgender community and how I can support those who are gender non-conforming in my practice. I was also given the opportunity to educate other disciplines about what I can offer to transgender clients as a speech-language pathologist.

Cornelius, Oregon

As part of a multidisciplinary team, I designed and led group meetings and activities for adults with brain injury to develop functional skills in activities of daily living and social aspects of communication in a naturalistic setting. I made daily notes to track the current functioning and progress made by participants toward their goals and completed reports for use by occupational therapists, administrative staff, and future speech-language pathology graduate students to provide seamless care across professionals. In addition to daily tasks, I worked with three other speech-language pathology graduate students to develop and present an in-service for administrative staff to educate them on motor speech disorders common after brain injury. This in-service was intended for professionals outside of my field and focused on information which was relevant to their interactions with participants in the program. Topics included reasons a person might be difficult to understand when they are speaking; ways to make communication easier, both by assisting an individual with a motor speech disorder to produce more intelligible speech and by modifying their own behavior to assist in communication; and when each approach might be helpful.

Portland, Or

In early 2013 I moved on from working in high tech so that I could utilize my skills in organization, leadership, teamwork, and planning to make a difference in my community. My compassion and drive for change led me to my work as a Marketing Administrative Assistant to a Disability Representative. In this position, I gained insight into the unique difficulties faced by people who are experiencing homelessness while applying for Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). I was responsible for requesting and tracking requests for medical records from hospitals and medical clinics, as well as opinion letters from doctors and other health care providers; setting up appointments for clients to come in and meet with staff; making sure necessary paperwork is complete; and interacting with clients to gather information that will help them successfully obtain benefits.

Portland, Oregon

Under a licensed speech-language pathologist, I provided individual and group speech/language therapy for students in grades 6-8 from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the areas of expressive/receptive language, behavioral modifications, and social aspects of communication. I also administered, scored, and interpreted standardized assessments for the purpose of qualifying students for continued services or dismissing them from services if they had met their communication goals. During my placement at Alice Ott Middle School, I developed my skills in assessing and treating communication disorders in a school based setting and learned about providing services to students who are facing challenging life circumstances. I was fortunate to learn from professionals who thrived in a setting with 70% of students coming from low-income households and 40% of students speaking English as a second language. Staff demonstrated admirable commitment to the students and worked across disciplines to allow children to succeed. Alice Ott Middle School has received multiple awards for student achievement and growth, and my work here reinforced my desire to provide holistic services to individuals living in poverty and experiencing cultural and linguistic barriers to treatment.

Beaverton, Oregon

In this position I was trained in several different aspects of manufacturing and planning. My various positions allowed me to learn from people who consistently provided innovative solutions to complex problems, and I used the skills I developed to contribute to several projects. These projects included reorganizing my department, moving all storage to a central location, developing new ordering and tracking protocol, and training employees. Working with outside vendors in person and over the phone, as well as providing customer service to internal customers allowed me to develop skills in communication, organization, problem solving and teamwork. These skills have transferred to both my schoolwork and current position in speech-language pathology.

Master Of Science (Ms), Speech-Language Pathology, Gpa: 3.96

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Speech And Hearing Sciences

Graduated with honors