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Campus Directory

FACULTY AND STAFF

Kristy Simak

Title: Assistant Professor
Office: Pacelli Hall
Phone: 773-298-3568
Email:simak@sxu.edu
Department: Comm. Sci. & Disorders

Biography

Kristina Simak, MA, CCC-SLP/L, is an assistant professor (PPT) of communication sciences and disorders. She holds a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing science with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also completed her master's degree in speech-language pathology.

Before joining the faculty at Saint Xavier in summer 2022, Professor Simak practiced as a bilingual speech-language pathologist in the elementary school setting for 10 years in the western suburbs.

At SXU, Simak teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses related to multicultural language issues, childhood language development, clinical methods, assessment, and professional writing. She is also a clinical professor in the Ludden Speech and Language Clinic, overseeing students' diagnostic, prevention and therapy practicum experiences across various diagnoses and age groups. Simak also supervises the Corazón and Diagnostics specialty clinics.

Education

M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Areas of Specialization

  • Bilingual language evaluations and treatment
  • Bilingual language development and disorders
  • Assessment and implementation of IEPs for elementary students, with an emphasis in language difference versus disorder
  • Childhood articulation, language and social/pragmatic language development and disorders

Certification/Licensure

  • Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
  • Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist, Illinois

Specialized Clinical Interests

  • Bilingual language development and disorders.
  • Staff and family education on language difference versus disorder.
  • Multicultural and multilingual issues.

Courses Taught

  • CSDI 202: Professional Writing in Communication Sciences and Disorders
  • CSDI 306: Language Disorders in Children
  • CSDI 310: Clinical Methods in Speech-Language Pathology
  • CSDI 317: Multicultural Aspects of Communication
  • CSDIG 500: Clinical Problem Solving: Assessment 
  • CSDIG 512: Advanced Practicum: School
  • CSDIG 514: Practicum in Prevention
  • CSDIG 515: Practicum in Speech-Language Pathology I
  • CSDIG 516: Practicum in Speech-Language Pathology II