天美传媒

by Cecil Harris

鈥淚 loved doing clinical work and was not ready to give that up,鈥� said Joseph Hoffman, Ph.D. ’14, who is a speech-language practitioner.

天美传媒鈥檚 offers a part-time doctoral program in , which appeals to working professionals. and are among the graduate students now taking advantage of Adelphi’s accessible Ph.D. program. While earning his Ph.D. at Adelphi in May 2014, Dr. Hoffman refined his research skills and developed teaching skills.

Dr. Hoffman conducted a research study on the effect of insulin treatment on the vocabulary skills of children with diabetes. His study and dissertation were supervised by , the director of the at the , a speech-language pathologist and an associate professor in the .

鈥淚 took a particular interest in neurologically based language disorders鈥攊n particular, how language is affected when an individual has a traumatic brain injury or stroke,鈥� Dr. Hoffman said. 鈥淚 also had a family member with diabetes and noticed how, during a period of low blood sugar, an individual鈥檚 language mirrors that of a person with a language disorder from a stroke.鈥�

The study included six children鈥攖hree with diabetes, three without鈥攁nd lasted two years. The children visited the NSLP Lab for an electroencephalogram (EEG) in the pilot study and then the final study. In an EEG test, flat metal disks, or electrodes, with thin wires are attached to the scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain.

Dr. Hoffman found the children for the study through one of his dissertation committee members, , a pediatric endocrinologist at in New York.

鈥淭he results revealed children with diabetes performed similarly to children without diabetes on testing [related to memory or attention span],鈥� Dr. Hoffman said. 鈥淭he children with diabetes performed differently on measures [related to eye or muscle movement]. The study suggests further research is needed to determine how best to support children with diabetes with regard to language development.鈥�

Dr. Khamis-Dakwar said: 鈥淭his is an original study with great potential impact. Only passionate, determined and hardworking students like Joe can learn and incorporate neuroimaging, understanding of metabolic changes in diabetes with insulin treatment and clinical assessment specific to our field in one study.鈥�

Dr. Hoffman, who is from Bethpage, New York, received bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees from Hofstra University. Now a visiting professor in the Department of Linguistics at Stony Brook University, he is thankful for the mentorship of Dr. Khamis-Dakwar.

鈥淒r. Reem has a sense of what doctoral students need,鈥� he said. 鈥淗er NSLP Lab provides a wonderful tool that sets the doctoral students at Adelphi apart from other doctoral students. Without her, I would not be the professional I am today.鈥�