Speakers:

Jane Ellen Watkins, M.Ed.

Carrie received her undergraduate degree in Deaf Education (2001) and her master’s degree in Early Intervention in Deaf Education (2002) from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, MO. After graduation, she taught in Omaha, NE at the Omaha Hearing School before coming to work for St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf-IN (SJI-I) in August 2003. She taught in the preschool classroom at SJI-I for 2 ½ years before switching to her current passion: working with the birth-to-3 population and their families. Ms. Tamminga is the current Lead Early Interventionist of SJI-I’s First Words program, and has also been the chair of SJI-I’s Parent Education Program (PEP) since Fall 2006. She began a monthly Playgroup as part of this committee. She was also the Director of the Midwest Region of INPROSEC (the international professional division of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing which was disbanded in 2008) from 2004-2008, and she has been a member of various state-wide committees related to Deaf Education in her tenure here. She has been an international member of A.G. Bell since 2000 and a member of Hear Indiana since 2003. She is also a current member of Hands & Voices in Indiana. She received her Listening and Spoken Language Specialist certification from the A.G. Bell Academy in the summer of 2009 and is currently one of only two LSLS Cert. AVEd professionals in the state of Indiana. A native of Michigan, Carrie loves Indianapolis and is active in multiple community volunteer activities outside of Deaf Education. She also sits on the Board of her neighborhood organization, Community Heights.

Kristin Vincent, MS, CCC-SLP

Susan Seghal, MS, CCC-SLP

Susan received her Masters degree in speech-language pathology from Indiana University.  She is the lead speech-language pathologist at St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf.  She has been involved in working with children with hearing loss since 1989.   Prior to working at St. Joseph Institute, Susan served as clinical supervisor of the DeVault Otologic Research Laboratory at Indiana University School of Medicine, gathering data for NIH-funded research investigations of the benefits of cochlear implantation within the pediatric population.  She was president of Hear Indiana from 1999 – 2001 and a member of the ad hoc committee that worked with legislatures to mandate universal newborn hearing screening in the state.  

Cathy Eastes, M.Ed.

Cathy Eastes is a deaf educator for the Hamilton-Boone-Madison Special Services Cooperative. She has worked as a deaf educator since 1992, and services children who use a variety of communication modes. Cathy resides in Carmel with her husband and two children. She truly enjoys her job and cherishes the relationships that she has built with educators, parents, medical professionals, and administrators.

Sarah Wainscott, M.Ed., CCC-A, LSLS Cert. AVT^®

Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Language Pathology, a Master’s in Hearing Disorders, and Doctorate in Deaf Education.  She is certified in Audiology, Deaf Education and as an Auditory Verbal Educator.  Sarah has worked with deaf children and their families for twenty years.  Her experiences include clinical and educational audiologist, preschool teacher and early interventionist, auditory verbal therapist, program director, parent educator, and university instructor.