Pathways to Progress Conference

Session Speakers

Jessica Hawthorne, M.Ed.
Jessica Hawthorne, M.Ed., is an elementary educator and teacher leader with a decade of service in early childhood and primary education. She currently teaches first grade and has dedicated her career to fostering learning environments where young students feel supported, capable, and motivated to grow. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Science in Education with endorsements in Early Childhood Education from the University of Nebraska Omaha, as well as a Master of Education in Teacher Leadership from Midland University. She committed to instructional practices that are developmentally responsive, research-aligned, and grounded in the belief that every child can succeed when given the right tools.

Throughout her career, Jessica has focused on the intersection of communication, engagement, and student understanding—particularly in the early grades, where foundational learning behaviors are formed. Her work emphasizes the importance of intentional teacher actions, including the strategic use of modeling and nonverbal communication to support comprehension and retention. Jessica’s interest in gestures as an instructional tool emerged from her observations of how young learners respond to visual and kinesthetic cues. Over time, she has worked these practices into a purposeful approach that enhances clarity, reduces cognitive load, and increases student confidence during academic tasks.

In her first-grade classroom, gestures serve as a bridge between abstract concepts and concrete understanding. Jessica integrates them across literacy, mathematics, and classroom routines to support language development, scaffold multi-step directions, and reinforce academic vocabulary. Her approach is informed by both educational research and her lived experience working with diverse learners and embedding gestures into daily instruction. She has observed measurable improvements in student engagement, independence, and overall academic achievement.

Justin Kueser, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Justin Kueser, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is a research scientist at Boys Town National Research Hospital. He is a speech-language pathologist and worked in schools in North Carolina before starting his research career. He researches developmental language disorder and late talking. His lab’s current projects focus on vocabulary development, sentence comprehension, and experiences of caregivers and pediatricians of late talkers.

Hope Lancaster, Ph.D.
Hope Sparks Lancaster, Ph.D., is the Director of the Etiologies of Language and Literacy Laboratory in the Center for Childhood Deafness, Language and Learning at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Dr. Lancaster studies language and literacy development and disorders and is particularly interested in behavioral and genetic overlaps between speech disorders, developmental language disorder, and dyslexia. She also studies language and literacy development in individuals with other conditions, such as cleft palate.

Susan Loveall, Ph.D.
Susan Loveall, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she runs the Learning Lab for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Her research focuses on learning, language, and literacy skills in individuals with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Natalie Mason, M.S., CCC-SLP
Natalie Mason, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a bilingual (Spanish/English) research speech-language pathologist and Lead of the Clinical Measurement Program at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Natalie’s previous clinical experience includes work with children and adults with diverse abilities in a variety of settings, including schools, home-based services, and tele-therapy, both in the United Stats and abroad in Guatemala.

Karla McGregor, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Karla McGregor, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a senior scientist at Boys Town National Research Hospital, a Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, and the chair of DLDandMe.org. Dr. McGregor's research on language development and disabilities is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Heather Porter, Au.D., Ph.D., CCC-A
Heather Porter, Au.D., Ph.D., CCC-A, is a research scientist and clinical audiologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital. In addition to conducting federally funded translational research to improve hearing health and outcomes in individuals with Down syndrome across the lifespan, she maintains practical immersion in clinical settings providing hearing healthcare to individuals with complex medical histories and diverse developmental abilities.

Emma Kate Thome, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Emma Kate Thome, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a Research Scientist in the Emerging Language Knowledge at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She earned her PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include evidence-based practice, critical thinking, and pseudoscience.

Desire Townsell
Desire Townsell is an elementary educator and family-centered practitioner and the first female African American educator in her nuclear family. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with prior Early Childhood Education endorsement. Her experience spans private childcare and preschool, over six years as a family teacher and live-in parent with Boys Town, and three years in private elementary education. In her current role, Desire collaborates closely with speech-language pathologists and serves on her school’s MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) team, supporting language, academic, and behavioral development through data-driven practices. She is passionate about transformative, collaborative education that impacts learning across generations and globally.

Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to supporting diverse learners, particularly in the areas of communication, behavior, and developmental growth. Drawing from both classroom experience and systems-level insight, she has developed a strong interest in the intersection of language acquisition and instructional strategy—specifically, the role of gestures as a powerful tool to enhance comprehension, engagement, and expressive language in young learners.

Desire advocates for the intentional use of multimodal instruction, emphasizing how gestures can serve as a bridge between receptive and expressive language, particularly for students with speech and language delays, multilingual learners, and those requiring additional behavioral or cognitive supports. Her approach integrates research-informed practices with practical classroom application, making her work both accessible and impactful for educators and speech-language pathologists alike.

Passionate about equity in education, Mrs. Townsell strives to create inclusive learning environments where all students can access content through varied communication pathways. She continues to explore innovative strategies that empower educators to use movement, visual cues, and embodied learning to improve student outcomes.

Krystal L. Werfel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Krystal L. Werfel, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Senior Director of Research in the Center for Childhood Deafness, Language, and Learning at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Her research focuses on language and literacy in oral deaf and hard of hearing children and children with language-learning difficulties.

See each session for instructional level and ASHA CEU opportunity.