Jennifer Casteix, MS, CCC-SLP
Jennifer joined SLHS in January, 2009. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her graduate degree from the UA. Jennifer worked at Tucson Medical Center for 20 years, where she developed a variety of pediatric-based inpatient and outpatient programs and mentored graduate students from universities across the west. For 5 years, Jennifer was the pediatric speech-pathologist for The University of Arizona Medical Center’s Diamond Children’s PICU, NICU, and acute care settings, where she instructed and mentored graduate students in speech pathology, was a member of the interprofessional Developmental Long Term Care and Pediatric Trach steering committees, and led the interprofessional NICU Feeding Task Force.
Jennifer currently provides instruction and mentoring to graduate students in our on-campus clinic, and mentoring to undergraduate members of NSSLHA. She has a strong interest in working with children who are medically fragile and complex, as well as working with children with neurodevelopmental disorders and autism. Jennifer has presented nationally and internationally on how SLPs can support infants in the NICU, and feeding and swallowing disorders in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Jennifer is on the faculty of ArizonaLEND Maternal and Child Health Training Program, and is a former member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Identification and Prognosis of Low Birth Weight Babies in Disability Determinations. Other collaborations include the award-winning Chemistry Can be Fun, a part of the STEAM camps developed by Jennifer and collaborator Terry Matsunaga to provide opportunities for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder to explore lab style learning in a university setting. The Autism Society Southern Arizona recognized Jennifer and Terry in 2017.
Jennifer is a past president and a past Government Affairs chair of the Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She received the Roselie Schlegelmilch Past Presidents' Award in 2020 for her service to the professions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennifer received Honors of the State Association in 2023.
Jennifer is very active in the state. She is an honorary member of the Board of Hostesses of the Silver and Turquoise Ball and is a past president of the Junior League of Tucson, Inc. She currently serves as a director on the Pima Community College Foundation Board. Jennifer previously chaired the Sponsorship Committee and is currently on the Book and Author Committee for the Tucson Festival of Books, and served on the boards of Arizona Public Media and the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. She is the recipient of the Dynamic Duo Award from Compass Health Care and the Ann-Eve Johnson Sustainer of the Year Award from the Junior League of Tucson, Inc.
Courses:
- SLHS 499/599 Independent Study
- SLHS 458/558/658 Clinical Studies: Speech-Language Pathology
- SLHS 597 Workshop - Pediatric Feeding Disorder