The History of South Dakota Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Special thanks to Dr. Sylvester Clifford, Jim Walters, Dr. Robert Litke, Judy Flanagin, Margaret King, Ruth Samuelson, Sally Coddington Dolan and Dr. Dean Lockwood for their recollections of years gone by.

Dr. Litke remembers that Ethel was the motivating force to get the group organized. Ethel has been a speech pathologist in Portland, Oregon and had completed a semester toward her Masters Degree when the director of the South Dakota State Department of Health and asked of her to start a speech and hearing program under the Division of Crippled Children. She served Pennington, Meade and Lawrence counties and the Rapid City Schools. Ethel used the development of this program for her thesis at the University of Iowa and received her Masters Degree in 1946 and then returned to South Dakota.

Another "quieter" force for speech therapy in South Dakota was Lily Thomsland who worked in Sioux Falls. She believed in the Moto-Kinesthetic method, which was a manual manipulation of articulators. Lily and Sally Coddington (Dolan) were the only speech therapists in Sioux Falls before 1959.

Mary Twitchell and Jim Walters followed Marv Knittel and Margaret King in the Aberdeen Schools. Margaret moved to Rapid City in 1961 and worked a year and a half until her first child arrived. Some of the speech therapists who worked there were Ethel Bridgeford, Mary Twitchell, Nancy Stevens, Jane Case, Sharon Lee and Ruth Samuelson. Margaret returned to work in 1979.

Dr. Sylvester Clifford arrived at the University of South Dakota during the summer of 1961. (He retired in 1994.) His predecessors were James Cavanaugh and James McDearmon who had initiated the speech therapy/audiology program. Dr. Harold Jordan, Chair of the Speech Department at the University of South Dakota, also was instrumental in the programs inception. During those years students earned a double major; one in speech therapy and on in speech/drama/debate.

Dr. Clifford remembers attending a business meeting in Pierre during the winter of 1961-62 where several people including Ethel Bridgeford, Jim Walter, Mary Twitchell, Keith Newcomb (CCHS) and Margaret King were still trying to shape/word a constitution and get some recognition from the State Department of Education. In 1961, there were two ASHA certified SLPs; Ethel Bridgeford and Sylvester Clifford.

By 1965, there were 25 original active members and 8 original associate members. Jim Walters was President when South Dakota Speech-Language-Hearing Association Third Annual convention was held at the Crippled Children's Hospital and School in Sioux Falls. Speakers include Ethel Bridgeford on "Therapy for Tongue Thrust"; John B. Gregg, M.D. "Techniques of Stapesdoplasty Surgery"; and William M. Shearer, Ph.D. "Recent Research in Stuttering Behavior; (A) Middle Ear Activity (B) Self-Recovery.

David Larsen presented at the 1966 convention in Yankton, SD on "Pioneers in Statewide Speech and Hearing Conservation".  Ray Hull was the lone person doing statewide hearing testing, out of his car, the first year.  Then in succeeding years, David Larsen, Charlie Anderson and Mike Spicer headed up the Mobile Hearing Unit, which was a hearing booth inside a truck.  They were supported and encouraged partially by the March of Dimes.

Original Active Members:
Pat Adam*, Charles Anderson, Susan Armstrong*, Ethel Bridgeford* Jean Britton*, Maribeth Chase*, Sylvester Clifford*, Betty Culligan*, Arlene Howard, Raymond Hull*, Margaret King*, DeAnna Lacina, Sharon Lee, Robert Litke*, Natalie Nelson,  Keith Newcomb, Kay Rubendall, Sister Doris Oberembt, Verlyn Swee*, Richard Terry*, Joan Theilman*, Lily Tiomsland*, Billie Jo Tupper*, James E. Walters*, Evelyn Woods

Original Associate Members:
Ruth Duncan (Samuelson), Jeannette Higbe, Julie Mickelson (Anderson), Jennie Wanhal, Keathy Larson (Amundson), Roger Wahl*, Camille Peterson, Karen Kay Knutson (Ferris)
(*also members of the American Speech and Hearing Association according to the 1965 ASHA Directory.)

David Larsen presented at the 1966 convention in Yankton, South Dakota. There have been Bachelor Degree programs in Communication Disorder at Northern State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota State College in Brooking, Augustana College in Sioux Falls, and University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Presently, USD is the only location with a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree program in the state. Dr. Dean Lockwood is the Chair of the Department and has been at USD since 1970.

There have been bachelor’s degree programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota State University in Brookings, Augustana University in Sioux Falls, and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. USD also houses a master’s degree program in Speech-Language Pathology and a doctor of Audiology program. In 2010, Mitchell Technical College in Mitchell, SD added an associate’s degree program in Speech-Language Pathology Assistant. 

To contribute additional SDSLHA History to this page, email [email protected].