Andy Smidt

Biography

Andy qualified as a speech pathologist in the UK in 1988 and has worked as a clinician in the UK, South Africa and Australia. Her area of clinical interest is adults with severe intellectual disability.

Research

Andy's research interests include

• Training staff who work with individuals in severe intellectual disability and challenging behaviour
• Training communication partners to use AAC and Key Word Sign
• Functional Assessment of people with severe disabilities
• Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education

Community Engagement

Andy has a long history of community engagement. Her recent involvement includes

• Editor in Chief https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tslp20 Journal of Clinical Practice for Speech-Language Pathology
• Research Consultant Key Word Sign Australia
• https://sciencegenderequity.org.au/ SAGE Self Assessment Team member (USYD)
• Chair of https://udl-irn.org/udlhe-digicon/ Digicon and part of Leadership group at https://udl-irn.org/udlhe-network/ UDLHE

Teaching

Andy is a passionate teacher with a focus on embedding Universal Design for Learning into her teaching and supporting all students to be able to access higher education. In 2022, Andy was awarded https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/fellowship/senior-fellowship Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.