Vickie Barnes, MA, CCC-SLP, received the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists (TAASLP). The award is presented annually to a member who has made significant contributions to the profession over a lifetime.
Barnes, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in the College of Health Professions, has been with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center since 1988, serving in the Pediatric Language Clinic, which is a grant-funded Early Intervention Resource Agency for the Tennessee Early Intervention System (TEIS) in Knoxville. She currently is the agency’s director overseeing center- and home-based developmental therapy services for children birth to age 3, who are at risk for or have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Barnes provides a consultation service for other early intervention agencies in the East Tennessee TEIS District to assist with more specific programming for children at risk for autism. She also oversees research projects being completed at the pediatric clinic in conjunction with the academic faculty. She provides clinical supervision to second-year graduate clinicians assigned to the clinic’s center-based program.
“Professor Barnes has spent 30 years educating hundreds of students and improving the communication skills, academic success, and quality of life for thousands of children and families in the state of Tennessee,” said Ashley Harkrider, PhD, UTAA Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the UTHSC Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, which is located in Knoxville. “Her tireless efforts to share her experience and knowledge with families, students, and health care providers across the region, perpetuate appropriate, evidence-based treatment for children birth to 3, who are at risk for or have a diagnosis of ASD. I cannot think of anyone more deserving than Vickie of recognition for a career served with distinction and a legacy of meaningful achievement.”
Active in community service, Barnes provides in-service trainings, is on TEIS’s Local Interagency Coordinating Council, and participates in various autism-related groups, such as Autism Site Knoxville and Autism Training Initiative.